Wooooo! Finally got the roots/stumps out! It went a LOT easier than anticipated I'd honestly rather dig out stumps than dig out rocks...but...I still have the other side to go. Maybe I'll tackle that next weekend since it's a long weekend. Cross fingers! Stump one, the Juniper. Stump two. This one gave me hell..... And stump three! I think this one was the easiest to get out. Ready to be back filled, throw down some good weed fabric and install the borders Any opinions yet on a sand base to facilitate with drainage?
I don't know about the sand option. I'm sure someone will come along and help you with that. But, I must say... I'm VERY impressed with all the work you had to do to get out those stumps! My back is hurting just looking at the photos! I saw the vehicle tire and thought... wonder if she hooked them up the car and pulled them out? :-D Again... thumbs up on a marvelous job with those stumps. You must be proud of your hard work.
Lots of digging with the shovel in thankfully soft and pliable clay. The first one wasn't so heavy but the last two, easy 30lbs each. But, I have dogs and I'm used to getting a 35lbs of dog food about every 2 weeks so, I'll chalk it all up to my still being young. I AM however VERY glad that I was able to get them out. Some of the roots had to be cut from the stump, but even those were shallow enough that with some general tugging, they came out of the ground too. I really couldn't be more pleased Thanks I REALLY now cannot wait to see my plants in there LOL. Still got another 10 days though before I see if any of them are going to sprout from the seeds but I'm hopeful. My heart will swell once I get them planted and can really show the fruits of my labor. I'm sure you all know exactly what I'm talking about already though. I'm excited, what can I say?
And Here in Iowa and digging deep around house. We have to call 800-number before you dig phone,electric and gas lines. Good luck.
Very impressive! You did well getting those stumps out, and the remaining roots, too. You obviously do not need to go to a gym to get a good workout! May I suggest that you re-think the weed fabric? It generally degenerates after a year or two and you have shreds of fabric surfacing. Also, seeds can germinate on top of it, which means you get to weed anyway. Rather than investing in a weed fabric, why not spend the money on more mulch, which will enrich your soil and suppress weeds. Notice "suppress" not "eliminate". Weeds have a way of overcoming all our inventiveness.
I'll certainly consider the mulch. I really do like the fullness and the "pop" it brings to the beds I'm not actually planning on seeding anything outdoors though so I'd eventually be planting stuff started indoors that's gotten established on the outside. I have a very interesting weed here that I have no idea what it is but it seems that it spreads so much faster than any of the other weeds I usually see. The weed fabric I'm looking at also allegedly will afford me about 10-15 years before anything needs to be redone with it. Also, since I'm not ready to plant anything new since we're only a few weeks away from winter, I feel the weed fabric will protect the soil from new weeds and keep it IN the landscape bed over the season. We have wet winters down here and until I can afford to get all of the drainage concerns addressed, I think the weed fabric is going to help me keep up with my investment thus far on that bed. Eeep....I still have another one to do too...I'm optimistic for the gutters this weekend though, if I can find someone to help me install
Alicia... if you can dig out those big ol' nasty roots in just a couple of days, I have all the confidence that you can put up some gutters. That is, if you're not afraid of climbing ladders (like me).
Well, no gutters installed yet, but! They've at least been purchased! My coworker came over to help for a couple of hours on Saturday and between mowing the yard and moving the rock piles from my sidewalk, and the threat of rain, we decided to just forgo trying to get the gutters up. I'll try again this weekend. So! This pic is from Saturday after we cleaned up the sidewalk: And then this pic is from today after deciding I wanted to try filling the bed back up. I think I'm still going to get some more soil to put in there but it's almost done. I want it to rain again so I can see what challenges I'll have with the current level and if any spillage happens from the border. I'm also especially excited because my Viola seeds are starting to sprout and it looks like one of my Coleus pots is to! Very pleased and hopeful for them
That is looking MARVELOUS! What a change you've made and so quickly too. Can't wait to see it full of happy growing plants.
Lpyrbby: I wish I would have read your post earlier about you putting down the weed fabric. I saw a show on the Public Broadcasting station here. It showed that the landscape fabric really doesn't keep the weeds from growing down into your soil. I for one can attest to that. They also demonstrated that instead of letting water run threw like they clam it does. Water can not penetrate it. I had always wondered why the flowers in the front of the house seemed to need watering more than my other gardens. Then I remembered that I had put in some new plants and had run into old fabric cloth that the previous owners must have put down. So I went out with my pitch fork in hand and stabbed threw the cloth so that my flowers could get the much need water they needed. So you might want to pull up the fabric cloth and just put down on top of the soil a good mulch. Or if you know someone who has a pitch fork borrow it and stab a lot of holes in it. Also once your plants are in. If you aren't going to grow anything from seed you can buy Corn gluten meal and sprinkle that on the soil in the spring to keep weed seeds from sprouting. Sorry for the late info on how bad that fabric cloth is for ones garden.
I actually haven't gotten to the fabric yet I think I need another yard worth of soil in that bed so possibly this coming weekend I'll get to that. Not sure just yet. I've heard so many mixed reviews about the weed fabric, but I still think I'm going to opt in and do it, mainly because I'm not going to be planting anything in the beds until spring and I think the fabric will help me maintain some of the soil in there since we have pretty wet winters. I'll wind up cutting holes in the fabric in the spring to transplant my plants and should realistically leave a hole large enough for the plants to have room to grow. Unless the gutters make a HUGE change in how much water the beds get, I think there will still be significant amounts of water that will make it's way into the beds. We shall see I guess! Still early yet And I REALLY can't wait to get to the bed on the other side of my door either. Things look so off balance right now!
lpyrbby--- Your garden bed looks beautiful, and without plants too! Great job, what a lot of hard work. I am impressed. Good luck with the spring planting.
