The major project that got set aside was getting the ivy out of the beds in front of the house and replacing it with something more interesting. The really daunting part was over: Tom spent many sweaty hours pulling the ivy out and digging up its formidable roots.
--but once that happened, the beds sat barren for a long time, save the weeds that sprouted up in there. Since the weather has been lovely this weekend, it seemed like a golden opportunity to try to finish.
Well, "finishing" didn't quite happen. But then, I think about the (allegedly traditional) Japanese saying a friend told me once: "House finished, life over."
There's a lot more to do here, but we did manage to dig up a bunch of the ornamental grasses that have been taking over the border on the other side of the house and move them into the front beds. Funny, these all looked small compared to their parent plants, but when we relocated them, suddenly they seemed pretty good sized! And since they were just coming up as volunteers, they were destined to get pulled out anyway. Let's just hope they take root and get established before the weather turns.
As usual, this is going to be a multiple-trips-to-Lowes sort of project, since we need several more bags of topsoil and mulch, and then some kind of edging or stones to keep all the dirt from running onto the sidewalk. (I'll say this for ivy: it's a great bulwark against erosion.)
But still, we're happy with the result, and happy to finally be tackling the front yard, which we've sorely neglected ever since we moved in.
1 comment:
Ivy is about the only things keeping my gorgeous, 35+ year old dogwood from falling down the hill. I hate it, but it is useful.
I very much identify with everything in this post. The yard looks fantastic. Cheers to Tom for pulling all that ivy, not an easy task. And kudos for repurposing those volunteers, they look great.
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