all right, now I am embarrassed

Don't be embarrassed, Katie. You have done a great job!

I assume that you are going to grow lots of vines on your new arbor. What do you have in mind?

Hi. I'm not very knowledgable so I can't give any criticism, but I did enjoy viewing your photos. It looks good to me.

I'm looking forward to my first plant swap next month, so I enjoyed looking at those as well. Maybe I'll see you there.

I saw your reference to trying to control the burmuda grass. Gee, do I ever hate that stuff. The stuff is like an American Express card - it's everywhere you want to be! I took some of the black landscape fabric mulch (not the black plastic) and put it under the dirt in my raised bed one year. I made sure to run it up the inside edges of the raised bed and let it flop over to the outside. This took care of the burmuda. I had absolutely no burmuda in that bed although it was all around the outside of it.

Thanks to you all. I was thinking no one was even looking at my pics.

As for the arbor, we have two muscadines we planted last year. We tried using chicken wire, but it was too flimsy, so this year we splurged and got the lattice and the muscadines are on either side. Does it ever look nice! We also got a rather huge wisteria plant that is burgeoning with the warm weather this week. It has doubled in size so I'm hoping for some blooms next year.

I'm hoping the newspapers will keep the bermuda at least manageable. Its too late to put the fabric down this year, so we'll see how we do this year with the newspapers and maybe redo next year if we have to, but thanks for the information!

The plant swaps are great. I have lots of nice things from those as you can see.

Katie

Hi Katie:

There is a FABULOUS product I have used for 3 years now called "Ornamec Over-the-Top" which has stopped the invasion of bermuda grass into my raised beds and rock gardens. It is harmless to well over 500 plants.

Because we have almost all bermuda for our lawn, you can imagine what I deal with in trying to keep the dang stuff from taking over all my beds!

The first year, I sprayed it on the offending runners maybe 2 or 3 different times during the growing season. And it really does kill them :-)

The next year I had very little invasion of new runners, and this spring I have only a few runners in the beds. I have already given them their Ornamec shot--lol.

It really is wonderful stuff, but like any strong vegetation "killer", use sensible precautions when using.

It is worth every penny (I think about $20 bucks per pint but it goes a long way when you're spot treating.) You may not be able to find it at H-Depot or Lowe's, but gardening centers & nurseries are starting to handle it.

Oh...it also kills many other unwanted grasses.

Hope this is helpful. Claudia

Here is a link that might be useful: Ornamec product information

Thanks a bunch Claudia! I'll look into it as soon as I can. I'd love to see some photos of your raised beds. Do you have any?

Katie

Hi Katie:
I'll see what I've got filed away or maybe take some new photos ASAP. Thanks for your interest in my raised beds.

Later! Claudia

P.S. Try the Ornamec, I promise you're gonna love the stuff.