Update of the South Side

Here is the south end of the property on day one of the move seven years ago. Yes, feel free to say the house closely resembles an army barracks.

First thing, I took some flour and made an outline of this bed, making it deep and with scallops. My daughter the Empress then dug it out and chopped up the rough soil.

She was also the champ who, until the move, stored umpteen plants and shrubs I wanted to keep from the old garden; we were so tidy about it you wouldn't know we had pillaged.



The next year showed a small improvement; no overall plan--just creating day by day. I had lugged the old pseudo brick fountain-turned-planter around with me from house to house and it settled nicely into the corner.
Keep an eye on that hosta in the lower left corner. Man oh man, did that little puppy have a growth spurt.



See what I mean?





This is the usual sight in the spring, once the snow melts. Seasoned gardeners know that underneath that debris are sleeping sprouts that will soon come looking for the sun.
It's best not to go mucking around the beds just then because you might lose or displace the little guys, possible permanently.
And okay I confess, I scrabbled out there in the mud during our long, long rain spell this spring and it turned out very well. The ground was so pliable it was a pleasure to weed and tidy up although I'm still working the garden out of my fingernails. The plants didn't seem to suffer from my stomping around. Lucky is what I was.



The pond-turned-planter is gone now and the small plants have turned into extra large and the results are pleasing.



The right hand corner needs work now. That's next on my list, the minute the temperature goes down from its current plus 38C.

West Side Story

This was the upper west side of the property when I moved in. I couldn't afford to replace the chain link fence and it took a while to figure out how to soften the effect.
I think this property was bog land and after a rainfall, that side of the garden was soggy bordering on flooded. Eventually it became the place to dump debris and plant anything that likes wet bottoms.

The new brick "lawn" has corrected the flooding so this section might become dear to my heart in time.



This is the upper west corner with its gate shortly after I moved in.
The gate is to the right of the mirrors.
Each fence had a gate so the original group of home owners must have been a friendly group with small kids who played back and forth. Unfortunately there are few kids now and no reason to keep the gates.
In fact, the last time mine was used was around 2AM when my neighbor noticed two prowlers in my yard and alerted police; the intruders scooted through that gate to avoid detection.

Now a raised bed deters two-legged night visitors.



One of my helpful sons assembled this container for the gangly cuttings that are a nuisance to stuff into yard waste bags and besides, it will break down into yummy garden loam in time.
Cow has been sitting on that tree branch forever. She seems to like it.



Here we are today. The wheel barrow always ends up there and the area embraces the shade (bog) garden, a couple of the raised beds and two bins of potatoes.





Here it is from a distance which is a good idea. The flaws blend into the busy-ness of the area and it looks fairly tidy.