Another step in making more room

If you remember, last fall we had pulled these big ugly overgrown bushes out of this retaining block wall in front of the house. It was bad, and while I don't have a picture I can use of them, just trust me when I say I am glad that they and their spawn of Hades thorns are long gone.

However, in it's place, I had this very open and very empty planting bed that was 37" wide at one end, 30" at the other and had a big circle on the very end. This is a picture of the bed last summer after we pulled the very nasty bushes. It made the house seem so much bigger.


The front bed after bushes were removed, Sept 2012

Around here, we will be having some very busy weekeneds coming up, so I wanted to get this project done. That way, if the weather finally holds, I am not waiting till we have a chance to build it to finally get plants out of the house.

Time go get to work

This is a picture of it Saturday as we got to work. You can kinda see what I was looking to do. At 37" wide, it would of been hard to plant 2 rows of plants without staggering them to make sure they got enough sunlight. The hope was we could plant in each level and give us that much more space. These beds will mostly be used for herbs and some very spicy peppers Pooka wants to grow.

First row

Pooka's Aunt C and Uncle M came over and were a huge help to get this bed done. Here gentlemen had put in the first row of blocks and I could see it would work. It does have some narrower spots, but that should be fine for herbs. They did a great job keeping it level and straight. Honestly better then I could have.

Stonehedge end

Originally Daddy and I had thought we would only do 2 coarses of block, but once we got it in there, it looked rather... squat and slightly like we gave up half done. The boys took a trip back to the garden center and picked up enough to do another row. I like it much better, but the plan we had for the end, was too short. We had picked up an extra rectangular block and Daddy had the idea to split it and make cap stones. Aunt C suggested we turn the cut edge out to mimic the rough face of the stones. I love it this way, and Daddy just finds it entertaining that we have stonehenge in the front yard.

A look into the bed from the side.

Once it was all put together, we had to wait a bit to put the dirt in. We had useds masonary glue to hold the bricks in place. I have a feeling I will have kids run though at least once a year. I wanted to make sure it wouldn't give and the glue gives it that strength, but it also took 24 hours for it to dry. So the bed sat overnight till we could fill it.

Circle end

This is the circle end of the planting bed. It is full of rocks when this picture was taken, but Daddy worked very hard to clear it. This will be the home of the bigger of the 2 lilacs. I am just trying to decide to plant it now, or wait till fall. Decisions decisions.  

Bed all ready for plants

Here is the bed on Sunday afternoon after we got the dirt put in.Pooka loved being told to stand in the bed and push dirt around. Brother helped too, although he was a bit more work and less play then Pooka. In hind sight, we might need more dirt, but this gives us a starting point. We used a mixture of top soil and garden soil so it should be very happy for plants. The big headache now is waiting to plant. Then we will mulch and it should look really good.

Front view all done

This is a picture of the final product. It looks so much better now. I am hoping once the weather warms up and I have plants in it,I won't have to have as many pots in the back yard.


First plant

This is the baby rosemary plant we bought when were out on Sunday getting soil. It is tiny, but for the cost of the plant, it is the same as 1 set of rosemary herbs from the store. I will be getting more later, but this was a "I will need rosemary soon, so I will just grab one now." You can't really see it over the wall yet, but in a few weeks it should be looking really good. Now it is a waiting game with Mother Nature to make sure it stays warm enough to put the rest in.