We were meant to live in a garden, and in our hearts, I believe we yearn to get back to the garden of Eden. At least, that’s what this summer has been like for me, a kind of spontaneous sabbatical experience. When we finally settled into a new home at the beginning of the year, and the weather became sunny in late spring, my husband and I went outside to make the yard our own. It has been a place of healing, learning, and working for both of us.

‘The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature.
To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.’
~ Alfred Austin

‘In our gardens, as in our lives, time has a way of showing us whaat really matters.’
~ Margaret Roach

This summer my online presence moved to the back burner as I headed to the backyard and entered the process of transformation with my husband, turning our plot of land into a little garden of Eden. Here are photos of our garden, a video tour, and a bit about the process. One thing for sure: it’s not all done. Gardening is never done. There is always more to do.

‘To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.’
~ Audrey Hepburn

Just below is a photo of how the backyard looked when we bought the house. It was a good base to work from with some trees, shrubs, grass, and beds. It has been a good base to work from. Here’s a before and after summer view of the space.

The person who owned the house previously liked a natural look in the yard beds and didn’t do much weeding. The good thing was, there wasn’t any room for new weeds. The downside it that it’s a bit hard to dig and manage. The people who originally planted the trees, shrubs and plants did a wonderful job of choosing and pairing what was planted. In each season we are finding new plant treasures popping up.

View from the back door deck and raised garden boxes

When I first saw the house, and walked out of the french doors of the dining room, standing on the little deck, seeing the off-centered gravel and an old log, a garden of raised beds in laid out in a specific pattern entered my mind’s eye. We already had the little table and chairs outside our trailer and my imagination moved it here. It makes me happy when that happens, and seeing it now is a confirmation that this particular home is God’s blessing to us.

After we purchased the house, I measured and then ordered the raised beds from Vego garden. It felt risky but also exciting at the same time. Having big boxes of garden supplies in the garage with all the other moving stuff was motivating to put them together, clear them out of the garage, and get them working in the yard. My husband graciously put most of them together.

Fire pit area

The fire pit area is next to the garden boxes. It may be a little too close visually, but we wanted to work around the tree in the space designated for the fire pit and for the space to be able to accommodate as many people as possible. The grass creates a soft pathway around the garden and fire pit sections. To allow more people to gather, the back wall of the fire pit patio is seat height and also helps the space feel a bit like an outdoor room.

The shed you see in the back of photo above needs work, but it has become a favorite storage and work space for us. An old stump found in the yard was made into a fairy garden behind the seating wall (shown bottom right above).

A garden discovery and flower garden

This next part of our yard, on the other side of the raised garden beds included putting a path along the edge of the bed, but then finding something we didn’t know was there. At first I saw it as a problem and regretted having the concrete path put in.

We had a pathway put in because there was already a path going from the shed door to across the back of the yard. Then it just ended. When our granddaughter would come over. She would always run along the path and then back down the edge of the grass along the bed in front of the spruce tree. Her process prompted us to finish the loop, and calling it ‘Flo’s path.’ But then, when Keith started excavating under the big spruce tree, preparing for a chicken coop, the rest of the original path emerged.

Excavation snapshots & garden tour video

Below is a snapshot collage of the transformation process under the spruce tree, and Keith with the little rented excavator.

Video garden tour

Here is a video tour of the garden before the chicken coop was put in and before I got chicks a month ago in Augus. At about the 3-minute mark I show a good picture of the path dilemma and where the chicken coop is going to be.

Even better than planned

After the revealing of the continued path under the excavated dirt, I saw the pathway intersection as a problem and regretted the one we put in. But determined to ‘solve’ the problem, I mulled it over for a few days and came up with an idea. If we put a focal area at the end of each section of the path, the person looking and walking would feel like there was a visual destination to go to. We had the metal trellis from our old house and I bought the salmon pink bird bath. Planting pink and white flowers to match ties the focal area together. The ceramic birdhouse in the center of the circle was graciously left here by the previous owner and served as the inspiration for the vignette.

A triangle shaped bed was created between the new path put in and the newly discovered old path. I decided it would be a great place for a flower garden. After a trip to my favorite local nursery, during a garden therapy date, I bought plants for the space and planted them in the triangle shaped bed that is in between both walkways. It actually looks better then what I imagined and I’m so thankful. Taking joy in the little gems and beauties of the day…

Chicken coop process & pics

I am thrilled with the chicken coop! After much research we hired Steve and Sarah, owners of Central Oregon Coop to build and set up the coop. They are wonderful and I highly recommend them, A+! If you live in Oregon or one of the adjoining states and want a coop built and installed, check them out at: https://www.cochickencoops.com/index.html

Nothing was growing directly under the spruce tree and Keith cleared out a lot of dirt. It seemed like a good place to try out native ferns and a fairy garden area for my newly made fairy castle and a place for the grandkids to add their own creations. We’ll see how it goes…

Keith and I have not taken for granted that this summer is the first time in our lives we’ve had both the time and the resources to do these kinds of yard projects, and we are so thankful.

Another view of the coop & herb garden

I was wondering what to put on the end of the chicken coop, which is also a direct view of someone walking down the side path. on one side of our house. Having a visual vignette at the end of a path has been a key element to planning what goes where in the yard. The concrete pillar was a gift from my sister years ago. I wasn’t sure where it would fit in my house or yard, and then it occurred to me that it might work well as a visual centerpiece at the end of the walkway centered on the side of the coop. We set it in place and then I went to the garden nursery to pick out herbs for the garden bed shown here. At the nursery, there was the hanging basket in the clearance isle. It was the only one, and it was in the colors I would’ve picked. It was meant to be. I am thrilled!

Herbs planted in the coop garden

Chickens can eat and enjoy most herbs that also have health benefits. Even though it was late in the season, the local nursery I frequent had pretty good choices to choose from. Here is a list of what I planted: I moved the pineapple sage from the raised beds into the corner of this bed, and planted a tangerine sage beside it on the left (not shown in the photo above), rosemary, Berggarten sage, lavender, winter thyme, orange balsam thyme, dwarf winter savory, oregano transplanted from another place in the yard, French tarragon and Treneague chamomile (separated into three).

I now have five baby chicks, all named after herbs. They are quite ready to spend the night in the coop but they are getting daytime visits with herbal treats and they love it.

Garden box learning - harvest, replanting etc.

Overall the raised beds did okay. I had planted a 6-pack tray of baby beets and also carrots and harvested those. The beets were delicious and I am planting more for a fall harvest, and the grandkids had fun pulling carrots and eating them. We had lettuce, although the red lettuce did not do well. The lettuce I planted from seed did not grow well, but I am going to try again. Below, you’ll notice the blank spot in the center of the raised bed. The pineapple sage was there and getting too big, so I moved it to the newly planted herb garden next to the chicken coop. I just planted some garlic in its place. I bought another tray of carrots and beets. The carrots are planted in the place where the lettuce was. I’m hoping for a later fall harvest. The cabbages are doing well and just about ready to be harvested. Like the red lettuce, the purple ones only have tiny heads. I think I’ll stick to the green colored lettuce and cabbages for next year. The russet potatoes below aren’t quite ready to harvest, but the apples have already been picked and eaten as sweet mini-snacks. The sugar snap peas were harvested quite awhile ago, and I’m planning to plant more next year. My parsley grown from seed didn’t grow much, and the cilantro barely mde an appearance.

The squashes and cucumbers were measly with only two Delicata squash and one little spaghetti squash along with 3-4 cucumbers. My guess is I planted too many in too little ground space. There’s a life lesson in that one. I’ll plant those crops differently next year. I’d like to grow pumpkins too.

‘A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself.’
~ May Sarton

‘It tastes like more.’

My grandfather had a saying he’d say when he really liked what he was eating and someone asked him about it. He’d say, ‘It tastes like more.’

One surprising treat from the raised beds is the Stevia plant. It is so sweet and I used it to make an icy dessert I tasted at the local garden center. To make: Pick a bunch of stevia and two bunches of mint, and a green apple. I washed and cut them, and put them in a blender. Then squeezed the juice of two lemons or limes and added two cups of water to the blender to blend. After straining it through a loose strainer I put it in the freezer either into popsicle forms, ice cubes or a bowl. If the bowl is used, the contents need to be stirred every 30-40 minuted so it forms an icy texture instead of a frozen block. It is delicious and a low calorie summer treat! It definitely tastes like more, and so does tending my garden.

At the same time we have been working and tending the garden in your backyard, God has been tending the garden of my heart. There are so many parallels of life and learning to experience in the garden. More about that in the following post.

Be blessed with a taste of Eden today!
Thanks for stopping by

Valerie