Well.. I just had to do something. The plain old boring flower bed in the front of my house was just too much to look at anymore and I didn't have the motivation to maintain it in its current state. Plus being overweight (280lbs) and sick of that too I thought of no better way to start losing weight and creating a master-piece (I think so anyway) than to sweat it out and git-er-done.

Since my last post here I actually started to grow most of my own plants from bulbs, seeds, cuttings from friends and any other way that I could. Keep in mind that I'm in Zone 9 - 10 and it gets really hot here in New Orleans (lose the weight)

After 2 months of trial and error (trust me) trying to grow my stuff:



that I wanted I started out just removing and potting ALL the flowers in the existing flowerbed. Man, new seedlings and plants don’t seem to grow fast enough at fisrt.. Then BOOM. Next thing I know EVERYTHING is growing HUGE and faster than my new flowerbed. Now that I had the plans drawn up and ideas brainstorming I wanted to increase the size a bit both hizontally and in width. Originally the size of the bed was 24ft long and 2 1/2 wide running the entire length of my front porch and was just a place to stick plants. BORING... I thought to myself, NO WAY. Let's add a few feet in both directions and add some depth.. Well.. Here I go.. This new bed was going to be 26 1/2Ft long and 5 1/2 feet wide with pointed corners for accent.

I bought a really nice tiller, 8 bags of manure/ compost, 15 bags of Miricle grow flowering soil, new wheel barrow (more on this later), shovels, rakes, 100 Landscape treated logs, a hand made sifter that I used to get all the construction debris (Rocks, boards, pipes) that was burried and past owners kids toys (You can't imagine what I found) and all hardware that you could possibly need to put this MONSTER together.

I must add that my back yard was about 1 -2 feet higher in some spot along my fence line because when I had concrete poured about a year ago the builders didn’t know what to do with it and had no means of transporting it elsewhere. I had them build up the areas by my fence that my dogs had trampled down. The level wasn’t good since the rain would come onto my back patio because of the slope. This was really an omen since I had no idea that I'd use it later as top soil. Anyway, it took me 4 hours of tiller work to loosen up the soil that our dogs had compacted which was grown over with grass, 37 wheel barrows of sifted top soil and countless hours of re-tilling in the miracle grow, compost/manure with each dump of the wheel barrow to keep the mixture as even as I could.

I've just about finished it and here are some pictures.















More to come..

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"Gnats are deceased gardners that annoy you when they think you're messing up."

Wow, that is going to be gorgeous when it's finished. I'm lovin' the pointed edges, it certainly does add depth. I can see that you have more than enough plants to put in there.

Keep them pics coming, I want to see the finished flower bed. Good job.

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Tamara's Photos
Thinking Spring, Thinking Spring...Nope, doesn't work.lol

That's just spooky, you answered my photo request while I was typing a response to your first post.

What is the purple spikey plants called? I've never seen them before, they are unusual and very striking. That is going to fill in wonderfully.

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Tamara's Photos
Thinking Spring, Thinking Spring...Nope, doesn't work.lol

Looks good!
and well done on the weight loss, keep it up

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Mark

Looks great ThunderBolt!
And congradulations on the weight loss too!

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Last night we got that pickup truck full of mulch I mentioned above and we spent a few hours with the finishing touches.





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"Gnats are deceased gardners that annoy you when they think you're messing up."

I can't see the last 2 sets of pics.
I wanta see too

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buzz buzz buzz

http://s86.photobucket.com/albums/k103/Di_06/

Excelent Job there!! Looks Amazing!

Congrats on the weight Loss..

Can't wait to see the waterfall either!

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Tonight I am having friends for dinner... Hanibal Lector My Album

I love that border...thats the idea I had for my backyard planters...nice job !!!

Update..

WOW.. Finally started to see FLOOOWWWWEEERRRRRSSSSS...







Haven't had the motivation to work on the waterfall. Not in 100+ degree weather. Thanks all for the support on the weight loss too.. :-P

Thunder..

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"Gnats are deceased gardners that annoy you when they think you're messing up."

Absolutely love this! Great job! How do you solar lights work? Are they very bright at night? Beautiful!

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PattyM

Top: Crystal Dahlia - Gorgeous LARGE pink blooms. I have some purple and red one mixed in the bunch on both sides.

Middle: Can you guess? Here's a pic of the entire plant with flowers:



Bottom: Dwarf Canna Lucifer

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"Gnats are deceased gardners that annoy you when they think you're messing up."

quote:

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How do you solar lights work? Are they very bright at night?

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Actually I was kind of disappointed with them. Although they're really nice looking when they're charged up and strategically placed throughout the bed, the problem is that most of the day 1/2 the flowerbed is in the shade and they don't charge that well and only stay lit for about 2 hours after sunset. I tried to place them further to the front but I don't like the way they looked.

I'm resorting to an electrical system as we speak and will replace them.

However, I've planted some Alison Whites along my driveway and I'll be putting the solar ones in between them. They're not too bright either. They give off a low yellow glow which look really nice when they're engulfed by foliage. I'll shoot a picture tonight and post it for you.

Thunder

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"Gnats are deceased gardners that annoy you when they think you're messing up."

I looked that up and you're absolutley right..

Gladiolus callianthus is the real name for them. This is why I love this forum.. You ALL know yer stuff. :-P

Thanks Monica..

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"Gnats are deceased gardners that annoy you when they think you're messing up."

Everything is so beautiful and looks terrific! You've put in a lot of hard work and it shows. I can't wait to see the waterfall either! Great pictures, thanks for sharing!

Congratulations on your weight loss! You've done a great job there too!

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"Lord, I love you and I need you, come into my heart, and bless me, my family, my home, and my friends, in Jesus' name. Amen!"

I was just reading through and was going to say Liatris too!

Everything is looking so nice, you must be very proud of what you've done! Give yourself a pat on the back!

Gardenfairy 2 - Thunder 0

Yessss.. Good Job.

Thanks
Thunder

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"Gnats are deceased gardners that annoy you when they think you're messing up."

It's so nice to see someone else using gardening as an exercise! My doctor told me my gardening wasn't really exercise, I told him he didn't know what I meant by "gardening", and that he should come try it for a day. I lost a ton of weight, and all the gardening was DIY by myself, and it definitely helped. Plus, I had that desire to rub the doctors' comments in his face and prove him wrong. Maybe that was his intent. I didn't go back to that doctor for 2 years, and freaked him out completely at my next visit. LOL

Here's before gardening/after gardening. I was easily over 250 pounds at one time. Congratulations with your weightloss!


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