My Garden
I've always loved gardens, but I've never been a really dedicated gardener.
When it was time to grow a vegetable garden, I read different approaches until I found a book that only wanted one hour a week for a vegetable garden. Now that was for me. We've used variations on that method to grow vegetables in our backyard (year around) for over 10 years now. In the spring and fall, there's usually one week when I spend most of a weekend clearing and getting the garden ready for the next set of vegetables. But I rarely spend even an hour a week. We still get a bountiful harvest of what we eat most (peas, lettuce, tomatoes, herbs and kale).
Our home has an unusual front yard. It's about 1 meter (3 feet) wide by the road, and about 5 meters (15 ft) near the house. In between is over 30 meters (100 ft) that start with a dry, sunny spot and end in a soggy shady section. It was mostly grass when we moved in with a couple of small, gardens that had only been created in the last 3 months. Nothing was established.
I've never liked that yard, but it has always defeated me when I tried to come up with plans. Before we had kids, I wanted to tear out all the grass and just plant wildflower seeds all along the strip. I did manage to dig up two more sections and put some plants in them. But as our family grew, the garden got neglected.
As of the summer of 2006, the front 'garden' section has lots of weeds, including the very invasive horsetail. The section closest to the house is very overgrown and the English ivy appears to be winning the battle with the horsetail. The lawn in between, has both moss and horsetail. How do you even start to create an attractive garden in this space?
