Digging rocks

I'm not a dig-in-the-dirt gardener. I'm a pots-on-the-porch gardener. Pots of perennials have spent the summer on my porch steps and it was time to get them in the ground. This time of year, I covet patches of flowering daises. I know that they take time to establish. I've got to do this.

So I borrowed my neighbor's spade and removed the sod in four spots between my drive and front walk. My sweet neighbor offered that I needed to make the holes deeper. I explained that there appeared to be difficulty going much deeper and I didn't want to ruin the blade. I was hitting rock.

So a week passed and I went out with my hand trowel and worked on the holes. This picture is after the first two holes were big enough to take the plants.

Another week passed before I did the last two. I am a reluctant miner. There are results, however. I have small pebbles for the bottom of my pots and good sized rocks to edge the bed after I put mulch on.

I was thinking of buying bags of something for the mulch. Now I think I'll just wait until the leaves fall. Why buy mulch when it grows on trees?