It's Mulch Time

It's Mulch Time.

After building (and filling) the raised garden bed last week it was time to get to mulching the garden on the hill.  This is the first year I've tackled the project myself and not paid a landscaper to do the heavy lifting. (But I guess the heavy lifting was last weekend and the dirt for the raised bed,)

So I started by making two trips to Lowe's to get 30 bags of mulch.

It took two trips because I couldn't fit that much into one load in the Rav.  This is when I remember my red pick up for so many years ago...

Once I had it all unloaded I had to get it staged.

Mr Hill, meet Mr Mulch.

Of course once I had it staged, and the fence closed (most importantly "and the fence closed") I had helpers trying to see what was going on.

What's you doing Daddy?

So, to make a long story short - it's DONE.  It took most of the day, but I still had time to run up to the store and get the makings for cheeseburgers on the grill and a bottle of Dragonfly from Far Eastern Shore Winery.  Gloria had spent the afternoon cleaning patio furniture, so she was ready for dinner alfresco and a bottle of wine.

Here's the results of another long (but rewarding) day in the garden.

The red mulch really makes the daffodils pop.

Later this spring we hope to see signs of life on the blueberry bushes and the butterfly bushes (center and top of hill respectively.).

The entrance to the garden path, with two guardians with solar lanterns to light the way.

A dogwood tree near the top center, and a lilac bush to the left and down from the dogwood.

This is a big garden - I was beat by the time I made it to this end.

I'm tired, but it is so rewarding to do something where I can see results immediately.  The new plantings take awhile to see if they've taken hold, but something like building the raised bed, and putting down the mulch has an immediacy like I can find when I'm cooking.  Not the sort of intangible results of leading a software development team (my full time job.) I'm sure that this is a big part of why I'm finding the gardening to be so rewarding. (But being able to play with the electric trimmer and the chainsaw do have their charms as well.)