Category: Egg Garden

The Egg Garden in June: Replacing the Overgrown Evergreen in the Front Corner of our Home with a Mixed Bed

julia erickson4 Comments

When we moved into our home, there was an enormous evergreen shrub planted in one of the front corners of our home. Perhaps it started off as a nice, tame shrub, but by the time we moved in it was almost as tall as the house and so wide that it made it uninviting to walk from the front yard to the back yard.
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Looking around, having a large, overgrown evergreen planted at the front corner of your home appears quite common. Perhaps the builders planted them with the houses several decades ago. And once they have grown, people, even if they don’t particularly like them, are reluctant to remove them.
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After we cut ours down, there was a giant empty oval where it once stood. From that oval, the Egg Garden was born. It was originally not much larger than shadow of the old shrub, but over time, it has continued to grow at the expense of the front lawn. (For a complete map of the gardens, click here.)

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The Egg Garden is now made of perennials, annuals, shrub roses and the crabapple tree. In the garden, there is also a path made of pebbles that connects the front yard to the arbor, which is the entrance to the Cutting Garden.
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Update: I am linking this post to this month’s Garden Bloggers‘ Design Workshop on Front Yards at Gardening Gone Wild. If you are not familiar with these design workshops, check them out.
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The Egg Garden from the top of the hill.
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The Egg Garden from the door of the arbor.
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The arbor that connects the Egg Garden to the Cutting Garden.

The Egg Garden Path Makeover: Replacing the Terra Cotta Stepping Stones with Pebbles

julia erickson12 Comments

One of my goals for this upcoming gardening season is to improve my paths. Below are before and after pictures of last year’s path makeover in the Egg Garden.

Previously, the path was 18-24 inches wide and was made primarily of twelve inch square terra cotta stepping stones. This didn’t work because the path was too narrow and the stepping stones were sinking into the earth. To create the new path, I first moved some plants (mainly self-seeders) to widen the path to 24-36 inches. Second, I simply added pebbles over the old terra cotta stepping stones. In order to cover the entire area, I probably used 10-12 fifty pound bags of pebbles and will need to add 2-3 bags to refresh the path this spring. The new path is now more functional, as well as more attractive.

For more ideas on gardening paths, there is a great Gardening Gone Wild Garden Design Workshop on paths here: http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=457

For more on the Egg Garden, click here: http://heirloomgardener.blogspot.com/2008/01/egg-garden-in-summer.html