I started by trying to mulch under the new Mexican Plum. But some sedum had worked itself into the bed around the Mexican Plum, so I took it out. But I like the sedum -- it's a succulent, and requires little effort to grow. So I wanted to transplant it. But where?
The best spot seemed to me to be along the back wall of the house, outside of the back bedroom and bathroom. The strip of land along the wall seems to get little water; I think it is shaded from the rain by the roof overhang. And it gets a fair amount of afternoon sun. A succulent should do fine there.
But the soil there has compressed, so before moving anything to grow there, I wanted to build the soil level back up to the rest of the area around it. Which is mainly the River of Rocks, as it splits and goes around the Shin Oak. So I brought in more dirt. I found what seems to be good dirt at Home Depot, Texas Native Enriched Topsoil, 40 pound bag. I started with 10 bags.
That got me about half way, so I bought 14 more bags the next day. But that was not enough, so I got 15 more bags the next day. So 39 bags at $2.67 each (plus tax).
As I filled in with dirt, I noticed that I had some flat-ish rocks that could be used to widen the Rive of Rocks. While the River of Rocks was fine when it was built, the Shin Oak has sent up suckers to try to propagate, and filled the space left for it and at least leaned over to occupy the space above the River of Rocks. So it made sense to either scootch the River of Rocks over, to allow more space for the Shin Oak and it's offspring, or to add another row of rocks on the outside -- between the Shin Oak and the house.
We moved some Monkey grass out of where we have dirt and put them along the outside of the new edge of the River of Rocks.
