When the front porch was done in August 2019, I was up in the barn prepping for Freezer Camp. I did not know they were doing it. They ended up putting 18” of packed gravel in many of what would be flowerbeds.
This area was one of them. I dug out 6” of the gravel and replaced it with loam. This is a 5’ x 18” bed and will probably only have annuals.
I added some of the compost with biochar and put down Espoma FlowerTone for fertilizer. Then I planted one of the mums.
There’s probably a lot of gravel in the bed between the porch and the addition behind this one. I will leave that as I have put a lot of loam on top. It will have ferns and lily of the valley and bulbs, so I think it will be ok. I’m not sure if there’s gravel in the 4’ wide bed that runs along the addition.
On Tuesday my helper friend is here, and I plan to remove the loam and compost from the bed on the other side of the steps, dig out 6” of gravel, put more loam in and replace the compost/loam on top. Then I can plant the other mum, hopefully in time for the rain Tuesday afternoon.