May 13, 2002
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I planned to work on my potted garden, and hopefully raised bed garden, every day ... but Fibro isn't having it that way. So, I'm giving myself a couple days between gardening activity to rest. Two days ago, I played with my son's, PJay, drill and made holes in about 6 flowerpots for drainage.
I've got several unruly and near dead bushes in front of my house. I want the near dead bushes cut completely down and removed. I want the unruly but salvageable bushes trimmed. I had intended on having a professional landscaper do the work and then I was going to utilize the cuttings for all my pots and potential raised bed. I wanted to practice a gardening procedure known as Hügelkultur. Sustainable America states that Hügelkultur is a process that has been "practiced in Eastern Europe and Germany. [It involves] making raised garden beds filled with rotten wood [and yard clippings]. The result is a low-maintenance garden that doesn’t require irrigation or fertilization."
Anywhooo, the landscaper missed our appointment date and then decided that if I wouldn't hire him to cut my front and back lawns on a weekly basis, it was not worth it for him to do a one time job on the bushes. I don't understand that business decision as the one time job on the bushes would bring in as much as doing my yard all summer. If I liked the one time job, I was going to refer him to several family members looking for the same service and probably would have contracted with him to do the lawn anyway. But I'm not a local landscaper, so what do I know about growing and sustaining such a business. You can't tell from the picture above right, but there are 6 bushes to be cut down completely and 5 bushes that need to be trimmed.
Well, I didn't let that setback stop me. I got out early in the morning. while it was still relatively cool and trimmed two of the bushes myself ... just enough to produce the trimmings I needed for the pots. I placed the clippings on top of the rocks. Between the rocks for drainage and the yard clippings for bulk, I filled the pots up about 1/2 full.
I purchased some weed/landscaping barrier fabric from Lowes. I didn't want to take a chance that any of the branch pieces would grow in the pots. Also, I'm still a little shell shocked from a problem I had in New Orleans.
The pots in New Orleans didn't drain properly, and the potting soil began to smell like rotten eggs. I ended up having to throw the soil away and it was disgusting cleaning out the pots. So, I lined these pots with the barrier fabric. I made sure the fabric came all the way up out of the pot.
I then filled the remaining 1/2 of each pot with potting soil. My granddaughter, Victoria, and I were literally elbow deep in dirt, I mean potting soil. We used two clean
kitchen garbage cans that I purchased at Home Depot. We dumped soil from last year's pots that were salvageable and mixed that with new potting soil and plant food. I used Miracle-Gro Moisture control potting soil from Home Depot and mixed it with Dr. Earth All-purpose plant food also from HD. Once the soil was in the pots, I cut the barrier material around the top of each pot. Now if I have to change out the soil, all I have to do is grab the fabric and pull it out neatly.
After a couple of days of recuperation, I will plant the flowers and then have my son, PJay, place them around the house.
Now it's time to listen to Fibro and rest.
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