We have a house remodel project that's been looming before us for years. It will involve lots of destruction, money, wood, money, nailguns, blood, sweat, money, tears, more money, noise, dirt and money. We are to a point where there is no more procrastinating. So for sure, next spring, without any more delays or excuses, we are going to tackle this project. Oh yes. No doubt.
Which is what we said last year. And the year before that.
It involves tearing down a portion of the house that is old, leaky and saggy. Then we will rebuild it larger and better then ever before, learning from all our previous mistakes, supporting and uplifting each other, deferring to one another, giving in to whatever our honey wants, leaving no detail undone, no window untrimmed, no card unswiped. This is my fantasy.
In preparation for all this chaos and upheaval, I need to take two flowers beds out of harm's way.
These are well-established flower beds with overgrown perennials, vining clematis that have finally matured and flowered, rose bushes and too many irises to count.
But I don't have anywhere else to put them!
I am afraid that if the green light comes on in the early spring and the project begins with a large noisy digging machine in the yard, I will not be able to find all the plants that have not yet awakened from their winter's sleep.
So on the advice of my master gardener friend, Karen, I am going to "heal in" all the plants I can into the recently vacated vegetable garden. This is supposed to be a temporary home for the rose bushes and other favorite plants that I don't want to lose. They will be able to sleep there for the winter and begin their spring growth uninterrupted.
I started moving the plants this week during our last sunny warm days and it was actually a very cleansing exercise. These old flower beds were needing a renovation and I know that when all the dust has cleared and the landscaping gets done around the finished addition on the house, it will look better then it ever has.
This is my fantasy.
I hope my dreams come true while I am still young enough to remember what they were.
This is an example of how badly these flower beds needed renovation. This echinacea (purple cone flower) had grass growing out of the center of the plant where it is impossible to completely weed out without digging up and dividing the echinacea. So with the renovation I was able to do exactly that with all these plants that were overgrown and invaded at the root with weeds.
These echinacea will now grow healthier and stronger and look more beautiful and I will be spared the constant battle with the grass. Ah....so cleansing.
By the end of the day today I had healed in two rose bushes, an old lavender and numerous other perennials. Even after transplanting some plants into the other beds around the property I still had enough left over to share with my neighbor who started her own flower bed.
I'm thinking though that if
Murphy's Law stays in effect, this home remodel project will take longer and cost more then planned. Which means that this temporary home for the plants may be not be short-term.
But really, who needs a vegetable garden anyway?
