Beginning the Garden

It starts with the mulch.

We had seven cubic yards of hardwood mulch delivered to the vacant lot right by our fence, and we will be defining the beds and walkways with this stuff, which stinks like terrible car deodorizer.

As soon as it was delivered we hopped in the van and picked up two of the four troughs, hereafter referred to as tubs.

 Our local Soddy Daisy store had three, so we returned and got the third one, then dropped it off at our backyard and then went to another Tractor Supply in Dunlap, down the mountain from our old house, to get the fourth one. We were on a mission! Since we were in the area we did go back to the old house to check on it, and make sure all will go well at the closing. Coincidentally while we were driving I got a text that confirmed our closing date had been moved up from May 9th to April 25th, only one week from today! Great news, and I couldn't be happier.

The tub placement is going to be surrounding the patio, so we can enjoying the plants and get to them with the hose easily. They will be raised, leveled, holes drilled for drainage, and surrounded by mulch, so this is the before picture. 

At the old house I had some plants dumped out of their pots so I could retrieve the pots when we moved, and a few of those plants survived the heavy frost and snow, even without their containers, so I rescued them and repotted them again. Then I checked on the emerging hosta down at the bottom of the driveway and was not surprised when a gentle tug brought them up out of the ground, all their roots eaten away. 

 Those nasty moles ate away everything but the crown, so if I left them there, they would eat that too and I decided to get them to a safe place in my new garden. The leaves are up, so I do believe new roots will form and I will have my beloved hosta again. I made a quick nursery bed in a little swimming pool, and placed it in the darkest corner of the yard, which has very little shade. I will blog their progress, or their demise, but I do have hope, having been through this so many times before at that property. I will not miss the moles at all.

Dave has plans to paint the tubs and I will leave the color scheme to  him. We had plans to raise these to waist level, but then changed our minds. At this point the 8' long, 3' wide tubs are about 24" high, and with the supports we plan, they will be about 4-8" higher, and I can easily sit next to them on my garden bench and reach past the center of the beds. 

I have ten more ceramic pots that will be included in the design, just waiting along the west side of the house. And those green and red plastic pots will be filled too. My plan for this side of the house which is the most viewed by the neighborhood, is variegated Euonymous, Knockout roses, and Miscanthus grasses.

 

 My neighbor, Diane, has a breathtaking garden surrounding her house with pansies, tulips, iris galore, and daylilies. I love that she has hosta on the westside in the bright hot sun. It gives me hope. Love her Japanese maple too, and I covet a similar specimen or two for my garden.
And I met another neighbor who turned me onto a garden center in Ooltewah, which is just what the old gardener in me needed. O boy!