OK. Time for Storytime with Haus.... A Song of Shrubs and Tilling!
So, long ago in my early homeowner days (around 16-17 years ago). I planted Azaleas in the front garden bed in front of my house. The previous owners had some there, but they had suffered in the time the house had been vacant on the market, so I figured I'd just refresh that because I do like the idea of flowering shrubs. Fast forward a decade and a half and they're straggly, leggy, and surviving enough to put on occasional blooms but kinda looking like crap due to it being the north side of a north facing house and them essentially get very little direct sunlight, it's mostly shade and what one would call "partial shade". A month ago I was fed up and decided "that's does it, time to rectify and get something more proper in here". Looking at the reality of the location I realized my probable best solution was boring traditional boxwoods which could grow well in this situation (my neighbor on either side have boxwood hedges which look just fine).
So first step : Clearing
I made a decision to try to "salvage" what I could of the ones which were tough enough to survive and try to put them in the back yard where they'll get a ton of sun and see if they could thrive. So first step was to transplant the best 5 of the shrubs... So I go and mention this to the shrubs, that they're going to get a wonderful new life, in a land with a lot more sun, and it's just time to move them to their new home. Their response?
The way they communicated that? (as seen in FSR)
So I then shifted into "This wasn't a suggestion" mode and bring out "the negotiator" (seen on the right in this pic)
6 foot of turgid steel with a mean flared wedge on one end... and yes... That is, in fact, also what she said.
A full day of fighting to get them out, but got them out... In the middle of the bed was also a 3 year old (5ft tall) opportunistic magnolia tree which I had to remove. It was actually easier than the shrubs. And I got a kick ass stick out of it :
Then I hit the whole area with a tiller. In this case 40v Ryobi tiller attachment on their 40v weed eater base. The number of 1/4-3/4" roots I was fighting was moderately staggering. Also the stone border I had places around the bed years ago had settled and tilted into a lean, so I pulled that to re-level the stones.
Then came planting. Another time I am, in hindsight, very glad that I indulged my worst DIY habit. That being that I am not above buying an expensive new toy when I have a project even knowing I may only use that toy a handful of times ever.... In this case expensive toy was a augur that also used the 40v Ryobi batteries which was on clearance with an 8" augur bit. I go into this thinking "This bad boy is going to make easy peasy work of boring down 18 holes real quick like..." The lingering spirits of the displaced Azaleas whispered in the wind....
2-3" below the surface I hit an absolute web of those damn roots again. And these are in the 3/4-1.5" diameter range (Probably also including roots from the large 40ft Magnolia in the front yard near it). So Augur get 50% of the job done, and the negotiator has to come in for the other half. At this point we're functionally three days in and my 56 year old back and shoulders are telling me :
But I'm more stubborn (and have enough access to anti-inflammatory drugs and nice pain killers) to pay any attention to that bullshit whining.... Fast forward another day and a half and F-ing done....
I did my best to p[lant the shrubs nice and tight (18" spacing) with the goal of them being a contiguous hedge in a couple years. Also so they would be easier to keep under control as a wise man once told me... "If you keep your bush well trimmed it will make your deck look bigger".
Thank you for coming to my
TED SHRUB talk