A great gardening summer....

My 'premiere' photo and entry celebrates the completion (well, gardens are never really complete, are they ?) of a project that began in the fall of 2007, and led to a complete redo of our perennial beds. It began with the removal of a very large patch of English Ivy that had invaded and surrounded, over the course of many years, the large oak you see in the photo. Mixed in with the ivy were some old daylilies, two varieties of ferns, and an old, leggy azalea. Everything was dug up and moved to other parts of our 7.5 acres, though I saved very little of the ivy. With the very able assistance of my son, David, we installed sprinkler system pipes, dug the pond you see and moved in the large rocks. I also brought in many loads of compost and garden soil which I used to improve the sandy soil as I replanted. And I built the raised bed against the workshop (not visible in this photo). I began the brick walkway but had much left to do when winter interrupted. Work resumed in early spring 2008 and continued throughout the growing season around the workshop. But we were very pleased with the results you see here. The garden walkway has become obligatory for our early evening strolls and the concrete seat by the pond our favorite spot to sip a beer after feeding the fantail goldfish. More about our garden redesign in coming posts..... Rick