The Garden Area (Thus Far)

We knew about where we wanted the garden.  Near the turn around in the driveway would be perfect.  A hose had already been strung to the site, and it would be nearby in the winter so we could keep an eye on the chickens.  Oh, did I mention I want chickens?  :)

This is what the area looked like when we moved in.  There were two small fenced areas where the previous owners had trees sprouting.  There was a compost pile and a heap of branches for burning.  Other than that, WEEDS!

Coming down the drive way, you wouldn't even know there was anything in there.

The prior owners had made a faux garden gate with vines.  I admire the effort, but the vines had taken over everything.  Including trees.  

On the first day, I located a weeping cherry tree!  It was adorable! 

The second day The Mister got out Big John (the tractor) and we employed my nephew to help haul things away (everything is more fun to a 14 year old boy when you let him drive the tractor!)  We found some beautiful mature trees once we got the ground cover cleared out.  We took out the one fenced area (and all the strange tree sprouts) and started to see sunshine!

We had no particular area in mind to clear, other than to see what was in the space worth saving and how could we help the are be more useful while preserving the beauty.  

 The third day The Mister and his tractor worked alone.  They pulled out the stumps from all the small trees we had pulled out previously.  While not much appeared to have changed, the ground became more usable!!  (Oh, and The Mister sure had fun!)

The most significant change came on our most recent day of working on the garden area.  (The whole area will NOT be a garden.  Some will be grass, some will be landscaped, but the area looks so much better cleared out!)  We cleared a large area behind and beside the weeping cherry. 

Now we are REALLY getting some sunshine in!!

We left a beautiful tall oak tree along with a couple fruit trees (cherry?  We aren't sure).  There were vines taking over many of the trees, but we got most out (I'm saving the dead vines to maybe make an arbor).  

We are really getting excited about this space.  It balances out the other side of the driveway much better (which is grass and landscaping) and gives us lots of room to put in a garden and a chicken coop!

Note: Somewhere in this great area is The Mister's cell phone.  Buried.  He may have used "ramming speed" on Big John to dislodge a stump.  He got the stump, but somewhere in the battle, lost his phone.  Sigh.  Sacrifices!