The weather is beautiful. The sun is shining. I have my plan. I have lists of different plants suited to the conditions in my garden. I have even made a collage of my garden using inspiring pictures clipped from various gardening magazines and landscaping catalogues. Today I am going to start. I am inspired by the Small Spaces Big Ideas series hosted by Monty Don (Thanks to my good friend for recommending the show, inspiring me, and helping me to do something healthy). It is still early in the spring, the perfect time to move plants. I will have to dig them up and pot them while I rebuild the garden. The plan is to rebuild the whole garden. To put in a pond and waterfall. To have stone stairs leading up to a top level, which is exposed to more sunlight. There will be a shade garden around the waterfall, and a sunny area around the other side of the pond. A little stone path will lead through the plants and there will be a small bog at the end of the pond for the Sarracenia plants. This is a lot to pack in my small backyard. I have measured and drawn out the plans, and even used online graphics software (Sketch up) to draw it all out. It all works on paper. Nothing left to do but to start digging.
We have two big challenges to worry about with this plan. First, the space is small and there will be a lot of soil to move and store while we are constructing the rock walls, stairs, waterfall and pond. We will also need space for the plants that are being dug up plus all of the materials including the boulders for the rock wall. The second problem is that there is no street access to our backyard. We are surrounded on all sides by fences and the backyards of our neighbors. Everything has to come in or go out through the inside of our home. Well, I am never one to shy away from a challenge. Bring it on.
I start by digging up a few plants and moving them into pots. I am timid at first, working slowly, not quite sure I where to start and what to do next. I am a bit unsure about the scale of the project. Am I really doing this? Once I get going though, I become more committed. There is no going back now. I remove all of the plants from the first two tiers of the garden, filling all of my available pots. I remove the fountain which is actually an antique bathtub that my dad had welded a watering can onto. I have decided to convert into a strawberry planter. The bottom is starting to rust out so it will not hold water anymore. We drill some holes in the bottom for drainage, fill it with soil and move some of the plants into it for the time being. It is only April, but it is hot outside. If feels like July. By the end of the day, we have moved one level of rocks, all of the plants from two of the levels, and a large pile of soil. Not too bad for day one.
