Friday, August 15, 2014

Deck Box Again, Part 2

Well, I changed plans and saw I needed about 6" more soil.   I raked the poor soil level level and used 4 wheelbarrows full from the existing garden out back.  The lawn-level digging at the sunken patio edge will wait another day ( have a tiller and think that is needed for the patio drainage problem).

So I took care of the deck framed bed.  This morning.  After staying up all night...  I'm crazy sometimes.

When I had it filled a bit more, I planted.  I had a flat of impatiens and a flat of coleus (about 36 each).  And a lot of the coleus were doubles.  So I teased the coleus apart and planted them at one end and all the impatiens at the other.  I don't expect much from them, they only have 3 months to grow.  But I had them (from seed) since February, and I figured they deserved a chance to grow.  Next year, the whole bed will be hostas moved from the front yard so the deer won't eat them.

So the impatiens and coleus are just for this year.

Coleus...
Dwarf Hostas...
Impatiens...
 Looking at the bed...
The hostas along the other side of the patio.  When the deck-builders came in late June, I had one old hosta in the way, so I divided it into about 12 pieces.  I bet they all survive and thrive!
And as they grow, I will divide them more and fill the entire under-stair area with them.  They aren't fancy ones, but they will fill up all the under-stairs in a few years.

And a nice thing I thought of...  Each winter, the wind blows tree leaves into the patio and I am forever shoveling them back out.  Well, now all I have to do is shovel them onto the hosta beds.  Decaying leaves are like fertilizer to the hostas.




4 comments:

Mariodacatsmom said...

Looking good. Actually, the plants you planted should amount to something yet this year. Our growing season is so short in WI. My plants were obtained Father's Day weekend (June) and are in their prime now.

Megan said...

Yay Mark. Lookin' good. Please take a pic in, say, four weeks time to show us how the plants have settled in.

Megan
Sydney, Australia

Bella said...

Have you thought about screening in the lower patio? That's a DIY project for you.

Mark's Mews (Marley, Lori, Loki, and Binq) said...

I have indeed, Bella! And installing some corregated plastic panels just under bottom of the deck (to direct rainfall off the sunken patio to avoid basement flooding).

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