April 4, 2013 - Promises, Promises

I really shouldn't show you what a sad state of affairs my front flower bed is in.  Actually, my entire front yard looks like it has been abandoned.  We had so much stuff blow off the pine trees this winter, it was all I could do to try to keep the mess cleaned up, let alone get anything else done out there.  The front yard always looks nasty in the spring, while the back yard is always so nice and green.

More than a month ago, I decided the bed by the front porch needed to be revamped.  It had been several years since I had dug a trench in the front of it and installed a perforated drain pipe, then covered it with rock to aid in draining water runoff from the driveway.  That worked fine for a while, but soon the soil built up to a level higher than the edge of the driveway, then the violets took over and created a solid barrier, and it was right back to square one with no drainage.

I tried to bribe Grandson Kevin with $$ to dig it out for me, but he wasn't interested in doing that four letter word........W-O-R-K.  So his father, my youngest son, said he would do it for me.  Like I said, it has been more than a month, and Son has used every excuse possible to NOT dig the bed.  Every time I ask him, he says he can't do it today, but "call me when you want it done".  I don't know how many times I've heard that.  Promises, promises.  I give up.

So.......here I go again!

Our irrigation water was turned on this week.  As if the people who did our recent sewer connection hadn't made a big enough mess, we discovered they had also broken some sprinkler lines.  I had just begun to dig out the bed, but work had to stop for repairs, and to let the flood subside.  This is how far I got on Tuesday.  I did get the pile of dirt shoveled up and I sifted out the roots.  That soil is being stored in the garden cart to be reused when I'm ready to fill the planters.  Wednesday (yesterday) was spent digging up lines and repairing them, flushing the dirt out and getting all the sprinklers up and working again.  At least I got Mr. Granny off his butt long enough to help.  Good thing, because I've never met a connection I couldn't cross thread.

 This morning I did some more digging.  The hardest part was right up next to the driveway, because the violet roots had grown down into the rock below.  It took me all morning just to get this much done, and then it started raining.

It doesn't make it any easier when the bed is full of huge roots like this.

 I shoveled up all the dirt, then got the new power washer out and cleaned up the driveway and the edge of the porch.

I moved the dirt, a shovel full at a time, over by the fence.  There is a low spot there, so I'm using it as fill, and will seed it in grass when I'm finished.  If I ever finish.  I think I need to dig it out about 2" deeper.  The plan is to cover it in weed block cloth and bark mulch, plant two small evergreens, and then set the three planters back over the tall sprinkler risers before planting them with something colorful, probably geraniums, dwarf marigolds and lobelia.

I'm glad I got rained out.  Now I can sit and enjoy that cup of tea!