Pardon our rattiness

Ever since acquiring this property, it's been my intention to turn the small patches of lawn on the entry side of the house into never-need-mowing herb lawns. After all, there's not much grass really there, certainly not much of any desirable kind; what goes on there is a march through the progression of perennial weeds. And it takes too much last-minute trimming for the area to look good for guests. A main concern for a B&B is to keep things looking good while reducing the labor involved. Quite a few people have tried to tell me that there's nothing easier and faster to deal with than a simple patch of grass, but anyone who's been here knows that I haven't been convinced. So, since I got to stay here year-round this year, I thought this would be the spring to do it. I did clear out the southern patch, the one bounded by the entry walk/ramp on the north, house on the west, wall of English ivy on the south. Hoed out the grass roots and the weeds and got a pretty clear area to work with. I started moving lemon balm, monarda (bee balm), thyme and spearmint to the four edges, to work gradually inwards. Moved bluebells to encircle the weeping cherry but they didn't like it a bit: those glossy, taut lily-like leaves lost all signs of life, but I'm hoping that the bulbs survive and we'll get a nice display next spring. But then the temperature started nudging 90 degrees every day - just too hot to start small transplants, unless I put a sprinkler on every day, and that's a wasteful method. I'm holding off, and that means large patches of dirt, and grasses creeping back in. Will work on it as I can, and in the meantime: apologies ...