redecorating

I started enlarging my garden bed last weekend.  I still have quite a lot of the GARDEN SOIL so I decided to renovate.  It's quite labor intensive.  I actually have to remove most of the dirt because it's such poor quality.  The yard is bad enough because most of it is Georgia Red Clay but this particular area of the yard is where they decided to put all of the sub soil when they added onto the house.  So it's not only red clay, it's the really really hard clay that usually extends several feet down.   It's also in a full sun area of the yard so the clay is almost "baked by the sun"  Ironic, huh?  
No root system could penetrate this stuff. 
I had to do this before when I first started the bed three years ago.

Anyhow, the perennials are getting pretty big and outgrowing their original spot so I decided to give them more space.

All of that lamb's ear is from one original plant.  Whenever it goes too crazy and tries to take over I just cut off a chunk and move it somewhere else.
It's super easy to take care of and survives our hot dry summers.

Someday, my garden will be all lamb's ear and I'll just roll around in the luxurious softness.....

I've started by just removing the first layer - the grass/weed layer- all along the length of the bed.  It's a curving strip maybe a foot wide or so down the length of the entire bed.

I have to dig out as much of the crap soil as I can before adding the good stuff.  The digging is so labor intensive, I can't go much more than a few inches deep.

Plants with shallow root systems are great for this area.  Lamb's Ear, sedums, dianthus, blue star creeper, and echinacea have all done very well here, hence the need for the renovation.

golden sedum

As a general rule, if you can pull back the plant and see roots just along the surface of the soil, then it's a great plant for these bad soils because they don't need to extend their root system very far.  It's also super easy to cut off a chunk and move it somewhere else in the garden.

Free plants baby.  One of my favorite things.

And speaking of free plants.....

Last fall, I set up some of the hydrangea branches that were already hanging low to the ground for propagation via LAYERING.  I just moved them to the sad little bed in front that's pretty shady so they should do fine.  Now, the asiatic jasmine and coral bells have a new friend.
Again, here's to free plants!