Just what I need....

....another hosta bed!  What do you plant on the north side of the house that will keep the dirt from splashing onto the house?  Hostas...of course.

We figured that we might as well plant this bed now since hostas take several years to become established.  The price was right for this project.....free!  The hostas were plants that we already owned and divided and the rocks were quietly waiting in a pile to be placed somewhere.

I have been adding soil along this side of the house over the last month or so.  The lawn sloped towards the house and towards the east.  We think we have raised it enough to keep the rain from running towards and downhill to the east.  Once the gutters are installed this problem should be a problem no more.

I scored the sod with a sharp flat shovel once we had enough soil in place.  This made it possible for R to come along and shave the sod away.  The sod that was removed was placed upside down under the deck to start filling in low areas.  Nothing goes to waste here at The Gear.  We recycle dirt and rocks!!!

Once the sod was gone we outlined the bed with rocks to mimic the beds on the other sides of the house.  R picked through the pile of rocks and I placed the rocks along the edge.

Next came the fun part....planting the hostas.  I knew I wanted blue hostas because of the north location.  Hostas that are classified as blue actually have a coating of wax on the leaves.  You must keep them out of the sun or the wax melts and you end up with green leaves.  I also wanted yellow hostas to contrast nicely with the blue.

While weeding last week, I ran across a Krossa Regal hosta that was crowded between two other hostas.  I like Krossa Regal because of the vase shape and it's blue.  The vase shape allows you to plant a low growing hosta  underneath the Krossa Regal to get a layered look.

The other hostas I chose were three First Frost hostas still in the pots, that I purchased on close out last fall.  First Frost is a low growing medium sized blue and pale yellow hosta.  Perfect for layering under the Krossa Regal.

I also planted a Cherry Berry which is a yellow slender leaved hosta with red in the stem.  I rounded out the bed with Dream Queen, Marilyn Monroe, and a miniature called Little Treasures.

The bed looks sparse right now but once it fills in next year it will look fabulous.  I forgot to take a photo of the bed after I planted the hostas so the bed doesn't look quite as sparse as the photos represents.

What's next?  One more hosta bed to weed.  Then of course we need to mow.  If we get a stretch of no rain, we might start taking the shingles off the front of the house.  Basically we play it by ear and if we feel like digging we dig, if we feel like demoing we demo.  So I guess we've been feeling weedy lately...can ya dig it???