Bed Edging #1: Concrete

Well how excited are you!!!! Nice find!!!! Although I do feel for your hubby in this heat/humidity, lot of work loading/hauling/unloading all that weight.

Sounds like a good idea to wait to move your plants … for you (health wise). But if you are like me, man you are staring out the window chomping at the bit, and got everything all planned out, down to where the last plant is being transplanted to.

Be sure to take some photos Dini …

I gave all my containers and hanging baskets a good watering this morning at 6:00 a.m. before it got awful outside. This “gardening fool” is staying inside today … :-)

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

Glad to hear you found the concrete you needed Dini.Boy this heat wave is sure covering one huge area.At least before ours started today we had tons and tons of rain yesterday and last night.The humidity with this heat is unreal.I sweat just thinking about it (lol) 99 F here at 5pm.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

and people thought I was crazy with the weeding… I was just sitting on the ground pulling some little weeds… Hauling concrete… phew.
Going to be great in the yard, though!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Happy for you Dini! It will look smashing when all done!
Can hardly wait for some pics!
And yes this humidity is a killer: even more so that it came all of a sudden!

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

And it ( the humidity ) is even higher today, so the 5 or 6 deg F lower temp isn’t gonna help much. And with the dew point so high, we’ll probably get more thunderstorms tonight. Last night’s storms knocked out power to 1500 homes here in town.

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

We were lucky we didn’t get the storms last night.But they are calling for them tonight.Just relaxing in the air conditioning before I head outside to see what’s new again. (lol)

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

I’m back inside in the a.c. too. 0630 this morning I was out edging my beds. Didn’t have enough to do the fence bed, but I got all 3 shade beds done! Looks so nice.

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

Glad to hear it looks nice Dini….Now for some pics ???? Once you get rested up that is. (lol)

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

How exciting Dini … bet the beds are looking GREAT!!!! Can’t wait to see them … just pace yourself in this heat/humidity … cuz it’s UGLY outside!! :-)

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

Finally adding pics to this blog.

This first one is the “view” from my driveway.

This is just after I finished the concrete edging.

This is the back of the bed right after doing the edging.

This is just before the daylillies started blooming.

This is the end of July, from the driveway.

This is the back of the bed, at the end of July. if you look close, you can see the Little Grapette daylily GranT gave me. :)

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

how wonderful
I love the little walkway from the car in that first pic.!!!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

As soon as I find enough concrete to replace the bricks I’m using along the fence bed, that walk will go from bed to bed , and from the driveway up to between the trees. It’s a very slight hill, about 8 inches over 8 feet, and I’m doing the path as very shallow steps.
When we moved in, it was bare dirt from the top of the “hill” down to the driveway, from the deck to the fence. With the trees there, I didn’t dare add a lot of amendments, just right in the holes I dug out to put plants in, since I don’t want to kill the trees. So that bed requires both extra feeding and extra watering, but I think it looks so much nicer now, that it’s well worth it.

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

I too love the walkway/path from the car. Everything looks really GREAT!!! Makes your beds truly stand out … and yah, I can see “Little Grapette”. She seems happy and in good hands … :-)

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

There is a store in Rockwood which has used old concrete to form its front walkway. They set them up, like you did, to resemble flag stone walks.

Why not use things that are readily available and will fit into the scheme. Well done, Dini.

-- jroot

Thank you all for the kind comments.
I must admit, I’m rather proud of that idea. And of that bed, it’s the one nearest completion out of all of them! ( and also the one I blew the whole garden budget on this spring)

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

The final addition to this bed, for this year

Next year I’ll be putting primroses where the sweet williams are this year.

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

Nice, very nice!!!! You got a lot accomplished this year Dini!!! Been a good year for your gardens … :-)

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

That’s some good hard work, Dini! Well done…you should be proud!

-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit

better at your place then a land fill, and it looks good.

did you know that raising the ground level around a tree more then an inch per year can “kill” the tree. That little area around the base of the tree is very important not to raise,.........I use caution.

again…..........looks nice

-- Central northish Ontario

That’s why I only amended the soil I dug out to put plants in. I was very careful not to add any extra at all, just feed and water it more frequently than the other beds. It’s also why that bed is not mulched, I know how delicate those root systems are. I also made a point of using plants that wouldn’t compete with the tree roots.

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

Really like what you have done!
Should be nice primrose and sweet williams! Do you know if your sweet williams are the perennials, bi—annuals or do they reseed themselves?

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

It turned out really nice Dini.You’ve really improved the look of your place with that concrete and flowers.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

They’re biennials, Eklectic, but I’ll probably move them next year, if they come back. They are so handy for filling in bare spots!

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.