Did I say next weekend?

[velvetpage]

First, the before pictures, which we remembered to take this time:






Now, the nasty surprise in the lawn - we picked out as many as we could, because the nasty buggers eat roots:



Now, the finished product, at least at the side, between the two lawns. The ugly bushes in the foundation garden will have to stay until Saturday. From front to back, we have lavender, picked out by Elizabeth; Sweet William, picked out by Claire who kept lunging for it; Marcus Sage, picked out by me; and a peony, chosen jointly by me and Elizabeth. We're going to plant annuals around them in a few weeks, just to fill them in a bit, and in the fall we'll plant some spring bulbs around them to give some early colour while the plants are coming up.

Comments

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

They're grubs. As in, baby beetles. And they eat roots. They appear to absolutely love my lawn, which is infested with them. This probably explains why our lawn has always looked so sickly. Piet knew they were there, but I didn't. My stepdad, who prefers organic methods when possible, asked how I felt about chemical warfare when he saw them.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

You can try seeding your lawn with alfalfa or clover as a mixed ground cover; both are legumes which grubs aren't so keen on I gather, and their root systems travel deeper than most grasses. Of course, then you won't have a "perfect looking lawn" and your neighbourhood association might get upset...

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

We've already got more wild clover than anything else in our lawn. There's no neighbourhood association to worry about.