With the materials applied last weekend, this week I’ve been planting. I’ve been planting in every spare moment available.

I measured and flagged the locations for “anchor plants,” basically the ferns, the shrub, and key perennial placements, then I began digging. I dug all the holes first to make sure I had the spacing correct before planting. The previous owner had river rocks and flagstones in this area, so there were a lot of rocks to content with. Then I found an old dysfunctional french drain system. It ran right through a line of holes I needed. I thought this would be the digging would be the hardest part of the process.

I called my landscaper who built the beautiful path and wall last year to ask about the crushed stone bed for the path and how important the extra width of it is to the integrity of the path. I wanted to get some of my plants closer to the path than that bed allowed. That got us talking about the project in general, and he advised that I reuse the dug up clay and work in about 33% soil conditioner.

Breaking up the clay and working in the soil conditioner became a serious challenger for The Hardest Part of the Process. I’d get a wheelbarrow of clay, add some conditioner, and work it all together. That would get me through a few plants. Repeat to exhaustion.

My parents came into town yesterday to celebrate my son’s birthday this weekend. They inexplicably decided to help. By this point I was down to mostly rocks in my pile of clay, so they used topsoil for the planting strip and then planted that strip.

While they worked on that I finished up the planting of the main bed and laid out the drip irrigation system.

We mulched all we could with what I had acquired. I’ll need to get more of that to finish it up. My daughter directed the placement of her yard art stake.

I feel like the project is in a stable place, and I don’t need to spend every spare moment working on it. I’ll water the plants a bit every day to help get them established, and I plan to pick up more mulch during the week when Pike isn’t so busy. Hopefully next weekend I’ll get the mulch done and check off this project!

I really would not be this far along without my parents’ help. Alone, I was hoping to get the main bed planted and irrigated, not everything.