Gardening Over Time

One of Todd's greatest gifts to me is his willingness to help me with projects.  

This little triangular piece of land is in front of my parent's house.  Once upon a time, it held deliveries of stone for our foundation.  It was lying fallow, and I had the bright idea that it should house berry bushes.  So I mowed all the tall grass down.  These pictures are from two years ago---2010.

Todd appears to be sizing up the rototiller in this photo.  Soon after, we went to find Dad for a lesson.

Here, my dad is showing Todd the ropes of how to use the tiller effectively.  I do believe that Todd is staring at the ground, gazing at the leftover stone, thinking, "How on earth are we going to till this?"

 But sooner than later, we had a little berry patch tilled up.

These are the six blueberry bushes we picked out.  I seem to remember that we bought them in lieu of a birthday present for each other that year.

Fast-forward one year to 2011.  The previous season, I had planted my garden in front of Haven, and it was way too shady.  My plants needed much more sunlight.  So I decided to mow the entire triangular piece of land, expand my berry patch, and turn it into my full-time sun garden.

I knew we had to fight the sod that had been there for what seems like centuries.  So I tried the whole "lasagna gardening", a.k.a. "I don't feel like digging sod, so I'm going to layer newspaper, straw, and soil and let it decompose in place."

It worked well for a year.  I strung fishing line around the area in place of a proper fence, and it deterred the deer.

This year, I decided that I wanted to make a more permanent garden area, with raised beds and a fence.  

I've always wanted to garden with raised beds, but we don't have the money to purchase cedar lumber.  Todd went into scavenging mode, and came up with many, many discarded cinder block, as well as some rusty (but still usable) T-posts.  I did some extra tutoring work on the side and came up with enough money to buy three rolls of fencing.

He spent a lot of time building it, even going so far as to place leftover road fabric under the fence so the grass won't grow up and look nasty.  As some point, we hope to finish that outer edge off with river rock.

The bed closest to us in this photo is overflowing with garlic and onions.

The three wider beds along the top house tomatoes and peppers.  The really bushy area in the middle is home to second-year red raspberries and third-year blueberries.  We have a great patch going, and we're hopeful for many berries this summer.

So, year three.  One of the best things about gardening is that you get a "do-over" each year.
The garden constantly changes and evolves to suit the needs, time, and budget of the gardener.
And it sure helps when the gardener has a partner who is willing to do the heaviest work.
Thanks for all your help, Todd.
I truly appreciate everything you do.
:)