Making a New Flower Bed

Nothing is more exciting as making a new flower bed ( sad isn't ) well after all I am nearly 75. Let's began at the beginning, after you have decided you need one. Notice I did not say you want one.  For my last birthday my daughter Debbie, her daughter, Tafta, and their husbands, Ken and Matt, gave me an arbor for my birthday. After much discussion we decided where to erect it. After that we had to buy a new running rose bush. See how one thing adds to another. We both wanted a red climbing  rose bush. Carrel wanted "Blazing Glory. " But I thought it was too orange. Now I like orange, in fact, I have one orange bed, but I do not like orange red. I wanted " Stairway to Heaven. "  This is a red red no orange rose. We settled on "Stairway to Heaven."  I wanted my friend Liz to order it. Liz and her husband Mike have a nursery in Eudora, Ar. But it was not a Weeks Rose ( Weeks is her dealer ). She pots them and I do not have to buy bare root. I ordered from Jackson and Perkins on line. When they arrived we soaked them  48 hours. Then Carrell dug a wide deep hole and added compost.  We planted the rose next to my beautiful Arbor. When I walked through the little gate I saw how much he would have to weed eat.  I was ashamed that adding the arbor would cause him so much extra work, so to have less weed eating this necessitated a new bed, in fact, 4 new beds. Before it was over I wondered why Debbie disliked me so, to give me an arbor.

Begin! Mark your bed. Remove all grass. Dig it up and throw it away. Get it out of your garden. Burn it or it might sneak back. Grass is a gardener's nightmare. I had to try several tools before I finally got all the grass removed! I never knew I had so many places to hurt.

Now Carrel's job begins. It is important to dig at least 12 inches with a spade. Then he breaks up the clods with a small tiller. Large tillers bring too many grass seeds to the top of the soil. That would make my job, weeding, start all over again. We then add organic humus and manure (homemade compost is best ) if you have room to make it. I don't, so I buy . Mix the compost and manure well with shovel. To keep weeds down we cover with newspaper and wet down with a water hose. Put pine straw on top and plant.

Hope you enjoy my posts and will watch my garden grow. Happy Gardening.

This is an update .07/24/11

This one of the new flower beds I made before  writing this blog page.


Vincas Or periwinkles 07/24/11



These are the flowers I was planting the day of this blog.  This is how they look today. I hope you enjoyed this update.  Next year I will have my path if the good Lord be willing.  Day lilies will be in these new flower beds and some sort of blocks will be on the path.  Annuals are wonderful but you have to plant them every year and since I am 75 it is time to plants flowers that come back year after year.  I will have a bench in this little corner so I can rest and look at a job well done.  May your garden grow as well as mine.  Juanita