July Iris work? What should I be doing now?

Oh no watch out for the box turtle....

The man and his tools -- this was what seemed like month's ago, but in reality only a few weeks ago. My man and his tools (Can you tell I confused and distracted him. :D LOL)

To make our beds appear to be raised, we tilled down into the "virgin" soil that the patch contained about 4-6" and piled that on top of the bed and then added in the amendments. Then we laid cardboard on the path and covered it with about 3" of mini pine bark nuggets.

This message was edited Sep 17, 2009 6:01 AM

Just another angle showing the raised bed. I love it when things are freshly planted and the weeds seem to be never coming back. Oh if they would only stay weed free... LOL

This is the area still waiting to be completed. One area between the paths will house the "romance" garden and the large center bed will be the miscellaneous irises and yes, I'll have maps...(this time).

LOL.

Roni it looks so good. Love the Boxed turtle LOL. Love that cardboard and wood chip idea. I am going to do that too.

Project Update.

Okay with the exception of a few spring bulbs that came up in our pathways (which will be removed and relocated) and the weeds -- do they ever stay away -- here's the finished project. Keep in mind the picture is a pieced panorama and nothing is truly close up.

It is beautiful and many of the irises, thank you to this crazy weather from Ma Nature, are blooming in a mixed up jumble of sizes and color -- it looks like next weekend could be peak weekend. So if you'll be in the neighborhood, get directions and come see me.

Roni

Beautiful!!! I'd love to see pix of your garden in full bloom, that must be something to see!

Go for it!

Thank you, I'll try to remember to do this again during peak. The central garden is going to be the largest section of non-bloom this year as it was the last section to be completed last fall (October to be exact). The rebloomers and earth & sky themed beds in the distance towards the front of the house, are the best as they were the gardens photo'd last July. The rebloomers are already into the TB season. I think the stones of the house foundation, the stones of the path leading to the back of the house and the stone walls all heat the ground faster than the ones in the foreground of the picture.

Roni

Hi Roni-

All your work is going to be worth it as they all settle down. I bet next year will be a mass of blooms.

Want to come down to TN and put in walkways here?

Neil

Lol. The walk ways we scraped about 2" off to make it seem our beds were raised (please note how much our memory fails in a few months -- it was actually 6-9" depending on the level of the path), put down a layer of cardboard and then mulched over them. I had to take out the paths that used to be flag stone as I kept tripping on them when I'd get light headed and I have some older older people who stop in who's walkers and canes do not like the stone trails. It was a good fix for us.

Neil, while I'd love a working vacation -- hey speaking of working vacation; aren't you supposed to be down under at this time of year.

Roni

This message was edited Apr 30, 2010 7:49 PM