Rhododendron Bed Over Haul

I have not been updating my gardening blog. It's not because I don't want to as the thought is always nagging in the back of my mind. I am just busy. I would really like to try and develop a routine to include this blog in my life which will entail making posts all winter from this past summer. We'll see how it goes.

We are at the tail end of Fall in our area with low's in the 30's and high's in the 50's. We had our first hard frosts quite some time ago. On most days I can be found frantically trying to get the gardens ready for snow as well as clean the yard of snow plowing surprises left by the children. Neither task is happening fast enough. Yesterday I worked on the Rhododendron bed. I was pleasantly surprised when these plants made it through the winter. They had some growth this summer although it was not as much as I would have liked. There are six bushes with a space for a seventh that died shortly after purchase. 

I began by blowing out the leaves, pulling all the grass and weeds and removing the top row of rock.

Next I added two inches of compost from one of my eight compost bins. This particular batch was from the chicken coop.

On top of that I put down some fabric. This summer I discovered that I am unable to keep up with the amount of beds that I have and they quickly become over-grown with weeds. Next Spring I will mulch with straw or wood chips and in the permanent beds I will put down fabric.

Then became the task of piling rock which I have 10 yards of and did not even put a dent in my pile.

I washed away the dirt and there you have it.... a low maintenance, neat and tidy bed of rhododendron along side my greenhouse.