Starting New

This weekend, I had the pleasure of working on a parkway garden with Sonya and Amour.  This spot will be enjoyed by everyone that passes by the house.  The parkway was full of grass and weeds, so our first step started a few months back.

We smothered the area with cardboard creating an organic rich plot. This is, by far, the easiest way to start a garden bed.  There is no tilling, no need to break your back, and you get free organic matter.

Yesterday, we added compost and topsoil.  This gives the plants a good place to start.  The extra compost will help retain rainwater.

Finally, we planted water wise plants.  This included echinacea, black eyed Susans, grasses, salvias, geraniums, yarrow, and sedums.  Because this is the first year,  we scattered some cleome, love-in-mist, and columbine seed.  This will help the area fill in til the garden becomes established by year two or three.   No garden is worry free.  As a first year garden, there is a little more watering and weeding involved.  Our goal is to have an organic garden that survives on rainwater, offers beauty, needs minimal weeding, and provides for our pollinators.

I’ll be sure to post again about this garden later in the summer.  Excited to see how it grows in!