Overgrown weeds and bulbs to Contained Backyard

I never finished this one during the summer, so it only seems appropriate to do it now while it’s all covered with snow! The “garden” area looked okay from a distance, but was a tangled mess of bulbs, weeds and “stuff”.

We tore out all the weeds, and “stuff”. I dug up all the 50 year old iris bulbs and cleaned and thinned them. We put a scalloped cinder block style border around the existing area so we could save the original wall from the late 1800’s and then used 1/2 whiskey barrels (some of these I think are what’s holding up the wall in some places) and cedar planters to replant the bulbs. We filled in with primarily white marble chips, but since we need more anyway will finish with smooth river rock in the spring. It looks so much better. Some of the barrels already have the river rocks and we like them so much more.

It’s so much easier for hubby to mow now. Hopefully even that won’t be an issue next summer when we build the deck. It will replace the lower grass area.