Two Hour Gardening Project: Stage 10 – Lawn Edging and Wallflowers

Original feature: edge new circular lawn with decorative concrete slabs (slate-grey chosen). Start edging cottage garden area. Late season but time for quick veg crop and wallflower seed for spring.

Needs: 1 bag sharp sand; 10 pre-cast concrete paving slabs; 1 pkt wallflower seed; 1 pkt lettuce/carrot/radish seed. Time: 4 hours in 1 week.

Mid-August Weather/Soil

Gardener's year turning. Plants forming seed/fruit; some shedding. Shorter days; dawn/dusk colder.

Flower of the Fortnight: Wallflower

Top-ten old-fashioned favorite. Known since Dark Ages, widely naturalized. Wild wallflowers grow on cliffs/in old wall mortar—need perfect drainage. Enjoy chalk/lime but not essential on acid soil. Biennial: sturdy plants year 1, flower/seed/die year 2. Grown for scent and velvety flowers.

Groundwork

1. Harvest dwarf French/bush snap beans. Shell, save young pods. Dice, cook 15 min in salted boiling water, strain; keep liquid for white sauce.
2. Note neighborhood plants you like; classify by type; find names.
3. Water drought-stressed plants—especially new/container plants. Feed containers with liquid feed (center advice). Watch seedlings—most vulnerable. Water before wilt, never waterlog. Learn friends/foes: toad = friend, major insect eater. Don't disturb lair; keep cool/sheltered. Handle minimally.

Project Work: Edging Lawn; Sowing Seed

Smart lawn edging: remeasure diameter (Stage 8 process). Position slabs 45 cm apart. Mark, stack. Dig holes >slab size, ≥15 cm deep. Fill with brick/stone/rubble. Firm. Cover with 1 cm builder's sand. Bed slabs. Set just below grass level for mower clearance. Backfill, ram firm. Adjust with sand. Sow wallflower seed in drills; transplant later.

Recognizing Plant Types

• Annual: seed to flower to seed to death in one season. Cheap, often self-seed.
• Biennial: two seasons for same cycle.
• Perennial: permanent roots, annual top growth, dies back winter.
• Bulb: perennial storing food in swollen underground bud. Inexpensive. Flowers when few others do (early spring, late fall).
• Shrub: woody perennial, grows yearly. Good investment—choose carefully; lasts lifetime.