Over the past few years, the periwinkle in my front garden had advanced and advanced until it now fully controlled the garden bed. Never having had enough time on weekends to keep the spreader at bay, it just slowly took over.
Well - I have the time now because I am retired. And I am determined, that even though I have lost a few battles so far, I plan to win my front garden back!!
I first assessed the situation:
YIKES!!!! Yup, just as bad as I thought.
So one May morning, I woke up determined to get right out there and start digging it out.
Bad idea.
I wasn't even strong enough to get the shovel in the ground. Dry soil plus a dense plant with lots of roots = no success.
I thought about it and realized that I could ask my Godson Rob for help. Sure enough he was able to come over on the Sunday of Victoria day weekend and give me a hand.
Look what he managed to achieve in 2 hours!!
He piled all the dirt, plants and roots into our little trailer, where it will be hauled away to the dump tomorrow. (We added some pruned shrub branches as well!)
I bought one of those big yellow bags of triple-mix so that I would have plenty of fresh, new soil to work with.
I dug out many wheelbarrows full and filled the area. I knew I had several really nice medium sized rocks that had disappeared beneath said ground cover so I managed to find those and get them to the new area without putting my back out :)
Then I brought my selected plants and placed them to see how they would look: 2 Barberry bushes, Blue Oat grass (I split up a plant that the periwinkle had swallowed in another section) and lots of annuals: petunias, Geraniums, Dusty Miller, Ageratum and allyssum.
Starting to look pretty good! Then I added mulch and was all done. My summer job will be keeping the area watered and keeping the invasive periwinkle at bay.
So, now that the front garden is "finished, let me take you on a tour:
