There was mud, there was sweat and there was a whole bunch of cussing (under my breath of course) and muttering; but now we have glamour and I feel on top of the world!!!!
I have big news! Remember my front-corner garden project ? The one with the massive flowerbed and the pathway I was building by hand that I started in April 2019…. Remember? Remember? Well, it’s done! Woohoo!
Well mostly done.
Done enough for me to do a TAADAA and announce that it’s done! Whoop!
I have a little corner that I’m still doing some stuff with but it’s a very, very small area – like maybe 2 ft by 4 ft. I’m putting a dogwood in there and then it’ll be finished off with some ground cover.
But, yay! the front-corner garden pathway & flowerbed project is done! No more weed digging with the hoe-pick for me! Just civilized flowerbed weeding from now on, and even that is limited because I was smart and put down some weed control membrane in the far edges of the border (next to the wild part of the croft) and covered with a hefty layer of bark mulch.
I’m so happy.
It’s been 2 springs and 2 summers of back-breaking, oh-so-boring and really tedious work. The Hubs helped at a couple of points when he saw I was in real difficulty – last year when I was digging up the wild grass over the section of clay soil in this area, and this year when the second load of chips got delivered when I was busy on another project – so he jumped in to finish the last small bit of walkway and do the step. Isn’t he nice!
While this is a huge milestone, the vision isn’t yet complete. I have visions of pompom flowers and spring bulbs mingling with my ground-cover sedum to provide a jaunty happiness as you look up from the rockery driveway side, to view the front corner garden area. I’d like it to provide happiness to the walkers who sometimes exercise past the house. There have been so many gardens that have provided me with happiness when I’ve been trudging through the monotony of household errands, that I think it’s important to try to provide a touch of visual interest and joy to whatever community one may be in.
My sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ cuttings that I took in late spring are starting to bud. I love this plant’s fleshy leaves and bushy nature. They also do well in the wind and dry spots – I was excited to take cuttings from my two well-established and adult plants that I set in the garden 3 years ago and set them at the entrance of my front-corner garden project.
The asters that I put there a couple months ago are flowering now too!
I still have a long way to go before I can say that I have achieved front-garden curb appeal – is it called curb appeal if you’re in the countryside, extremely remote and rural and have no curbs? Road-edge appeal? Country-lane appeal? But, to this end, I have more projects either on the go or ready to start (when the gale stops).
I am trying to grow lavender from seed! Eeeek! This is supposed to be really hard to do. I did my research and found out that the best one for northern Scotland (that would tolerate this climate which is notoriously not what lavender loves!) is Lavender Angustifolia. I actually have some lavender that I planted 3 years ago in throes of hope, that have survived, while other varieties have died after a season. So I have some hopes about this, but the germination process from seeds is a bit complicated – a few weeks in this environment and then a few weeks in the opposite and then a few weeks back and cross your fingers that something sprouts, basically! So I’m in the middle of major experimentation with this, but I do need a bunch of lavender plants for another part of the front garden country-lane appeal so here’s hoping!
And yes, we have a gale folks – so I’m drinking tea and grumping. But, here’s the book I started – for some reason I still haven’t been in the frame of mind to start Little Fires Everywhere, but this one that has been in my library for a while has finally called out to me.
Happy September, folks!
