Lots of trees create a shaded path

Adventures large or small are always similar in one aspect… they take us away from home. For some of us that means lots of things left undone waiting for that perfect “home and garden” day which will never come. A perfect gardening day is after all, a perfect paddling day as well! Well, yesterday I decided to get stuck into a job I was dreading; fixing a blasted corner garden that had been devastated by broad leaf sprays. (A hazard of proximity to a farm).

Recovery – Almost Dead Corner Re-shaped, planted and mulched.

Now if you can imagine, there were all of 4 trees here when I moved in many moons ago. Not to mention old burn piles full of glass & rusty bits of everything, the foundation of an old barn, and weeds that grew over my head as well! It was quite the job getting it all in order.  Once the trash and weeds where removed from the earth, I was like a painter starring at a blank canvas trying to figure out what to do next.

I love the woods but we were located in the middle of a very large open farm field. Sometimes you simply can’t choose your environment.. you have to take what you are lucky enough to have, then with time and care make it become what you want. All that clearing and planting back in the day was based on a vision of a little forested get-away. The devastated back garden had been “thoughtful spot”. It was complete with a stone path, a bridge made from a bit of old barn foundation and a ceremonial  Japanese stone hand washing bowl that took me days to chisel out.  Now it gave off the impression of being “Nuked”.  For awhile I simply was too bummed out to know where to begin to bring it back. For whatever reason yesterday seemed like the day to start.

Somewhere between removing the maddeningly invasive burdock (which was the only thing to come back) and relocating the stones, I started to feel like I could bring it back.  I bought nothing.  I split plants and raked mulch from other parts of the yard and carried stones from fence rows.  As much as you may like to, spending money on plants and dirt is not always possible.  Thing is, you can’t let that stop you. By the end of  what became a very  long day I was at least am starting to see my little hideaway coming back.

Replanting Natives – Columbine by old log

Looking Out from Garden Path

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