Weeding the Garden: Before and After



 

This is the year that I'm learning how to keep a real garden. 

In the past, our homes have had "yards."  Lots of grass, with a few azaleas, boxwoods, and prickly holly. I would always mess up the design by planting what I wanted, such as butterfly bushes and even tomatoes.

Will and I have planted vegetable gardens, of course. Some were huge; some were small.

But we had little experience--or luck--with flowers,  unless they were potted.

 

Rattlebridge Farm came with ready-made cottage and herb gardens. 

 

My gardening buddies offered advice. And I also read as much as I could.

Before I'd gotten my footing, I added another garden, a surprise potager for Will. 

He immediately drove to Home Depot and filled a cart with vegetables and bug-spurning things. 

 

 

He bought tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, fertilizer, and water hoses. 

 

I decided to add a few perennials to the cottage garden. So many choices and so little garden knowledge (from my end). But first, I had to get rid of the darn weeds.

 

 

When we bought the house, the gardens were pristine, but after a hard winter

nature began to reclaim the territory. Here's a "before" picture from early spring, 2013.

I didn't know where to begin.

What to do?

Weed. Mulch. See what survived the winter.

Take stock.

Take a deep breath.

 

 

And here are a few "after" photos:

 

Lots of empty spaces.

 

 Before and after.

 

 

A "before" of the front flower beds.

 

Another, bigger "before."

The hydrangeas were engulfed by shrubs.

And a few "in between" photos, taken with my iPhone.

 

Will loved his garden but thought the hedges needed to be moved back, so he'd

have more room to plant. He's so happy to have a little plot of earth.

Not too big.
Not too little.
Just right.

 

 

 

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