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What can you do with a concrete pit after the garage has been torn down? You could just fill it in and never know it's there. Or you could get creative and fancy it up a little. The pit I was faced with was really a hole dug to make working underneath a vehicle easier. It did have concrete walls however and the top was level with the ground.
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First we filled in the pit, to within a foot or so of the top, with all sorts of things like rocks, sticks - you name it, but nothing that could contaminate the area. Then we finished filling it with good garden soil. It measured about three feet wide by six feet long and I already had a plan in mind.
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A birdbath went in the center towards the back of the pit. Bulbs were then set around this, with the tallest at the back. I used new Oriental and Asiatic Lilies, with Daylilies transplanted from another spot between them.
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Centered at the front end was a Hosta plant, with low-growing assorted flowers around it. Between the birdbath and Hosta were four bunches of Gladiolus, two orange and two yellow. I sowed Alyssum seed around the front edges of the pit where the Hosta was located, for I didn't expect the Hosta to reach full size the first year.
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After a few days I could tell the lilies were beginning to grow, but was doubtful about the Hosta. Soon I saw the first shoots of the gladiolus and began counting them every day until there were signs of all 20 bulbs. The Alyssum were starting to grow and, finally, after about five weeks, I could see signs of growth from the Hosta. Now all I had to do was wait for everything to grow and view the final results.
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The final results were worth the time and effort spent on developing this little spot. It turned out to be quite colourful and attractive. A number of people commented on it. The bulbs were taken out of the ground for winter storage and I may arrange them a little differently for the next spring, making sure the tallest plants are at the back.
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