I pushed through the panic and started the heavy lifting of the old railroad ties. Terry came over with the four-wheeler and helped. He on one end and I on the other.
We loaded the ties onto the four-wheeler and drove them over to the coral gardens, which I have decided to spruce up a wee bit also
Terry worked with me for a couple of hours; afterward leaving to go do some work at the Upper End.
I like the new look to the flowerbeds at the corral garden spot. The old boards were starting to rot so repurposing the boards with the railroad ties will help keep everything going strong there.
Here you can compare…the new beds with the railroad ties and the two older beds.
I hope to get the two older beds freshened today.
We lifted and removed the ties.
Then later as I hauled soil to the repurposed beds and replanted my plants I looked carefully at what was happening!.
Seeing my garden beds with new eyes, so to speak.
And I LOVED it!
I will get everything out this bed and plant it all to grass.
The grass will be so much nicer to deal with!
Since I can’t figure out what to do with the bed where I keep all the bird feeders, I decided to take Janice Blawat’s, Emily Summer’s and Sara’s advice.
I am going to plant a ground cover or herbs in the bed and hope they smother everything out!
There!
I am moving forward!
Thank you each and everyone for the excellent advice and concern. I will have to seriously look into a sprinkler system at some point. Then my work will be shrunk to a more manageable size. (I hope)
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
i think you are not a “mere mortal”. tracing your family tree, i suspect one or more Amazons in it …
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Chuckle! You make be laugh.
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J > Your photos are wonderful! For great photography, one thing is required above all else : observation, perhaps what some folk might now refer to as mindfulness. And for that you need to make mental space. Unfortunately those things are hard to achieve in today’s world. But you have achieved just that. Thanks as ever for your wonderful photos and thoughts.
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You are most kind. Thank you!
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It looks as if you’ve got a handle on your garden beds. I hope they do shrink your work load (once they’re finished) over the summer. I know they’ll look great!
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Terry is helping or I would never be able to get anything done.
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An hour of work now saves many hours in the summer.
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Actually heading into the second day of steady work. But YAY
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When two work together, the work is more than halved. I like the way this is going! How about camomile on the ground below the bird feeders? It spreads easily, it smells good when you step on it, and you can make a tasty herbal tea from it, plus you can run a mower over it if it goes a little crazy and it’ll come back again. When I make new beds in a garden, I bury a soaker hose or drip feed under the mulch to drip water slowly and economically into the soil, rather than a watering system that sprays and wastes water by evaporating into the air.
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Excellent Idea! Thanks, Kate
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Most of my front yard is ground cover that is sold as Stepables. That means it can be walked on with no destruction. I do not have to mow it and it flowers so pretty in the summer. The bees love the purple flowering thyme. It’s been out there 4 years now and has filled in nicely. I do wish I had irrigation though. I can spend way too much time watering it because we get no rain in summer anymore. I think the planet has tilted. ? Those railroad ties are exceedingly heavy. That’s what is holding my yard in back up. I would not want to be moving them. My son move some of his this week and they are both quite sore. I bet you are too.
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It was chopping out the tree truck that got me. What is the ground cover you are using?
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There are several out there for variety. It’s a thyme variety of the stepables that has glorious purple flowers. You can see a bad photo of it here. https://insearchofitall.wordpress.com/2016/05/27/show-no-mercy/
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Thyme! Thanks you so much. I am on the search now.
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Oh, you’re getting lots of good things accomplished Linda! Good for you! Before you know it you’ll have it just like you want it and with a lot less work for you during the growing season. Glad you’re taking good advice and trying new things. It’s going to be great!
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I’m very excited!
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Shrinking the workload has a nice ring to it! Yes! The new beds look great! Starting to look like spring…
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Cold today so we are taking a break. Thank you, Genevieve!
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I’ve got two of those things in my yard. They are HEAV-Y. GAWD.
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They are…I have lots, I moved them there myself, but at my age now I had to have Terry help me remove and replace them.
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Wow. You are a powerhouse. I tried to move one. Nope. Wouldn’t budge…
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They are huge and heavy and way too hard for me now at my age
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Very hard, heavy work, glad you got them moved,
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Yes. Now to plant to grass and maybe put up a cute fence
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It will be interesting to see what the smothering plant will be. I know what I use here, but it would not work there. Some of those that smother best are too aggressive, and would make more work rather than less.
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I know…that is my HUGE concern! What do you suggest.
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Well, that is what I mean. What I would suggest would not work there. I like either freeway iceplant, Carpobrotus chilensis, or the common (unimproved) zonal geranium, Pelargonium hortorum. The iceplant can be plugged from bits that get pruned from around the edges somewhere else, like on the walkways down by the beach. It does not cost anything, and would be dumped anyway. It covers very thickly, and I have no problem disposing of it when I no longer want it, although it is rather heavy. As aggressive as it is when growing, it pulls up and dies very easily. Zonal geranium has the same advantages. Because I always have it growing around here somewhere. I simply plug the pieces of those that get cut back in winter. It grows like a week, but is also very easy to pull up. It should not be confused with the prettier garden varieties, which do not grow as aggressively. Anyway, that is more information than you need, since neither are common there or would survive the winter.
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Shoot! I had hope! Thank you, I found this very interesting anyway.
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Busy girl! Wonderful images dear Linda! Well done with your beds .. Now how happy do your hens look 😊
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Those two little hens are ever so much fun, they follow me everywhere—they also tear up all my flower beds. But, oh well, I guess that is their job.
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They sure do like scratching 😃
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