A Garden of Sorts

Starting a garden from scratch is hard, especially when you find that your yard is made of rocks and debris!  #selfindulgentblogpost  (Actually, all my future blog posts are going to be self indulgent journaling.)

I moved mid August.  The sewer line needed to be repaired so it went from a house with dead grass & bare patches, to having dead grass, bare areas & a large section the plumbers managed to make sure was 90% covered with various sizes of rocks when they filled it in...

Good news though! The plumbers cut through the electrical supply to the garage, so it was re-dug and the electrician did a much better job of making sure some dirt ended up on the surface at the end :)  

The only real life in the backyard is a lilac, a couple large trees and two sad little landscape trees that I planted my flowers in front of.



The previous occupant was a bachelor who didn't care two whits about a yard, so I've been scurrying to get some stuff in the ground before rainy season (and while perennials on are end of season sales). I also stubbornly carted some plants in pots from my old place, and took cuttings from a few things in the interest of being thrifty.

panorama! the left used to be all dead grass, now it's also bare!

Side note - did you know you can use honey for some cuttings??? I used to have all the supplies for the proper propagation of plants but this time I was winging it.  I only got a chance to try it on sage.  Maybe sage is amazingly hardy no matter what, but this method had the cuttings sprouting new leaves within a couple of weeks, before I even had a chance to move and put it in my new garden.


I'm OK with my beginning herb garden, which has catnip, cat mint, chives, marjoram, cuban oregano (a new to me herb), oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme a not-pleased-to -be-transplanted anise hyssop - with some ginger mint tucked safely in a pot.

The new perennial garden is another matter.  The holes I dug were basically shovels full of rocks & chunks of metal, glass, plastic... my favorite finds so far have been a rusted pair of scissors and a kid's plastic shovel.  Update: today I found Barbie's left leg and a rusty utility knife blade.

I have seeded the ground with grass seed and it's growing in as best as it can, considering I keep walking on it.  I'm feel pretty determined to spend at least 15 minutes outside enjoying the yard instead of doing yardwork before rainy season arrives!