All photo's can be enlarged by clicking on them.
I excavated a section 45x 20 x 3ft deep and covered it with 1 foot of wood chips. I then brought in truck loads of topsoil and mixed as much organic material as I could with it and started covering the bed over the chips. I now have a good size bed that is full of great soil. I laid down another foot of wood chips to keep the weeds down. I use wood chips by the ton. If you enlarge the pic you can see one major pile I've dwindled down in the background.
Don't mind the deformed Arborvitae globe in the foreground. (it was destroyed by deer) or the fact this pic was shot through a screen. (click photo to enlarge)
Now I had to find a way to fill it. I figured I would need a lot of anything I plant so I planned on using this bed as a propagation platform for certain plants.
I snagged a bunch of Lynnwood Gold Forsythias from a friend that had way too many of them for her to take care of. I lined the backside with a row of them the 45 ft length of the bed. ( I want to turn this into a hedge). The extra’s I lined along the driveway coming in.
The second row was a mixture of different types of rose’s. The third row happened by chance. A friend was re-landscaping her yard and told me I could dig anything I wanted out of her yard. I went for a pickup truck load of Tiger & Day Lilies & some type of Phlox. It stands four ft high. (I have yet to look it up). The fourth row was a mixture of low lying (6-12 inch) flowers.
This all took place four years ago.
The fricken deer ate everything down to the wood chips.
The Rose’s I pulled and threw in a pile for fill on a parking pad. The Forsythias looked pretty sad, nothing but bare sticks. The Lilies were toast. The flowers never had a chance.
I tried Liquid Fence deer repellent (actually I have tried everything) and it was working till the day I took a vacation. I came home and was pissed. Now I don’t want to look at the pretty little deer. I want them dead. I want their family dead, I want their kids dead. I want everyone of those Sob’s dead. I wish I were a hunter they would all be dead. I don’t want to go on here about my antics with deer. I’m trying to relax. I’ll write later about those Bastards.
So much for my propagation bed. I dumped another foot of wood chips on the whole bed and thought if something comes up great. I laughed at the deer when they came looking for my plants to eat. Eat the wood chips you Sob's. I moved to another home and let it sit for four years while I forgot I owned this God forsaken deer infested hole.
Fast forward four years.
I took 15 days vacation in March and another 28 days last month and have been busting my rear trying to get this property to look like the way I visualized it in my head when I bought it. I have accomplished more in this 43 days than I have in the four years I have owned it.
The bed looks like this now as I am pressuring the deer and staying on top of training them to stay away from the property. The Forsythias survived (well some of them) and have budded out with constant pruning & care. I replanted Rose Bush's with some that grow to 6 ft. The Lillie’s & Phlox have re grown & I have planted Yarrow, False Spirea, Meadow Sage, Shasta Daisy's, Spider Wort and a few other plants in the front row & any low lying leftovers from other beds.
I know your going to say spider wort is a Michigan weed but it is a neat weed.
The area that has no bed but is covered in chips will be green lawn.
(click to enlarge).
1st row = Lynnwood Gold Forsythias
2nd row = A mix of different rose's
3rd row = Tiger & Day Lillies
I had a boatload of rough cut redwood 3 X 6’s lying around for 20 years so I ripped them in half and made a trellis for the rose & topped it off with excess cedar. I have made only one so far and have not figured out how I’m going to make the rest. I’m thinking a lower cross hatch type to the left & right of the one you see then repeat high, low for a total of six for the six rose Bush's I have. I need help on this one. Feel free to post a comment. (click photo to enlarge).
I picked up a few sections of split rail and planted 12 ft rose climbers in the middle of each fence section. I'm training them to split in each direction so that they can run the rails. (click to enlarge).
The bed perimeter facing the future lawn had a one foot rock wall along it but from so much filling it was buried. I will bring it up to grade soon to finish it off. I also incorporated that rock wall with a small bed that is attached to the car pad behind it. I have no idea what I'm going to put in the small bed yet. I need to sort my rock pile and finish the wall as the rocks I have up there now are not the right size. (actually it was finished but destroyed from chasing deer with the car).
This is where I sit now with the first bed I made four years ago. It is starting to take shape and I think I have a good start on it and am glad some of it was salvageable from the hosing I took with the deer.
It is still not finished but it's a start.
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