I’ve had my eye on a spot in the front yard that gets a fair amount of sun, enough that I was tempted to try planting some sun-loving perennials. Most of our yard is far too shady for those (although we try; we still try).
Also, I thought the clump of hostas looked lonely.
And one week later:
Once upon a time, those lonely hostas weren’t so lonely. The hosta beds lined the entire driveway on the left-hand side. Over the years, the soil compacted and wear and tear took their toll.
For my next project, I’m thinking of using the sheet-mulch method to line the area between this clump of hostas and the ones in the front of the house. The local garden center has some lovely spotted dead-nettle that might work nicely in that in-between space. It’s shady enough under the trees for it to be happy and sunny enough in the yard that it shouldn’t take over the entire space.
We’ll see how much energy I have for that.
In writing news, I completed what I wanted to on Rose’s portion for The Rose Rebellion, and now I’m moving on to The Marigold Miracle. I had one of those shower epiphanies this week on how to revise the opening, and I’m excited to dive in.
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This looks lovely! What an exciting way to make an instant (or nearly instant) garden!
But, to clarify, what’s the process for making this? Did you define the space first with those wonderful hammer-in-place boundary pieces? Then layer with cardboard? (And why does your cardboard look so lovely, while mine has nothing but amazon.com logos all over it) And then top it off with 4″ or so of purchased compost? If so, this looks like something even I could try, even with our front yard which is in mostly shade… so hard to figure out. Thanks for the bit of inspiration!
Congrats on the writing work, and cheers for the shower epiphany. Thanks, btw, for the Emma M. Lion recommendation – I’ve been loving these books this week.
Yes, that’s essentially it. Depending on your space, you might want to put the border in last. Here I did it first to give me a sense of how much space I had to work with. After you place the cardboard, give it a soak. I recommend having these beds within the reach of a hose. Then I filled it with 4 – 6 inches of compost and plant those perennials in the little containers. You’ll want to add in some more compost throughout the season, again in the fall, and next spring. But the cardboard really blocks the weeds and grass, so while you’ll need to weed now and then, it won’t be constantly.
Also, my some of my cardboard has logos, but I put it logo side down. Also, I saved all the cardboard during the fall and winter instead of recycling it.