The gardening season for Oklahoma is winding down. I’m ready for a break, but it also means that “old man winter” is just around the corner. I’ve seen that corner before and I’m not impressed. So, I’m trying to squeeze in as much late summer gardening as possible.             This flowerbed is out by the edge of the road and has caused me great distress ever since I built it. A few weeks ago as I was mowing the yard….I happened to take a good look at what was happening. I gasped in horror….it was looking hideous………………           Thanks to a full summer of neglect….this was my masterpiece. I hung my head in shame. I’m sure my neighbors thought that my taste was “dead”. Right then and there I decided that this needed an extreme makeover. When the “milkmaid” gets an idea in her head, there’s no stopping her.           The next day I made a trip to my favorite garden spot and bought some new plants. I also headed for the back pasture and loaded up some beautiful compost. The soil in this corner flowerbed is a “killer”. Hard and ugly clay dirt! It’s a beast to work with.            I pulled out all the ugly and shoveled fresh compost. I had planted perennial grass along the back side and was tired of the look. It wasn’t performing like I wanted and so I decided it must go. This stuff was huge. First I had to shovel all around the base to loosen it up. Next I took a big heavy duty log chain (like we use to pull tractors) and wrapped it around the base. Then I hooked it up to the four-wheeler and put that baby in four wheel drive. Yes siree…where there’s a will, there’s a way. I hauled it straight to the burn pile.             I planted crepe myrtle bushes in place of the grass. These do wonderful in our hot Oklahoma summers. They bloom for weeks and put on quite a show.             It was quite a work out, but I was totally pleased with the results. The death look was gone and in it’s place was bright and colorful. Now I can hold my head up high when the neighbors drive by. And I can sleep at night knowing that I conquered another hurdle in my gardening world……………………….Carol