A Secret Garden in the Making

Hey guys!

How are you doing? I’m hoping all is well and that you have been enjoying your summer.

We’ve been working really hard around the house and the property even before we knew that we’d be having some very special celebrations happening here. One of the areas that we started on was what the kids are calling ‘The Secret Garden’… I guess it’s not really a secret now because I’m telling everyone about it but I won’t tell them that. It’s also not really ‘hidden’ yet but as the plants fill in it will be a bit more of a secret spot.

As you probably already know we live on a pond. Our current house is not directly over the pond like the last one but it is really close to the water but we’ve never actually taken full advantage of what the pond has to offer until recently. Part of that is just due to our crazy life happenings over the past few years but we are finally getting out of that funk and moving forward.

The kids and I cleared a small part of the bank and then we dug out some steps with a shovel and leveled a few small paths. We also added some terraced beds and a small seating area as well… we will be planting some mosquito-repelling plants around here too!

Then we moved some plants that we already had into the beds and the kids did a little chaos gardening by taking some old seeds we had, mixing them together in a bucket, and then planting them here and there to see what would come up.

I did find a couple of plants during a shopping trip to add to the area as well… it’s still a work in progress but we are loving it!

This little project inspired Mr. Awesdome and big brother to help us clear the rest of the bank… well, maybe I might have hinted that I needed some help because the machete wasn’t quite able to handle some of the bigger brush.

With the help of a chainsaw, a weedeater, some clippers, and some strong muscles we managed to make our way through the craziness and we found a beautiful view of the pond.

We had already started landscaping a little of the backyard as I really wanted to get some grass growing and have a prettier view out of the kitchen window but this really changed the whole view for the better.

We leveled some pathways and dug out a few steps in the dirt just as we had done in ‘The Secret Garden’… the neighbors are probably thinking I’ve completely lost my mind but that’s ok.

We also borrowed some plants from some other areas to fill in and then got a few new ones as well. Then we had some really hot and dry weather so some of the plants didn’t make it and that’s ok because I don’t really want things that I have to baby a lot… I have enough on my plate already.

I haven’t actually checked in on the areas in the past week because LIFE has been so CRAZY but we can’t wait to see how these areas fill in and how we are able to use them… the boys have already been using the banks a lot more for fishing without being afraid of a snake popping out of the brush. We have enjoyed seeing some other wildlife though.