Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Your Neck of the Woods part 7 Galloping into Spring, 4 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
OK! Back to gardening....

Finally dug out my OLD Gooseberry bush (possibly from the late 70's--early 80's ??)
and potted it into the big, black pot you see. Could have used a bigger one--
had to cut back a lot of roots....but we will see...It has not borne fruit in years.
Got another small start that came off. I potted it up.
Gooseberries are not hot-weather shrubs. They do better in more northern zones.
Just ONE year--long, long ago--I picked enough berries to make some Jam.

http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/5766/how-to-grow-great...

This bush has been languishing in the corner of this bed-by the bird bath and
under my Lilac bush--which is also not doing much any more--for eons...

This bed started out--years and years ago--as two whiskey barrels. side by side,
on the ground. Nice sunny spot--no big trees--open yards (no fences) etc.

In about 3 years--these whiskey barrels were totally full of maple roots which sits
ONLY 4' away from my YUK bed and this small extension to my YUK bed.
So--I asked my DH to fill in around the barrels and make it a raised bed.
We removed all the stays as the bed was filled in.
It was usable for a few years--but I had to rip out the roots every time I wanted to
dig a hole it there. So--I gave up--and it has just been sitting there with the Gooseberry
bush at the far end, a big clump of trailing Vinca at the other end.
Slowly--nature has shrunk this bed down to only about 1' deep.

The empty bed you see now, is doomed to be totally demolished as nothing grows there.
It is matted full of tree roots. Don't know how I am going to accomplish this.
The soil is pretty good in it....I want to just toss it on the YUK bed right next to it
to amend this bed. It sadly needs some good stuff in it.
It will be slow goings...picking all the roots out by hand ...or axe and lots of shoveling.
Then again--been there done that many times.. any time I plant something in m YUK bed.

WHEN and IF I get this bed about level to the ground--I will put pavers over it and it will
become a nice flat place to set bigger pots (like my Amaryllis??) for the summer.
The rotting landscape edging will be removed (so SHE says) and taken to the Land Fill.

Wish me luck! G.

1--This doomed bed looking towards my YUK bed. The green fencings are
from last summer--as the rabbits chewed off all new growth and many stems
from my Heliopsis and NE Aster in this bed.

2--The bed looking the other direction--the pot in front is the re-potted Gooseberry bush.

3--This is the still empty "kitchen side bed" full of nothingness...The two big ferns
are one in either end of this bed. The ones I just now dug apart and potted some of
the clumps. On the left is the Autumn Fern--On the right--the Korean Tassel fern.
The Endless Summer Hydrangea sits totally dormant
on the left. Normally--it would be in leaf-bud by now.

4--This how you may know this bed better....from July 2013
5--the far corner of my YUK bed--June 2013. All this comes up automatically.
They are all perennials that make-do in this yukky bed....Bless their "hearts'...