Northern Digs Design & Maintenance

05/30/2026

Nearly June blooms😎

05/07/2026

The Crab trees, Redbuds and tulips have been so pretty this Spring😎Our cooler MN temps have made for long-lasting blooms. Nature's method of refridgeration🙃Warmer days are coming soon!

04/19/2026

Happy Spring😎⚘️

I am enjoying all the green coming through the drab of winter...pansies add some early spring color to the landscape: best part is they can take our cold overnight temps--down to 16 degrees(hopefully, we don't get that low)🙃

03/08/2026

Some inspiration, now that Spring is upon us🤩⚘️

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17HC8Ch8jR/

A patchy, w**dy backyard can become a full cottage garden retreat in a single growing season if you build it in the right order.

Clear everything first. Pull w**ds by hand or use a sod cutter to remove heavy grass. Planting into unprepared ground is the fastest way to double your future workload.

Once cleared, lay cardboard directly on the soil in your planting beds and cover it with 3 to 4 inches of hardwood mulch. This kills remaining w**d seeds without chemicals and improves your soil as it breaks down.

Plan your path before you dig anything. Lay a garden hose on the ground and adjust the curve until it looks natural, then trace it with spray paint. Curved paths are what give cottage gardens their relaxed, unplanned feel.

For the path itself, dig down 4 inches, pack in a gravel base, and set flagstones on top. Fill the joints with polymeric sand, which locks the stones in place and prevents w**ds from pushing through.

Get your pergola in the ground early since everything else is designed around it. A simple 4-post cedar frame with a flat top grid works perfectly. Place it toward the back of the yard to pull the eye deeper into the space rather than stopping it at the edges.

Plant a climbing rose at the base of each post. New Dawn and Cecile Brunner are both reliable choices that produce the cascading blush pink blooms you see covering mature pergolas. They take 2 to 3 seasons to fully cover the structure but need very little attention once established.

Build your planting beds in layers. Shrub roses and ornamental grasses toward the back, catmint, echinacea, and lavender in the middle, and hostas or low ground covers at the front edges.

Catmint is worth planting in quantity. It blooms for months, fills space fast, handles dry conditions well, and attracts pollinators constantly. Cut it back by half in midsummer and it rebounds with a full second flush through fall.

For hydrangeas near a fence or wall, leave 3 to 4 feet of space for airflow. Annabelle gives you large white blooms reliably every year. Endless Summer will shift toward blue if you apply aluminum sulfate to the soil in early spring.

Repeat the same 4 to 5 plants in clusters throughout the beds rather than planting one of everything. That repetition is what makes a garden look designed instead of random, and it costs less because you are buying multiples of fewer varieties.

The path and pergola are two weekends of physical work. The planting fills in over one growing season. By year two it looks like it was always there.

12/23/2025

Ok...the final wrap!😀🎁🎄

12/22/2025

Just...one...more!😎🎄

12/18/2025

Well, I think that's a wrap🎄😎🎁Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!💕

12/10/2025

This weeks' picks😎🎄

12/03/2025

Round 2🎄😎❄️🎶It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!"🎵

11/15/2025

It's that time of year again!🎄Holiday trimmings get started early, here in MN, when the weather is still nice😎
First week, off to a great start: A dozen winter pots, on-site✅️now I can relax a bit. The rest will be done in the heated shop!