Before the rain moved in, I set about a job I was not looking forward to but was desperate needed. An expansion of the front garden. While I never really have a problem with bigger gardens, the work getting there is the hard part, as it involves removing sod.

And I hate removing sod…. but I sucked it up and set to it. I started by marking out where I would expand to with some spray paint.

The idea was to more or less line the edge of the garden up with the bottom of the front porch stairs… but as you can see, I have trouble painting a straight line. Still it was close enough so I got on my knees and got to work…

It took ages, but finally I had it done! Then came the fun part. The reason for the expansion was to give some of the plants already in the front garden some breathing room. Many, like the bleeding hearts, needed more space to truly shine. So I got to digging and moving things around.

It was almost 9 pm by the time I finally stopped.

I still have to put some annuals in there, and then mulch both the old and the new areas so it once again looks like one cohesive garden. But the rain moved in and I haven’t been able to back out there to finish yet.

And I will still need to split a few of the plants I didn’t move up – mostly irises, so I’ll have to wait until they are done blooming.

I can’t wait to take pics of this later in the season to show you all how it’s filled in.