The roses I put in the bed were a little worse for wear, but they've bounced back somewhat even in this short amount of time --- the one that looked almost dead is now sprouting three small leaves. It should have adequate growing time left to establish some roots and be able to overwinter. This bed design also makes it pretty easy to fill in around the roses with some fallen leaves for insulation. Filled the plant bed up with some nice topsoil and (according to the rose planting instructions) 50/50 mix of topsoil and potting soil around the roots. Scratched in some rose fertilizer the next day, then put on about 3 inches of brown landscaping mulch to help keep the soil from drying out.Very pleased with this project. Altogether, it took about 50-55 hours of labor. Well, that's not including the time spent picking and loading two trailer-loads of stone from property across town. Hard going, that, prying each stone up from the soil that is reluctant to loosen its grasp. But it was a little easier using a large garden cart that was outfitted with old bicycle tires. So at least I didn't have to walk every stone down to the road. I've taken a lot of stone out of that place, and just when you think that there can't be much more usable stone left --- stone that has the flat, slightly angular faces needed for a nice-looking wall, you find an untapped section that's loaded with them.
Have an interior wall lining coming up that I've already done some prep work on and need to get finished before the season ends and wood stove heating season begins.
