Planter Rehab

By SKEETER:
I am sick of being sick! Anyone else ever feel this way after dealing with sickness for two weeks? I decided I had been out of my Georgia Gardens long enough. I took a box of tissues and off I went with my runny nose to the yard.

Our first project was to rehab the planter where the Oak Tree was taken down last fall. This was a 90 foot (if not taller) tree and it was too close to the house for comfort. One similar was hit by lightening and I feared this one was next. So down she came along with 3 other trees in this area. You can see another stump in the background. With such a large tree to cut, it damaged the rotting timbers to the planter of Liriope below. New timbers and we are ready to rehab. Two piles of split wood waiting for the free taking! Our woodshed is full and our pile for backyard campfires is plenty so we are giving the remaining wood away.
We found the same type timbers and decided to go with that as it would make things easy. So we thought anyway. See the end of the old planter? It was jointed by a slice of a timber knocked into the ground.
Well, funny thing, when we replaced the timbers, they were shorter then the old timbers. Ha, consumer beware! Timbers are now a bit shorter probably to save money for the company manufacturing them. Grrrrrrrrrr... No problem, I had an idea and the Saint put it into motion. We made forms on each corner. Not pretty forms but doing this on the cheap and quick.
Each corner was a different size.
We had a bag of quikrete on hand and picked up an extra bag just in case we would need two. Of course both bags we had were small and the Saint had to make a quick run to town for one more bag to finish the last corner. We never calculate properly with bags of anything. Like gravel, sand and quikrete!
Amazing how adding water turns this power, sand, gravel mixture into concrete.
Once we had our oatmeal just right, we poured it into each form.
I had four tiles laying around and decided to top off each corner with one for a bit of interest.
The next day, we tapped off the forms and Bingo! Perfect corners for our new planter. They are just the rustic look I was hoping for!
We now have a new one of a kind planter! This is last years Liriope with a slight hair cut before we started placing the timbers. In no time at all, it will cover the sides of the planter. What is that on the stump and what is the Saint doing by the grill?The Stump has a beautiful black cat face on it. Thank you so much Lola for this wonderful gift. It took me a while but I finally found the perfect spot for it! I can see it from my sun-room windows. The birdbath is not staying there. It was just there for the meantime. Question, Should we try to cut the stump top even or leave it as this? The Saint likes it as is for some reason when I would prefer it level to hold a plant. Hum, I could put two plants and stagger them. Ha, I may have just answered my own question.
Ah, the Saint was grilling some awesome chickens! We have enough left overs so I don't have to worry about cooking dinner each evening this week. I can play in the garden and not have to worry about dinner as it is already there waiting for the heat up.

There you have it, a PLANTER REHAB, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden