Pooh Corner Transformation - Construction
First
we installed edging in a gentle curve to separate the grass from our new
garden area. We reseeded the grass, and mulched with straw to keep the
seed from washing away in the frequent spring rains. Next we created a
very casual path in the new garden. That split the garden into three
distinct sections: one large area surrounding the tree, one area
bordering the east fence and including the corner, and one area nearest
the grass along the south fence. After a couple of weeks' deliberation,
we put down some pine needles (or pine straw) as material for the path,
mainly because we could not decide on anything else, and we had a couple
of bags of pine straw from our spring clean-up out front. Because the yard
sloped away from the house toward the east fence, we put in a small cedar
rail edging, creating a tiny retaining wall, with a grade difference of
about 8 inches on the east end of the path. At the same time all of this
construction was happening, we also installed some landscape timbers to
turn our gravel path slope into gradual steps. We used the same elevations
for the steps and the new garden, to keep things aligned nicely. 
We brought an old garden bench up out of our basement, where it had been stored for years. We put it to good use along the south fence. We worked the soil the best we could, fighting tree roots all the way. Some roots had to be removed to allow for the cedar edging. David chopped some out with an axe, and I dug some out with the blade of the shovel. We added many loads of compost, lots of peat moss, and some sand. We turned it all over, removing what little grass was there, and cleaning out old roots. Finally we were ready to install plants.
