Monday, August 12, 2013

Transplanting, Mulching and Other Outdoor Activities

For some time I have wanted to make some upgrades to one of the front gardens.  There was an area in front of one of the boxwood hedges that drastically needed some attention.  But the heat and humidity set in this year before I got to it, so I abandoned the project for indoor projects until we got a break from the oppressive weather.  Fortunately, that break came this past weekend.  We enjoyed much reduced humidity levels and with overcasts skies, we were shaded from the direct rays of the sun.  So we got started on this project.

This is the garden in the front of house, on the left as you face the house.  The first thing we did was to remove the bags of mulch and garden soil and square pavers which had been stored here since the spring.


As I said, this area has been neglected.  The boxwood hedge needed to be trimmed.  There were weeds that needed to be cleared away.  And there were dead weeds which had been sprayed with weed killer early in the season and then never pulled.  Very much an eyesore and it did not help curb appeal at all.  Good thing it was not on the market.  I would have been scolded by my realtor to clean up this mess.


We started this project by digging up these beautiful nandina which were planted behind the boxwood hedge some years ago.  If memory serves, I moved these from another garden and was looking for a place to plant them until I could find their final place in the landscape.  That is how they ended up behind the boxwood.


Fortunately, nandina are shallow rooted, so digging was relatively easy.  Once they were removed, we were able to clean up the area where they were planted and get on with our transplantation project.


We cleaned up the area in front of the boxwood, removing all of the weeds, both living and dead.  Then we laid out our six nandina along the front of the hedge, evenly spaced.  Digging the new holes was very easy. We made our way along the hedge, digging and then planting each nandina in its new home.

After we got all the nandina planted, we took the hedge clippers to the boxwood and at the same time, sculpted the nandina to be of uniform height.


Finally, after quite a few hours, we had a nice finished garden to enjoy.  I really like this look.


The nandina are a little gangly right now, but with time they will grow in and blend very nicely in this setting. We will continue to prune them as necessary to bring them all into uniform shape.  This will be a stellar look. The boxwood hedge cleaned up nicely with the use of the hedge clippers, as it does every year.


We had five bags of yard debris out for the public works department to pick up this morning (one bag you cannot see.)  That's a sign of good progress in the yard.  It was a beautiful weekend and I was glad to be back in the garden.  If we listen to the weatherman, we are told that we are in for superior weather this week and into the coming weekend.  If fall arrives a little early this year, it will not upset me.  Fall is my most favorite season of the year.  I like the spring when everything is coming alive and we are starting to feel a little warmth again. But there is no season quite like fall.


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