"finally good sandy loam"

I am going to put a hex on you!
You have done a lot of vine diggin'.

What part of the state are you in/near?

Kathy

Me too! I'm so jealous! I still have clay from h*ll.
Looks good! PJ

Azle is located on SH 199, fourteen miles northwest of downtown Ft. Worth and straddles the Tarrant/Parker County line. It has an estimated 10,950 residents. Azle operates as a home-rule city, which supports a council/city manager form of government.

Azle is a master planned community that offers a quality of life that everyone can enjoy. Surrounded by hills and trees, with the eastern portion of the city limits bound by the shores of Eagle Mountain Lake, Azle provides ideal settings for peaceful neighborhoods. Azle is a great place to relax whether you visit one of its city parks; enjoy water activities on Eagle Mountain Lake; read a good book at the Azle Public Library, or enjoy the challenge of playing golf at its 18-hole municipal golf course, Cross Timbers Golf Course.

Thanks Wally! Now I know even more about Azle! This is an area of the DFW metroplex with huge old growth trees (mine are mostly post oak) and lovely sandy loam soil. It appears that homes built here are built with minimal impact to mature trees. There are not many sidewalks and gutters in the residential areas. I love the way the town looks, hopefully will love the home-rule city atmosphere. It's very quiet here ⺠but just 15 minutes from Fort Worth!

Pam

Wow! You've done so much! And isn't it great to have sandy loam? Especially if you have to do a bunch of digging. It almost seems like you can just stick anything in the ground and it will grow.

Did you consider maybe bringing in more soil and creating essentially a raised bed, thus just leaving the cardboard as the new 'floor' (without need to cut through it)? Of course, depending on depth, that might be too much for the existing trees.

It already looks so inviting as a shady niche. I see a hammock in your future.
Can't wait to see it finished!

I thought about bringing in soil, but the trees are here and to me they are the stars ⺠We also tossed around the idea of digging down a bit and sifting all of the roots out, then laying the cardboard and returning the soil. This is a large area, 30 X 25 and the job of digging and pulling the roots we already have, has rendered my hubby and me nearly crippled. Neither of us can stand up straight right now. We may just take a bit of time to heal and start again. I had not considered a hammock, but now I am!

Pam

Looks wonderful, Pam!! We have certainly been lucky with the weather the last few days, haven't we? Too bad this won't last long and the heat of summer will hit. But you'll have a beautiful shady place to recline in your hammock, drink lemonade and direct your hubby on the next project!! We wish,right? Debby

Wow you did a good job clearing it out. I envy your space for Hosta's, ferns and don't forget columbines :) I could go on and on of all the plants you could put there

Happy gardening

Can't wait to see what all you do with that, Pam. What a great start you have made. I'm with Barb ... the list is endless and the soil is great....have fun !!!

Thanks everyone! The work has been temporarily suspended until this rash clears up! I have never had a rash from poison ivy before, but I scratched a couple of mosquito bites with my dirty gloved hand and now I'm miserable. Does anyone know if there is a bad side effect to using Caladryl and Ivy Dry for an extended period? I've been applying every time it starts itching (about every hour or 2). I did use the Tecnu soap as soon as I realized that I was not invincible to poison Ivy oils.

Barb, I do have a large clump of Texas Gold Columbine that will be planted near the seating area, I think. My neighbor has all of the red Turk's Cap and Lady Ferns that I care to dig out of her yard and I got a Pink TC last fall that is just growing like a weed! My butterfly ginger will also be there somewhere near the seating area. I got a plant support for it since it always gets so tall and lanky. I'm anxious to get started, but when I get hot and sweaty, the rash itches more.

Thanks again for all of the nice comments!
Pam

Try Claritin for the poison ivy. I get it two to three times a year and Claritin is the only thing that keeps me from itching.

I hope you don't get bad case of it--I am really allergic and have to take RX med for it...

Well, at least the rash is providing some well deserved time off from the project to rest up and regroup. And since that dense English ivy may have provided a home for mosquitos you have very likely removed another itchy antagonist through your efforts. Just think of all the itching you WON'T be doing...lol.

I had some poison ivy rashes a couple of weeks ago in places that are very un-ladylike to itch in public!
Everybody has different levels of tolerance for it and maybe mine is pretty high because my 'remedy' is simple and fast. I find what works best is to run very hot water on the rash to make it stop itching. I guess it numbs the nerves or something, even though at first when I hit it with the hot water the itching intensifies a LOT. But a minute or so of running the water on it and the itching stops for a long time. And then I also soak in an epsom salt bath to dry it up. It was gone in three or four days.

Onward through the itch!

Pam, maybe it wasn't the poison ivy, but "cow-itch" vine that got you. Poison ivy does not bother me, but I have to use a prescription salve in a tube to stop the reaction to the other should I accidentally come in contact with it. I avoid it like the plague, but sometimes it is mixed in with other things I am pulling out. Hope you feel better soon as I know how miserable that is.

Thanks y'all! It's getting better day by day. The two things that are working best are the hot shower that dragonfly wings mentioned and Claritin that suzieq77 mentioned. I mostly have it on my inner calves and arms and behind my knees, but have a few isolated spots elsewhere. Spanking or slapping it instead of scratching helps too, but people at Brookshire's look at me like I'm the crazy one!

I do think it was harboring mosquitos too. I tried spraying all the shrubs and remaining jasmine (it's in a couple of areas of the yard) with the diluted orange oil mentioned in the 'annual mosquito solutions' thread and it could be my imagination, but I *think* it's working.

My hubby says he'll help me get the plants in this weekend. I've moved my focus to the side of the house. Once I get something completed, I'll post more pictures!

Have a great day all!
Pam