End of the Month View: One More Path...

Pergola Garden with our new pea gravel walk this week.

Our new Pergola Garden (so called for the invisible pergola... see it on the plan) was in need of some major changes with the walks in order to accommodate my new gardens. In July, I posted photos of this garden with just the hedges in place. We had a friend volunteer to come over and show my husband how to manually remove the sidewalks by using sledge hammers and wood jacks, which worked like a charm. Amazingly, he removed the long curve from the large yew bushes in a week... see below to compare.

Pergola garden in July for initial layout.

Removing the sidewalk enabled me to finish making the fourth garden bed in this garden. I was also able to put in place the "fourth wall" garden (which will close off this area along with the new yew hedges), and hope to plant out a row of pleached trees next year. (It is the low dirt mound between the end of the path and the tire swing.)

What is truly amazing about this pea gravel and sand path is that out kids were the ones that really pushed it to the finish. Dad and Mom were tuckering out, but the kids were excited about shoveling away and getting it done. In the end, we had moved four tons of gravel, one of sand, dirt and the remaining 2 pieces of sidewalk, in under two days. It was definitely a team effort. :)

On the other side of the Pergola Garden, I had planted out a hedge of catmint for next summer beside the yew. Muscari 'Valerie Finnis' and Allium 'Purple Sensation' are amassed in that area to extend the interest. Next year, we will continue the pea gravel path, which is the main axis of this garden, all the way to the yew entrance.

We are enjoying the yellow fall color of our first birch tree in the Birch Walk. The hedges are all in around this garden, and we removed the leaves and grass to decreased the fertility over time in order to encourage wild flowers to grow. I hope that I can locate several more birch trees to plant out in this garden room next year. Oh! And there are over 400 bulbs hiding under that green grass, waiting for spring. :)

Elsewhere, fall revelry ensues. It has been a beautiful month for enjoying the sun, the leaves, cider and apple fritters at our local orchard.

We are still working on many end of the season tasks around here... planting our first garlic in the potager, bringing in the hoses, planting out a bit more ground cover around the perimeter and planting out the last of the tulips as we brace ourselves for the forecast cold weather this weekend.... maybe even snow.

I hope you are warm and snug, enjoying all of the end of the season delights!
~Julie