Garden Chronology

As I looked at the garden, from the kitchen window, this morning I thought about how far it has come.  When we moved onto the ranch, six and a half years ago, the “garden” looked like this:

And this morning it looked like this:

Needless to say, its been a lot of work.  I thought it would be fun to show a chronology of how we got from there to here, in photos.  Ready?

2013

Brett built me a raised planter box

And I started clearing all the weeds; by hand, with a hoe.  It took forever.

2014

Brett put in water lines; lots and lots of water lines

He also put in the chicken run and chicken shed — which he painted red.  I think chickens should have a red shed; its so farmyard.  I started planting fruit trees and Brett pulled out all the cement blocks and brick which were scattered around the garden.  He created a planting bed with large rocks and small boulders, in the middle of the garden. 

My first garden shed was a rabbit hutch that we brought with us from Aspen Meadows for some reason.  We didn’t bring any rabbits with us; just this hutch.

The fence was still t-posts and wire, but Brett made me a beautiful garden gate for my birthday.

2015

My mom died in 2014, which was devastating.  We had this sculpture of a pelican drinking champagne (two of her favorite things) commissioned for the garden.

Brett created another garden bed with stone, and I planted it with flowers my mother loved.  I sat in that red chair, thinking about her, a lot.

2016

Brett finished replacing the t-post fencing with a wood and hog wire, creating a strong and beautiful deer fence.

We spread bark around the front part of the garden, leaving the orchard portion in grass (weeds).

Brett built me a second raised planter box, at the back of the garden, next to the chicken run.

2017

The nectarine tree succumbed to canker and died.  In its place, I created another round bed.  I planted this one with a mix of natives and plants that attract birds and butterflies.  I moved those flags around until I had a design that I liked.

2018

2018 was the year Brett built my greenhouse, with some help from his buddy Richard.

And some help from me, too.  Brett is deathly afraid of heights so that’s me working on the roof.

2019

Brett built a cover for one of my raised beds.  For the first time, I got to eat my vegetables instead of just feeding the squirrels.  That’s the bird and butterfly garden in the foreground and the first round bed which is planted in flowers and herbs in the middle.

2020
There are lots of projects still in the hopper.  Currently, I’m removing all the mint growing around my fruit trees (there are close to 20 of them).  I reconfigured their drip lines and am now replacing the mint with mulch.  My goal is to have the entire garden and orchard covered in mulch.  This year, Brett is going to build me a support for my tomatoes which will have their own area.  I love my garden — its been a lot of work, and it never would have happened without Brett.  That man can build anything.