#Thegreatpoolpondconversion - 210117
We were a bit short of top soil to finish off the jasmine bed. Not enough for another truckload (thank goodness) so we bought a pallet of 65 bags and had it delivered.
Two bags of soil conditioner and about 50 bags finished the bed. Wrangling bags is much faster and easier than bulk. 15 bags at a time in the cart, so it’s more full. No shoveling! No hoeing out. Just cut the bags, toss and spread. We never moved and spread a yard that fast.
One cubic foot bags cost more. For the small volume it was well worth it. There’s one more small bed to go. It will only be about one yard total, so we’ll do this again, then we won’t be sending any more plastic bags to the landfill.
After leveling, we moved the jasmines and gardenia bushes back to their original and final home, and gave them a good soaking.
Before we proceeded, we had to replace the waterfall pump wire that was buried under the border rocks. The gauge was way wrong. That took about a half hour. Now we can spread the slate chips and cover the pink deck space in the left picture between the jasmine bed and the pond border. That’s why some of the pots are in the bed. (And we won’t have to wash these rocks!)
In the middle of us working, a (the?) green heron stopped in. It gave us a look then walked over to the field and disappeared.
The butterfly weed bed will sit empty until we build a screen enclosure that we can move from one side to the other. The idea is to give some of the plants a rest while the caterpillars devour the other side.
After not exerting ourselves too much, we quit at just 2 1/2 hours.
We have hit a sort of milestone. We are still a bunch of months from done. Finishing the jasmine bed marks the end of the critical path of projects. Everything from now on is, if not discretionary, at least fluid; as almost none of it is dependent on anything else. So even though there’s still a long list to go, we can pick and choose what to do, in what order, what would be easy, or just what we feel like that day. The heavy construction phase - dumping, shoveling, lifting, moving, exerting, etc., is over. 🎆
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