Time to tackle the couch grass. The only way to get the grass out was to dig everything up and start again. Apparently couch grass starts growing in cold temperatures, so it can get established before the perennials wake up to take up their space.

I cleared this much before the end of the day / my energy and replanted all bulbs and put the divided geum pieces close together towards the corner. Then the verbena has all gone back near the fence, with the hope that it’ll keep the grass back a little bit and all I’ll be able to do at that point is just nip it off at the top. I’m not sure how things are going to proceed when I get feather down the bed to the mat-forming perennials, as I can’t just dig them up.

Digging all the damp clay was hard work, so it’s going to be interesting this year, having beds full of compost. They’ll be much lighter to work, but will they bring their own oddities?