There are two main reasons:
First: I want a beautiful, semi-private yard that will produce some food for our household.
Second: I love being outdoors, working in the yard and seeing the changes we create. I especially need that outlet from the pressured-filled days at my job. Even spending my lunch hour with plant catalogs or writing this to all of you, allows my mind a bit of time with something that brings me great joy.
So, what’s this all about?
We want to take our small yard (just big enough to grow some vegetables, fruits and flowers for Rich and me) that is overgrown with weeds and quite honestly is just a plain mess and transform it into what I know it could be by doing weekend projects that working people can accomplish. Projects that are realistic in the real world of an 8:00 – 5:00 job, commuting, sleeping, household chores, grocery shopping and all the rest, so that project-by-project a charming and cozy yard is created.
Thus…we will turn our yard into a beautiful, small-scale, sanctuary of a garden that, at the moment, is filled with:
Over-grown areas
A stagnant 1920’s concrete pond
A few foundational shrubs and trees in need of a little TLC- some more than others (rhododendrons, camellias, plum trees, a beautiful pink flowering dogwood, red maple, rampant bamboo)
A beautiful rose garden - one of the saving graces of the yard (I can’t believe I don’t have pictures of them in bloom. I will add those as they bloom. They are stunning.)
A garage that is returning unto the earth (falling down)
A stone wall along the driveway that is collapsing (notice the bamboo beast)
An incomplete fence
The beginnings of a vegetable garden
This is so exciting to think about. It’s the “could be” that makes me take shovel in hand, that makes my eyes scan the plant catalogs for what will work in our mostly shady yard (therein lies another obstacle). It’s the “could be” that brings me to writing this, to the joy of it all, to the possibilities.
I admit that I love to watch the gurus of gardening on television if I get the time (Cisco, is my favorite “Gardening with Cisco). I find that I imagine a life where you get to work in the garden…as a job. Imagine. Hmm. Would it become just another job? Right, I don’t think so. But for now, while working 40+ hours a week in a job that, although I believe in its importance, creates such tension and pressure inside me, gardening takes on a different light. Gardening becomes a respite. Gardening is a time to breathe, to exhale, to feel the coolness of the earth, to appreciate the amazing form and beauty of each plant (although some, like our blackberries and morning glory, are harder to appreciate), to the wonderful earthy smell, a time when my soul is at peace for a while. My mother once stated that: She’s never seen me happier than when working in my garden.
One thing that I want to make sure of is that the projects are designed to allow me time on the weekends to do other things, too. I want to be able to read a little, play the piano, or cook. I don’t want this journey to become as pressure-filled as my work, creating the expectation that I MUST do, instead of wanting to do. So...there will be some projects that are longer for weekends that I can devote most of my time to them, and shorter projects for those weekends when time is limited. But I know I am so excited about this that to even wait for the weekends to roll around will be difficult. So here we go…
My next post will be my “plan.” It looks something like this:
Just kidding, well not really, but I promise to make it understandable for you and for me.
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