Dave and I decided to plant some ajuga (aka bugleweed or carpet bugle) in this one corner of the yard where the grass won’t grow. It’s too wet there, we think, for the grass to build good roots. Our hope is that this ground cover will be a lot less work and will work with the conditions instead of against them.
When I say “less work” I should clarify that I mean in the long run. Yesterday involved a LOT of work in planting it. We found a nursery that carried the ajuga–two varieties for a good price. We got a flat of each color so that we could mix them together and add visual interest.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 p.m., we set about “preparing the soil.” This began with Dave moving a very heavy concrete planter to another part of the yard with the help of a teenage neighbor. (I helped too, but I suspect the neighbor was more useful.) Then we starting turning the soil of this roughly 100-square-foot area. This took longer than expected. We dug soil, turned it, picked out chunks of grass, broke up the chunks of soil, raked, etc.
Finally, after what seemed like DAYS of soil preparation, we were ready to lay out the roughly 100 plants where we wanted to plant them. They were in peat pots, so we didn’t have to worry about getting/mixing in peat moss. YAY. Dave worked on measuring and some diagrams and started setting out the plants trying to alternate between the two varieties. To stay out of the way, I worked on a some minor weeding and planted some bulbs Gretchen gave me.
Finally, the beautifully patterned plants were ready to go into the soil. It had taken him two tries to lay out the 100 plants. Dave then asked me what we were supposed to do with the fertilizer, etc., and I grabbed my trusty Lawns and Ground Covers book for further instruction. I started reading aloud the section I had read before we left to get the plants. Blah blah blah, “mix the fertilizer into the soi”—oh noes! It took a minute to sink into my brain, and then I looked at Dave in horror. He was a full 30 seconds ahead of me. When I saw the look on his face, I thought it might be the end of my time on this planet. He’d gone completely white and was clearly using every ounce of strength he had left to hold it together and to not say a word. “Mix the fertilizer into the soil.” This, clearly, should be done before you lay out the plants, twice.
We were so tired by now, so ready to be done and we still had to actually get all 100 plants into the ground. I thought if he didn’t explode he might actually cry. Well, I would have cried. We agreed that we were NOT going to undo all the lay out of the plants. We would just sprinkle the fertilizer over the area and try to mix it in a little as we planted each one. Slowly the color returned to his face, but I believe he is STILL highly annoyed, and rightfully so.
We moved through the planting fairly quickly, but we were completely exhausted both physically and mentally by the end of it. By the time we got inside, we were completed united on one idea: let’s let someone else make us dinner!