The Back Forty!

Those that know me well, know I have a black thumb instead of a green thumb when it comes to gardening!   It's not that I can't do it, it's just that I've never had much of an interest in it - what with not being able to paint the flowers or make them out of craft material...   When our family moved into our house, there was an area in the backyard with no grass and covered in about two foot weeds that we affectionately called "The Back Forty".  I'm sure the family that owned the house before us had that area earmarked for something, but then they had a baby, and, well, babies have a way of putting off projects around the house.   Once the weeds grew high enough to actually hide a car, I decided to try and venture out and try my hand at growing something.

That was back in 2011 and here is what it looked like back then after I finally got rid of (most of) the weeds and covered the ground with ground cloth and mulch.

The only purpose for the garden at this point was for my son to use it for his baseball net!

 I chose as the centerpiece of the garden a birdbath that my father made for me (my whole family is artsy fartsy, we get it from Mom and Dad!))

 We had some irises at our lake house that we had never seen in bloom (spring is baseball season so we needed to stay close to home) and so I brought some of the iris bulbs, and some separated pieces of the ornamental grasses and the daisy bush back to Northern Virginia to see if I could make them grow.  So far, the cost is free, right within my budget!

Admittedly, I felt rather please when I noticed mud clumps following me through the house.

Fast forward to 2013.  I have definitely made a few mistakes along the way, but I am happy to say that the garden is still coming along and I am starting to enjoy it.  Now that you have seen the "before",  I am going to wait until next week to share photos of the garden today because I have a few things to do first.  Make no mistake, it is still young and not professional by any stretch, but I finally feel like it's heading in the right direction!

Onto Craigslist again.  To make the garden less overwhelming to a novice like me, I've decided to break it into smaller areas.  I've been looking for a wrought iron bistro set that I can put out there and set my coffee on and maybe take a moment to sit and enjoy my work...finding one and being the first one to get it is no easy task this time of year and I tried and missed on several before I found this set.  Once again, the nicest young lady was cleaning out her shed.  I had been checking about 3 times a day and was able to get there first this time!  $25 where a new set would cost much more!

Perusing Pinterest, I am trying my hand at growing herbs.  Baby steps remember and so far they are doing well.  I am interested in how often you need to water when it's inside.

 Next week I will show you how the garden is coming along today with the furniture in place and some of the plants growing up a little.  I've made a few mistakes, but so far, no disaster and I have only lost two forsythias!