"One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it brings."

Sunday, March 6, 2011

More front garden progress...

Sometimes the amount of work there is to do seems so easy and like it won't take too long, but then reality sets in and before you know it you're in the dark.
There was not a minute of free time for us this weekend.  We all woke up early to watch Sweet Pea's team play their last basketball game of the season.  Her 7th grade team beat an 8th grade team by 11 points and she played great, a fun way to start the day for sure.  As we drove up to the house we saw a dump truck parked and waiting for us to dump the soil we ordered.

Luckily this is what the sky looked like when we drove up and stayed pretty much that way all weekend.

Here are the 8 yards of soil we ordered.  It smelled so good!  Nothing like the smell of good soil.  Those piles didn't seem so bad at first, but after 2 days of shoveling it seemed like it would never end.  And when it was dark and we were still shoveling it on Sunday I didn't care how good it smelled anymore either, I just wanted it gone.  And it had to be finished since it was blocking my car in the garage.

One of the jobs my husband did was to put these edgers in along the driveway and sidewalk.  One reason was to make the edge look nicer and the other was to raise the soil a few inches.  I really like how it looks.

The soil underneath is mostly clay so the extra depth will hopefully allow to mix the good soil in some when planting new plants.

The smaller bed was filled by the end of Saturday.  I plan to grow Scarlet Runner Beans on the trellis.  On the trellis by the fence I moved over a Clematis that had been in the front bed.

We ran into some problems with the larger bed which took time we weren't planning on.  My husband had reinforced several places along side the beds, but it still bowed out a bit when it was filled.  We had to dig out soil along the edge and then reinforce it even more.  This was filled by the middle of Sunday.

The last panel was put in place!  We ran out of time to finish the gates, hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll have a few hours to finish that and the arbor.  Then all that is left will be to paint the fence white.

While my husband worked on drilling holes in the concrete to set the last two posts, I started  filling up the raised beds on our side yard.  The only mistake we ever made over here was using pea gravel around the beds rather than crushed.  It's impossible to wheel anything over pea gravel so all the soil had to be carried in using large tubs.  That was quite the workout since all four beds needed a good 6 inches or more of soil.  All I kept thinking about as I carried the tubs was that I won't feel guilty eating lots of chocolate tonight!

All the beds in the front yard got a nice new layer of this good garden soil, which has quite a bit of compost mixed in.  It was dark when we finished so I don't have pictures of the finished beds.  Tomorrow is the last dry day predicted so I need to go and unbury all the plants that had soil dumped on them in the dark.  What a relief to have that done!

I was hoping we'd get the gates up this weekend but we ran out of time and daylight.  I'm still very proud and excited about what we got accomplished.  Now at least I can get planting!
Luckily the girls both got to do something fun while we did the hard work.  Sweet Pea went to see "Gnomeo and Juliet" with her friend and the Littlest Gardener went to my parents home.  When my Mom brought her back home she brought us homemade meatball sandwiches and apple crisp.  What a great way to finish the weekend!
All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress. Pin It

37 comments:

  1. Everything looks amazing! I agree, fresh dirt smells amazing. I can't wait until our ground defrosts so that we can start gardening.

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  2. You got so much work done, and against a deadline too! It looks great! Hope you had that chocolate, as well as the meatball sub and the apple crisp.

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  3. Whew! I bet you're tired- but a good tired. It looks like it's all coming together nicely- I can't wait to see your plantings!

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  4. Wow, that was a really big job that you got done over the weekend, congratulations! Everything looks awesome! Enjoy the planting of the new beds...
    Christina

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  5. So much hard work, but it will be so beautiful! I can't wait to see everything you plant! :-)

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  6. Catherine, you'll have so much space for new things in the garden! So exciting!

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  7. What a massive task you accomplished this past weekend! Well done to you both!!! The edging your husband did looks so neat and you definitely won't be sorry you got that done upfront i.e. before any new rain could wash away all the soil so carefully placed! I love your trellises and once the clematis and beans wind themselves up their supports, it's going to look delightful.

    Your raised beds throughout are enviable, Catherine. I know you'd very much hoped everything would be done before your parents-in-law arrive, but you're almost there and it's all looking great, so they will be very impressed by what HAS been done...and just maybe the weather will be kind and your husband and his Dad can work together on installing the gate and arbour, while you and your MIL get planting :)

    Your Mother sounds like mine (except mine now lives in Australia!) - she was also always so thoughtful! You're so blessed to have your folks living close by!

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  8. Catherine, an impressive endeavor! My hat is off to you! What an adventure in gardening! As I have plans to add some sort of gravel around my gardens this year..I'm taking note....pea gravel may not be the answer. Rest well and looking forward to your future posts. Cheers, Jenni

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  9. You two have sure worked hard but it all looks great. I know you must be so excited to get to the stage where you can plant. I know you must be so tired and have sore muscles and I bet the delicious meal from your Mom was such a treat. I hope Sweet Pea enjoyed the movie. It sure looks like a cute one!

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  10. Whew! What a lot of work! Now I'll quit dawdling saying it is too hot to work!

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  11. Oh, Catherine, I could feel my back hurting just reading your post. This is going to look wonderful and much easier to maintain because of the raised beds.

    Eileen

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  12. I LOVE what you are creating there. You are really coming along with this project and pretty soon it will be done. That dirt looks wonderful too, very rich and just waiting for things to grow in it.

    Thanks for the update.

    FlowerLady

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  13. Like the other commenters, I'm blown away by all the work you're accomplishing - your blog is well named! Those raised beds waiting for planting are enviable, as is the neat sidewalk edging.

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  14. My muscles are aching after reading this. It looks so good Catherine, what a nice compliment to your neighborhood. You seem to be racking up in the giveaway department, congrats!

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  15. Catherine, All the work has paid off. It looks stunning, I love the new design. You must be so proud. Happy gardening this week.

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  16. Good homemade food after a hard day's work is the best! And, you earned that chocolate. Your beds look so good. All the nice soil will be great for your plantings. I like the edging by the sidewalk. It really dresses it up. Now, get some rest!

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  17. almost done and ready to plant...so nice...can't wait to see it start to grow in..what an amazing job you are doing yourselves...

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  18. Would I ever love to have some of that rich looking soil. Could you just have some sent here?!?!?

    Like your new picket fence. Very cute!

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  19. Wow - your front garden is really coming together! It looks amazing. All the hardscaping - edging, picket fence, raised beds, gravel - is such hard work. My back and shoulders were hurting just looking at this. You and your husband make a great team!

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  20. So exciting...is there anything as promising as all that bare soil...a real blank canvas, just waiting for the gardener's touch!

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  21. I can't wait to see all the beautiful plants in your garden.......almost spring !!! lovely week love Ria......xxx...

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  22. I like your last paragraph there - all is the work of a gardener in progress. I would like to think the thief has been stopped but you know...

    Anyway the yard is looking so good. It is going to be beautiful all filled in with your pretty flowers. Lots of new gardening areas.

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  23. Your raised beds look great!
    Your garden is really looking wonderful...nice too that you have a handy and clever helper!

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  24. I love the first photo Catherine, gorgeous! I can empathize with what feels like an endless shoveling project. At our last house, we had endless deliveries of compost, soil, mulches, gravels, sand, cobbles etc. My car spent more time trapped in the driveway than on the road some weeks! Your raised beds are looking great though. I wondered about bowing on the long beds, we kept ours to 8ft in length so we didn't have to deal with that, but I'm glad you got it fixed. Love the edger along the sidewalk too!

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  25. I too played with dirt this weekend! Perfect weather. I wonder--is it always a race against time and weather in the spring? On the pea gravel-can you lay down some wood in the path you take the wheelbarrow? Sounds easier than carrying tubs!

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  26. Congrats Sweetpea. Way to show those older girls! LOL!
    Catherine just looking at all of that work you all did makes my back hurt. It loos so wonderful though and the edging along the sidewalk looks wonderful. It is all looking so marvelous and I bet you are feeling like the end maybe in sight now.

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  27. I think you accomplished a lot. I love the raised beds in your side yard.

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  28. Catherine, I agree with you about everything taking longer than you think it will (I emptied a pick-up load of compost this weekend - and last weekend and next weekend, too, probably), but you stuck with the job and got it done. Isn't it interesting that there's usually a car blocked in the garage - or something - that forces us to finish when the temptation is there to quit? It's all so beautiful already. Can't imagine how gorgeous it will be when your plants are big and lush. You and DH do good work!!

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  29. Wow!!! That's quite a lot of work you accomplished in one weekend. I bet you're sleeping better after that job!

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  30. My back hurts just thinking about how much work you've been doing. But oh, the results! Nice. I can't wait to see what you get planted.

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  31. Jeszcze trochę pracy zostało. Ale spokojne, wszystko się zrobi kolejno. Płot pomalowany na biało będzie przyjemnie wygladać. A zdjęcie na poczatku postu jest świetne. Pozdrawiam

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  32. Wow, my hat's off to you at taking on this project. It looks wonderful Catherine, you must be very proud of yourselves. I can't wait to see photos of it all in the summer, when the fence has been painted and the flowers are filling in and blooming.

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  33. Your vision is shaping up beautifully. I know this is hard work, and I applaud you and your family's hard work. Can't wait for the growing season to see those boxes filled with plants.

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  34. It's looking great Catherine! I love that soil and don't blame you for wanting to dig in it right away!

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  35. Yeah! for Sweat Pea's team, Whoop, Whoop!

    I can't wait to see all of that Pretty stuff come up that you're about to plant in your neat front beds!

    Your hard work makes your yard a pretty place to behold, as we have proof of from following your blog. Nice job!

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  36. What a LOT of work! You certainly earned your chocolate!

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  37. Your garden is looking really nice. I came across your blog trying to get an idea of what 4 yards of dirt will look like. Glad I'm not ordering as much as you have! Whew, that's a lot of work! Have fun.

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