The new house looked a'ight. The front yard at first glance was a little bit uninspired, but then again how often to you rent The Secret Garden in college town? Also, the backyard was nice, but sort of blah. There were trees that didn't seem all that special and a big square patch that was probably once a vegetable garden. It was kind of an eye sore with mounds of weed patched dirt.
But overall, we liked the place enough to take it. Once we were settled, we set out to level the dirt patch and started planning a backyard farm. One thing that could be said about the space at that point was that it was perfectly oriented it the daytime sun.
The more time we spent in the garden the more we realized how special it was. Rose bushes, rosemary, flowering perennials and hydrangeas. We kept working. We started with a row of herbs in a long planter row that already existed. Tarragon, thyme, chives, cilantro, dill, fennel, chamomile, sage and oregano were all added and are doing well to date!
Then it was on to the future vegetable patch. We started with tomatoes - two early girls and two heirlooms. We decided to create a keyhole sort of design with a walkway that circles the middle and then meets up with the edge. We filled in the space around the grass walkway with several varieties of peppers: Serrano, bell and pepperoncinis. Then there are two rows of corn, which shot up almost as soon as it was put in the ground. To the right of that are a few strawberry plants, some basil and climbing string beans. And then there are the squash plants that are taking OVER but looking amazing. A few types of onions and then two rows of carrots and one of broccoli, the latter of which has been topped by a pesky pest that I WILL find and I WILL kill. Rounding out the garden are a few rows of lettuce that we bought as wee plants from an adorably spacey hippie gal at the farmers market. We added Rhubarb and Okra for giggles (re: the okra my mom said "ewww that stuff is like slimey snot").
By the time everything was in it's place and the drips were set up and the plants started unfurling new leaves - the garden that had already existed here EXPLODED with beauty. Cherries, nectarines, loquats. Miniature roses, gardenias, hibiscus, things I never even dreamed existed!
Sufficed to say, Liz the old Landlord poor planner (who stole our emulsifier), can suck it. Her place had nothing on this one and I can't even believe I was ever reluctant about moving. Hopefully we'll be here for a while.
