Perennial Bed Clean-up Effort

I have a few existing perennial beds in my yard that really need some TLC.  The last couple of years have been quite busy for me and I just haven't had the time to do them justice.  As a result, they have a lot of weeds and grasses in them and the existing ornamental plants get lost in the mess.  It's difficult to do the clean-up later in the season when things are all the more lush and mature, so I wanted to try to get at least one bed done this spring if I could.  The one I chose to tackle first is the middle-sized one, and it had a really bad case of grass and creeping jenny, which is a cute groundcover but is way too invasive for my liking.

Here's the matted grass and weeds that I started with.  It was dreadful, except for my poor little daffodil, in a sea of grass and mess.

I had to start somewhere, so I began in one little corner. You can see the buried tub where I put my mint so it doesn't take over the world.

The weather was really ideal for doing this work.  We'd had enough rain that the soil could be worked, but the sun was out for much of the weekend, and it was good to be out in the yard.  I saw this lovely little crab spider (not sure on species) scurrying away when I was digging.  So far, there aren't a lot of insects visiting.

The work was pretty daunting.  I used my heavy garden fork to lift all the soil in chunks, and then hand lifted it to pull the matted weedy layer off the top.  I shook out the soil from the root mass and then smoothed over the surface.  I used several carrying buckets to take all the root bundles to the compost heap.  My shoulders are pretty sore this evening, but it was a good 2 days work.  As I uncovered things, I found some good perennials that I left in place.  At times though, it seemed overwhelming.

But by the end of Sunday afternoon, the results were pretty clear.  I even lifted some of the edging rocks and cleaned all the moss off them.

I don't know how many times I went to the compost pile and back, but I know that my fitbit racked up way more steps than usual!  I feel that I now have more space to plant some new, interesting plants that will fill in some of the spaces.

I rescued this cute little Virginia ctenucha larva and popped it back into a leaf pile.  I won't see the adult moths for some months yet.

The plant at the back with the post at the base is a climbing white hydrangea.  On the other side of the trellis is a clematis.  There are some currant bushes in this bed - two blackcurrant, a red currant, and a jostaberry.  There are some tulips just coming in at the front.  There are several lavenders, a large clump of daylilies, two poppies, some yellow loosestrife (also really invasive), a couple of irises that have never bloomed, some pink and white phlox, and an echinops.  I think there might also be an ornamental grass clump. The purple wire chair-like thing accommodates a coir liner in which I usually plant some colourful annuals.

It doesn't look like much right now, but keep in mind that our snow has really only melted recently, so it's just the beginning of the season.  The daffodil is the only one up - the rest out front aren't open yet.  The crocuses have just finished.  I think it could do with some nice clumps of salvia, maybe some heuchera, and perhaps some echinacea or other low-maintenance perennials that will just get on with the business of growing.  I put a few flat rocks down through the bed so I can more easily access certain areas without having to compact the soil with each step. 

Ideally, I'll get some fertilizer in the next week or so to top-dress this bed, and then a few bags of mulch to put down so that hopefully the weeds won't get quite as rampant this year. I would use some of my compost but it needs more time to mature.  I'll have to keep an eye on the weeds and grasses but at least it's possible to see, now, what I've got in there.