Membership: 2 self-satisfied, if slightly exhausted, homeowners – US!
We’ve been very disciplined about pushing our backyard reclamation project forward these past several weekends – what we haven’t been so disciplined about is anything that needs to get done indoors! But the fruits of our labors are ripening and we couldn’t be more pleased.
To recap…
BEFORE: despair and devastation
IN PROCESS: wickedly cold spring and lots of digging, moving, and yes, whining
Progress is made… 
TO DATE: it’s amazing what a few warm weekends will wring from the chilled earth! Burgeoning growth and contentment.
We’ve begun to relax and loll on our “tiny raft”, as we refer to our downsized deck, enjoying the view and watching the birds. Plants are settling in nicely (and probably wondering just what they did to deserve all that upheaval) and the veggies garden is coming along beautifully; already yielding salad greens, radishes and lots of herbs. I have so appreciated the help of friends and family to dig, shovel and spread gravel, haul rocks, and dig some more.
There’s a tremendous amount self expression in my garden and it is a work always in progress. One art feeds another… whether you are a musician, a painter, a computer programmer, an elementary school teacher, or a person of the cloth, a banker, or even a graphic designer whose spouse has a metaphoric pitchfork to your butt… in a garden we compose, arrange, figure and plot, we nurture and encourage, store up and save. And in the end we offer up hope for an abundant season.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Such a labor of love and renewal! Congratulations on a productive, magical transition…both in and out of the garden.
Wow! What a transformation in such a short period of time! Nice job.
I’m floored by this garden! It is absolutely magical (Mary said it right!). I’d love to hear about the espresso sign and the camper. The sign is unexpected, but perfect…all at the same time.
Mary, Stephanie & Wicked (?!?), thank you so much for your comments…it didn’t feel like such a short period of time while we were at the business end of that shovel! The espresso sign? You have to understand that this garden is in Seattle…that and the fact that my graphic designer husband and I love old signage! The trailer was our 25th anniversary gift to one another – tradition dictates silver, but we prefer aluminium! Now we hope to turn our efforts to it’s interior so it will be a proper garden clubhouse in case this cold and wet Seattle spring never relents!
Heroic effort, and it’s looking great! The rocks in the wire frame are interesting. Is that a storage area for a future project or is it a sort of dry-stack wall? And what is that in the very last picture?
WOW, I’m impressed!!
Found you on Blotanical and am surfing through. Stopping by to read awhile. You are so accomplished, I am intimidated. Enjoying your blog. Now, to read further.
Hi All, Puullllease don’t be intimidated! I’ll get shy and shut up…
Stacy, the rocks are a modified “gabion” – I love this semi-industrial form of wall-building. Here in the PNW you’ll see gabions employeed up in the mountain passes to retain and hold back unstable mountain sides. In eastern Washington I’ve see where ranchers will make a tight circle of hog wire and fill it’s interior with stones dug up on the property – the result is a sturdy column from which they can tie their fences and gates. I just love the rustic, building block aspect to this very old form of wall-making – I don’t have the patience for the fine craft of dry stack.
The wire cages that hold the stones are modular units that link together; a friend and I designed these years ago when I had my nursery and had them fabricated by a wonderful “metal-guy”. They’d been kicking around as shelving and used to display plants (it was a verrrrry informal establishment) so when everything had to come home last fall with the close of the nursery these “cages” were in the pile. Faced with regrading the levels in our backyard they fit the bill perfectly.
I’m much better at responding to a challenge at hand than starting from a blank slate. I always say…if they ever have a reality show where you have to build a nursery on a desert island using only materials at hand I’m Your Gal!!!
The last picture is our “sky ladder” – an old piece of an orchard ladder that is probably 12′ tall. My husband has laboriously decorated it with bottlecaps and I’ve draped one of my “racks” of antlers over it… why you might ask? Because we are always looking to put our signature on the garden…and he with the most bottlecaps – WINS!
Thanks for your interest!
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