garden #5

We had our fifth garden installation this past Saturday at Janet’s!

Seven brave gardeners showed up despite the heat. We cleared out a bed that had been taken over by day lilies and the invasive creeping bellflower (Campanula rapunculoides).

Just as we were remarking how nice it is that the bellflower is easy to pull up, Julia from Wild Ones and Pollinator Revival arrived and showed us how the plant actually has deep, long-lived corms ten inches under the soil. Point being, if you really want to get rid of bellflower, it’s best to dig up the corms.

So we did some extra digging.

We also learned some tips about rain gardening from Sean, who’s getting certified as a Master Water Steward. Sean showed us how to grade a section of the bed, route the downspout there, and plant thirsty plants in the depression to help reduce the stormwater load.

This is the finished garden, which ended up with sixteen species and plants donated by six people (Thanks, Dillon, Julia, Kim M., Kim K., and Marissa and Lindsay!)

After mulching, it was time for all of us (people and plants) to drink a lot of water.