Project – Corner Garden Flower Bed, Stage 3: Laying The Weed Control Membrane

We have had a good few days of sunny weather here recently.  Hence, my absence!  When the skies are calling you to be outside, you have just got to obey.  So, I did a few tasks around the place and continued with one of the projects.

I did a lot of transplanting.  Remember my first wave of seedlings, the candytuft (Iberis umbellata) and asters?  Well, I started to plant those out in various parts of the garden.  Candytuft is a perennial that grows in a pleasing mound shape and doesn’t get much bigger than half a metre, if so much.  With white flowers in the summer, it will be a good neutral plant to have in a few places so I’ve placed them on a slope bordering the cluster of flower beds area, in one spot in the large front garden flower bed and quite a few in the front corner-garden central flower bed project area.

I had thought that today I’d be transplanting masses of other seedlings – and maybe I will later on – but right now the wind is a bit chilly and I’m being a bit of a wimp.

Also, I’m stiff and sore.  Not prohibitively, so in theory I could go outside and do some transplanting but…. It’s not pretty watching me get on to the kneeling pad or down to my paint bucket cum garden stool.  You see, I’ve been working on the front corner-garden project.

I had been determined to take advantage of this recent spate of good weather and hot, hot days to progress the garden path.  It was time to lay the weed control membrane.  I really didn’t want to have the rain come and encourage weeds to grow in my path area.  So, I spent quite a bit of time weeding, really making sure not the tiniest bit of green was poking through the path area.  I raked like my life depended on it and I carted away stones and pebbles to really make sure the pathway was smooth, so the weed control membrane wouldn’t tear.

It was exhausting.  But, I took breaks.  I was responsible with this.  On a break from the heavy pathway weeding and clearing I went and weeded other flower beds.  Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?  Ah, I’ll explain my attitude to weeding in another post, but suffice to say I don’t view it as a horrid chore at all.  Given the right elements, I actually find it therapeutic and enjoyable.

But enough about that, back to the pathway!

And no, it’s not laid yet.

But I did get the membrane down.  Myself, yes!  Alone, yes!  And, I got it done in one massive piece with two small additional areas.  I’m quite proud of this.  It’s always best to get as much done with one continuous area of the weed control membrane so that there are no cracks and nothing can push through.  Also, by doing it this way better use is made of the membrane.  When you cut, quite a bit of overlap is needed to seal those cut edges, so the length of membrane doesn’t go quite as far.

It took me 4 hours to lay out the membrane, anchor it and settle it properly.  One by one, I lifted each of the carefully placed and matched stones edging the flower beds, to then slide the membrane underneath.  There was a lot of bending. And, a lot of lifting of stones.

When it was done I had such a feeling of euphoria! My timeline had been realized, the weed control membrane was fully and securely down and I wouldn’t have to worry about weeding this large expanse of pathway again.  I was happy to have accomplished all of this manually.  The vision was becoming ever clearer and instead of a whole corner to maintain and weed I would now just have flower beds to maintain.  I sat on my newly membrane-covered path and laid back.  What a sense of freedom to lie on the ground and look up into the sky and soar away with the white fluffy clouds for a moment!  The body aches started to seep out of me and I felt a great sense of achievement.

Then the brain started to push something to the front of my mind.  I can’t help but scrunch up my face as I think about it now.

The pathway now has to get filled with chips.  Stone chips.  This corner garden is on a slight slope, and the chips have been delivered by crane and are sitting as close as possible to the area – just about 8 feet and five stairway steps away! 

I have to fill the garden path with over one tonne of stone chips, climbing steps on each trip while carting stones. 

Let me tell you, this garden area is going to look lovely when it’s done and the flower beds have plumped up with lush growth and flowers…..  but there is seriously a lot of manual labour going into this project!

It seems a good time to remind you of the fact that I originally wanted just a neat lawn on this spot.  It was the Hubs, who doesn’t really have any interest in gardens or gardening, who suggested this idea of having a huge flower bed instead of a little lawn pocket in this corner.  The man is right, this roughly 12 x 7 metre area is going to look lovely and it is probably going to be my favourite place in the garden.  But, it is also the true definition of labour of love!