Even poorly applied, mulch makes everything better

You may remember from my last post that this Spring's big project was The Big Back Bed. You may also recall that it looked a bit a mess in spite of the obvious amount of sweat and labor and pure hair-brained optimism being applied. The good news is, it's starting to look less like a hair-brained scheme and more like a nice renovation!

To us, anyway. For the rest of you, I ask you to put on your rose-colored glasses and nod and smile as you tour What We Did the Last Few Days.

As you recall, we are extending a small round bed in the front of the back yard all the way to the back by the compost pile. The trenches having been dug, our next steps were to fill them with gravel sifted from the rich vein that appears to be under our entire yard, and then mulch the beds.

I confess, in the midst of the digging and the sifting and the weeding, I began to lose confidence in what our final outcome would be. But yesterday after work, I started filling the trenches with the giant bin full of gravel that Mulch Boy had sacrificed his back to extricate from the beds. And then I started spreading mulch on the finished parts of the beds and dagnabbit if they didn't start to look nice!

Long view of  The Big Back Bed.

Daisy inspecting the work.

Garage-side bed also got a nice dressing. Where CAN that drain pipe be??

Corner bed may still need the most help, but mulch and new gravel have
definitely made improvements.

See? From this angle (and ignoring the dead lawn), she's looking good!

This is Yon, the very back end of The Big Back Bed. At top left, I had plunked
a wild rose and several hostas that I'd dug up from under the big pine on the
other side of the yard. Let's see if I regret that wild rose.

Alas, there's still much to do, but we've done way more way faster than I would
have expected. Also, all that dirt? FULL OF GRAVEL.

Except this pile of dirt with the beagle on top: that's pure soil sifted out of the gravel.
Now if only our support staff were more helpful.