New Flowerbed

When we moved onto this property I hauled the many bags of oak leaves and grass clippings I had collected from neighbors. I never found the time or energy to attend to the large pile so it just sat there for 5 years. I don't need to tell a gardener that this is gold. I started digging into it to fertilize my new bulb bed. I decided to salvage it, you can see the pure oak leaf mold I salvaged in the containers behind this bed.

When I got to soil level, it was not like the native soil at all, it was soft and rich a shovel-depth down. Nature had already loosened and made me a flowerbed. My job was to turn it and dig out the fist-size granite chunks and make a border to keep out the Bermuda grass. I can hear it plotting to jump in right now.

Don had some old reclaimed wood he is sorting out and we're burning the rotten stuff. I salvaged some for the border and topped it with some reclaimed limestone we got from a renovated motel. You may think all this was free, but I have taken some ibuprofen every night before bed for a few days.

Now, what should I do with a nice new bed that is butter-soft almost a foot deep? Be still my heart!
  

Wood Borders

Stone on top

Finished and watered in