Sallie’s Pandemic Garden Project

Making a new garden bed

Sallie Boge is portion out her garden with us today .

We garden in Riverside , a nearby suburb of Chicago ( Zone 5a–6b ) . In April 2020 we construct two new 11×16 garden beds for thin out our Kentucky bluegrasslawnand to add more plants for beneficialpollinators .

My husband , Mark , used a square - edge coon to slew the new layer outlines . We also converted the softly curving outlines of the existing perimeter beds into straight edge as well . This required lifting and reposition many live perennial andspring light bulb plantsin the perimeter garden bed .

In the above photo , 1×1 chunks of turf grass are awaiting removal . One method acting of eliminate the turf chunks is to lay them upside down in a secluded street corner of the yard and let them decompose over metre . Our property is not big enough to have asecluded area , so we sliced off thesoilwith my garden hand check and distributed it on top of the existing and new garden bottom . Admittedly , an easier way of cast aside of the turf would have been to hire a landscape gang to hale it away . But we did this during the first week of COVID lockdown , when getting a crew was extremely unmanageable . Besides , we had a lot more playfulness and gratification completing the project ourselves .

Look at the middle of the photo in the lower foreground . you’re able to see a robin patiently wait for a “ snack ” ( a worm ) . A little mickle of robins gather each clip we turn up more lawn . One robin even caught a insect that I tossed in his direction ! spend time in nature provides a lot of entertainment .

Before we finish excavating turf grass , 36Buxussinicavar.insularism,‘Franklin ’s stone ’ ( box , Zones 4–9 ) go far via Federal Express . After unboxing them , we gave the cardboard boxes a second life : We do a charityvegetable gardenat our Christian church , so we laid the box flat on top of theraised bedsand embrace them with composted moo-cow manure and shredded leaves . If you research “ lasagna gardening ” you will see that composition board is one of the favored foods of worms . It helps improve the soil as it disintegrate . you may still plant veggie seeds aftercovering a bed with composition board . but thump a hole in the moist cardboard and drop a ejaculate into the hole .

The above photo from our 2d - floor window shows the new garden bed partway through the sward - cutting process . The pipeline ofboxwood plantsis present around the perimeter of the distance . If you are enquire what is in the windowpane boxwood in the gloomy part of the photo , that is mesclunmix dinero . Lettuce was one of the food in brusque supply in the Chicago area during the first calendar month or so of the lockdown , so we grew some ourselves .

In the above photo , twoHydrangea paniculata‘Limelight ’ ( Zones 3–8 ) and the box are already installed in the middle of the new beds , while 56Nepeta‘Cat ’s Pajamas ’ ( zone 4–8 ) in their white glasshouse pots are awaiting installation . The genus Nepeta ’s main bloom time in our garden is mid - MaythroughJune . It still continues to flower throughSeptember , peculiarly if I cut away the spent flower stalks , but the colour is more muted . We still enjoy the geometry that the mass planting of nepeta create even if the gloss is not as spectacular . Many types of bees and butterflies enjoy it too .

The next stage of the project , in fall 2020 , involved planting a mixture of hundreds ofCrocuschrysanthus(early snow crocus , Zones 3–8 ) andCrocus vernus(large cupped crocus , Zones 3–8 ) , including the variety ‘ Jeanne d’Arc ’ and others . We now see and hear former outpouring bees buzzing around both types of crocus in these beds . We also plant dozens ofalliumsinside each boxwoodparterre . We purchased about nine differentallium varietiesto obtain a wide range of heights , blooming times , build , and colours . There are subtle differences in the sort . The above photo was taken in springtime 2021 . I timed the design so that the genus Allium and genus Nepeta would bloom at the same clock time .

This photo shows the garden beds in spring 2021 . By now there was no trouble in get kale at grocery store storage , so I embed pansies(Viola× wittrockiana , cool - seasonannual ) and ‘ Tete - a - Tete ’ daffodils(Narcissus‘Tete - a - tete ’ , Zones 3–8 ) in the window boxwood in the foreground of the exposure , which attract early butterflies and bee . Thedaffodilshave finished their bloom in this photograph . Since we designed the seam to have space in between each works , we top off each bottom with hardwoodmulcheach spring to create a dressier show , suppress potential sess , and reduce the amount of supplemental watering needed during what can be some red-hot drought shape in July and August . We also had our underground sprinkler organization reconfigured to accommodate the new bed and the reconfigured existing beds . If you have an existing underground sprinkler system and are consider change or adding bottom , it is best to be after for the add up monetary value as part of your entire project .

Our new bed still make for us viewing pleasure during our retentive Chicago - area winter . We like the shapes the C create with the individual boxwood plant life and the “ frosting ” that the Charles Percy Snow adds on top of theHydrangea paniculata‘Limelight ’ dried bloom heads . We hope you enjoyed our three - time of year horticulture process as much as we did . Happy horticulture at your own home .

Have picture to apportion ? We ’d love to see your garden , a particular collection of plants you have it off , or a wondrous garden you had the hazard to visit !

To submit , send out 5 - 10 photos to[email protected]along with some information about the plant in the depiction and where you have the photograph . We ’d screw to pick up where you are turn up , how long you ’ve been garden , successes you are proud of , failures you hear from , hopes for the future , favorite plant , or amusing stories from your garden .

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