Both of my loyal readers have been begging for an update on our landscape project.
Last time I wrote on this, we had just finished preparing the beds. That was a lot of work.
Now I talk about the very end, where we finally install the plants!
This is the truck dropping off the plants.
As with the landscaping materials (mulch, compost, etc.), we were able to get wholesale prices at a major Dallas-area wholesaler thanks to a good contact. Speaking of landscaping materials, you can see that a lot of compost and most of the pine bark mulch was still left.
Here are all the plants sitting in front of the garage:
The whole collection was nicely fragrant.
The first step is to place the plants where they will eventually go.
Alec helped us with this chore:
Next step is to dig a hole for each plant:
In this case, you can see an area where we failed to till in the compost deeply enough. The sand left by the prior prior owners (i.e., 2 owners back) is still there.
It’s hard to tell in this picture, but you need to make sure the top of the root ball is a hair above the surrounding soil level. This ensures the root system gets enough oxygen.
Several hours later, all the plants in the front yard are planted.
Finishing up the side of the house:
See that crepe myrtle in the middle? Man, that was a heavy sucker! We ordered a 15 gallon one, but they gave us a 30 gallon instead. I had to get a neighbor help me set it in place. We just couldn’t do it.
In an earlier post, I said I had to replace a railroad tie that had rotted out. In the pictures at top showing where all the plants had been dropped off, you can see a railroad tie. Here is where I dug out the bad tie and put a foundation of bricks below:
The same spot later on, with the tie in place:
At this point, I still need to amend the soil behind that tie. (I didn’t amend the soil earlier because it would have fallen.)
The back yard was more of the same.