Come Take a Walk with Me

From the moment I saw this piece of property I knew the possibilities were endless, flowerbeds everywhere, a large area for shade gardens, a floating boardwalk in the lake (everyone needs one of those), secluded areas around the lake to take a walk, sit a spell and just spend some time in the great outdoors.  Every year my vision becomes more and more a reality. 

 

A couple weeks ago the local electric company was doing their annual clean-up and they dropped a load of mulch in our yard (they don't normally deliver but we're right where they were working, yeah!).  I have started putting it out to make pathways around the lake and maybe this year I can get some shade plantings going as well.

Here's a glimpse into my crazy:

 

A couple years ago my husband was looking for a small project and we had some telephone poles out behind the shed, they became the base for a small bridge from the side yard out to the wooded area that begins a walk around the lake (or towards the arbor and my front flowerbeds (berms), depending on which path you take.  This is where I am going to be putting the mulch.

 

 The major path I would like to get mulched first goes from this arbor to the bridge pictured above.  I think I have roughly 15 yds, we'll just have to see how far it gets me.

My body gave out before the mulch did.  I made it halfway up from the bridge to the arbor and have well over half my pile of mulch left.  I am not using any type of base (paper or plastic), I am simply spreading the mulch thick (3-4").

 Here's my mulch pile after my first day's work (about 3 hours later).

 

Today was workday #2.  I completed the path from the bridge up to the arbor and still had mulch left so I kept on going.  (The arbor was a ten year anniversary present that spent roughly eight years behind the shed after our move here.  We finally found the perfect spot for it).

 Here's the view from the bridge to the arbor.  If you notice there's another narrow path going off to the left (the first V-path).  My husband wants a path along the lake.  I am not mulching it until he builds some type of border so it doesn't all just run right into the lake.  The patch of greenery you see in the middle is my first area to plant a shade garden. 

This picture looks very similar to the one above but it's actually a second V-path.  The path to the right is the main path that runs from the bridge to the arbor.  The greenery at the bottom left of the photo is the green planting area in the middle of the above picture and the path to the left runs on the other side of it in the above photo.

 

The green patch in the center is another planting area.  I have not attempted shade gardens so this is going to be a learning experience for me.  Any suggestions?

This is the end of the V-path off towards the left.  If you continue down the path you end up at the edge of the lake.  The greenery on the right is my second planting area and the bare spot towards the back, right of the photo is where I'd like to someday build a bottle playhouse.  You'll have access from this path and then I'll plant the back area so it's hidden (right now it's pretty bare where the yard and this woody area meets).

 This is the view from the end of the path at the lake.  You can barely see where I ended the mulch.  Off to the left is where I'd like to build a bottle playhouse someday and the greenery beyond that is a planting area.  As you can see, I have lots and lots of plans.  I'm just getting started and cannot wait to keep the momentum going by getting a few plants in  and an artsy installation this season.

And looky, no more mulch pile.  Hopefully I can get them to dump one more load and I think I'll be able to finish up.  I have some furniture I'd like to start working on for the end of the path at the lake and am happily saving bottles (and collecting from friends) for my bottle playhouse.  Fun, fun! 

I am not the most patient person but when it comes to projects such as these I just love to plan and watch everything come together over time.  It is so rewarding to finish off a piece of the puzzle and see it come to life.

 

Are you working on any long-time projects such as this?  Any suggestions for shade plantings would be greatly appreciated?