Jo Ann keeping yourself busy is the best thing you could do for yourself and your health. The couch and the lazy boy should never take center stage. I could stay in my garden all day if I didn't have DW reminding me of the "honey do " list. .

More Before and Now collages.
Back of the fountain.


Lasagna Garden, started in 2009,This garden is 35 feet long and 10 feet wide. It is the view from my living area and computer desk.
The 2009 image is the layout from a photo of the area to be layered.

I love lasagna! Again, lovely transformations. Jo Ann, did you actually dig all the other gardens?

Jeanie

Jeanie, That's a good question, no I didnt.Other gardens were developed in landscaped areas where there was contractors cloth and plastic cover so not many weeds. The big job was digging the cloth out.
This is how the property looked. The property lines were planted with evergreens every ten feet and mulched.
This is the East side of the lot and comprises many gardens.
This view is from the driveway to the back of the property. We are situated at an angel and don't have much of a back yard.


This is a drawing of the east border with sub gardens labeled

Digging plastic/cloth out is quite a chore too. Those gardens are amazing and beautiful!

The Lasagna Garden.Started March 2009
Marked for shape



Layered with wet newspaper and spread with mulch


Marked for iris on order to come the end of April.


Laid out for the rest of the garden with intersecting path.


The path today



Here is the skinny on Lasagna Gardening.I didn't realize it is best to let the space with newspaper and mulch, age for many months,ideally a year.
I already had plants ordered and Polly K was sending me iris but I didn't really realize how impatience and ignorance was going to work against me until I started planting.
I had to dig thru the newspaper and sod because the decomposition hadnt even begun to start.
It was also necessary to amend the plant holes with potting soil and compost which I had done in the gardens on the east side of the property.
The first two years were really costly due to the potting soil but we make our own compost so that was a saving.
I had a five year plan and had all the gardens planted at the end of three years.
Due to the generosity of quite a few gardeners from the other site, I crammed plants in so those costs were minimal. I also purchased quite a few myself . DD said I must have planted 30 plants a day during the months of April and June.
There were fall bulb holes also.Meanwhile I wasn't getting younger which I took into account with the five year plan. Now it is just a few perennials replaced every year and weeding.

Amazing amount of work, Jo Ann, with a gorgeous result. I became impatient with the lasagna method too, so I know just what you mean. The first and second areas I did turned out well, but the third one was where I got impatient and I'm still working on cleaning that one up. Even so, it is still much easier than digging out the sod.

to you Jo Ann. Truly my inspiration. I know the newspaper method is easier on the back, but I like the sod cutting to speed up the process and minimise the weed / seeds regrowth.

Jeanie I agree.
I realize there has been a lot of work done here but Time is what I have and if I plan things carefully I get a lot done.
I don't have to garden just on weekends or after my job at night.
I have been at my leisure since 1996.
I still do artwork in my studio but no pressure there as I don't have to produce a large inventory for art shows or galleries.

Mike.
Since my experience I have learned tips from others who Lasagna garden.If I had been smarter I would have Googled to see how it is done.
I chose this method because I had a faint remembrance from Mother Earth News in the 70's

Jo Ann, did you see that Siberian 'Swans in Flight' won the 2016 American Dykes Medal?

Quoting one of the Cubits members from yesterday:
The day has been mostly overcast, until a short while ago....when the sun came out....and I just figured out why !!! The AIS announced the Medal winners, and a SIBERIAN won the Dykes !!
It's not the sun, after all, it's Polly smiling !!!"

Don't make me cry now.
I really miss her. She used to set me straight when I was ready to toss it all in.
She was so unassuming and had no idea how important our chats were.

I put grout on a few of the smaller stones and rocks in the Polly-Vi memory bed. Weather is going to be cooling off enough by mid-September--right after the Comanche Acres iris order arrives--that I can get to serious work on it. I got Carthalinae and Highline Amethyst Spurias from CA specifically for that bed.



http://www.comancheacresiris.c...
http://www.comancheacresiris.c...

Two more in the Before and Now series of collages.
The Livingroom collage. This was already established with huge Knipfolias and two Viburnum shrubs, all overgrown.


The Shade Garden a subgarden in the east side border. Trees were removed, Scots Pine disease.

Todays pix

Beautiful! Your astilbe are amazing! I have had trouble growing them. I am trying once more with different varieties...Vision and Pumila. If they don't work, I will admit defeat.

Pumila is shorter and a later bloomer also Purple Lance.

I like the look of Astilbe, but it is too hot and dry for them, here. So I will immerse muhself in y'all's photographs instead.

Sounds like a plan.