Early Spring Garden Update

In the past few weeks, I've done a bit of garden clean up. This really could be two posts but I'm going to combine it into one. 

First, I hacked back the maiden grass, pink muhly, and rosemary. It's looking awfully drab and bare but it needs to be done to make way for the new spring growth. 

Ooh boy, I made a mess back here. I severely cut back the trees -I brought their canopies up a bit and chopped off the tops. I want these to be much denser and squared like a topiary. 

The corner by the hot water heater had a dead potato vine that I dug up some time ago and replaced with a hydrangea vine. There were a lot of dead branches still clinging to the upper fence which I removed. 

I moved the ferns closer to the wall to make room for some hellebores which I've been dreaming about for months (had to special order to get those babies).

At the same time, I removed a fabric barrier that was in this entire wood chip area -under about 4 to 6 inches of mulch. I did this because it was really hard to plant anything with it in place and I think it was inhibiting the root systems of the ferns and boxwood. It was hard work getting that out.

As of this writing, I have started construction of a fence to hide the ugly hot water heater, so am waiting to mulch this area until after I dig my post holes.

 !

I also planted a second hydrangea vine (that I ordered at the same time as the hellebores). This vine is pretty mature and I am really hoping it goes bonkers back here. It is advertised as liking shade, so we shall see. We shall see.

Ok. Now to the second part of this post: 

A waddle fence. 

This fence is intended to hide the hot tub recirculating water pipes until the box grows big enough to do that. Those pipes are PVC and therefore UV sensitive. I sprayed them with a UV guard when they first went in and until now I had used some fence offcuts to camouflage them.

Ugly, ugly, ugly. They could have gone underground but we wanted to avoid having to dig a trench the length of the yard.  They dip underground at the corner by the shed.

I used 1x1 redwood stakes spaced about 14" apart. These are not pressure treated but I figure they will last until that box gets a good head of steam (they've not yet been a year in the ground). 

The willow I bought ages ago to use as a screen for the hot tub heater and to prevent dogs from peeing on my front hedges. Both endeavors proved unsuccessful. Waste not, want not, this material was easily recycled for this project.

Sticks are woven in between the stakes, overlapping is fine and necessary. It's a good practice to weave a row up high, then push down in one go.

  Long overlapping sticks can be trimmed with clippers.

My wild flower meadow is looking drab and sad. I need to find some plants that will carry through the winter when this spot gets no direct sun. I'll be seeding this area soon as it is starting to get dappled sunlight. 

I was completely unsuccessful with the two native grasses I planted in the fall (Muhlenbergia microsperma and Festuca microstachys) but will try again earlier in summer when the sun still hits this area -I have a ton of this seed left. I'm also planning on transplanting some more feather grass to this area which is plentiful in the garden having gone rogue in many other places. 

All together now...Peace and Love and Gardening.