Crafting My Bliss

I have been racking my brain for the last two weeks about where to put my garden beds. Since I did not have enough wood to build my 7 ”x 3” bed, I have been looking into building mounds for planting. The two smaller beds were not big enough to plant everything I wanted and have companion plants. I scoured the internet for pictures to motivate me and give me some direction. I decided on several different ideas and then discarded them for one reason or another. I also struggled with where to place the beds. I wanted the beds to be connected with a trellis. This design looks like an entrance to a walkway. The problem with this is that the sides of my existing walkway cannot accommodate the size of the beds I built. This leaves me having a walkway entrance and no walkway. I could not wrap my mind around this imperfection. I am learning not to be a perfectionist, but I am not there yet. From an aesthetic point of view, I could not make sense of it.

The other problem I had was that my yard is not level, but has a slope. This made creating the beds difficult because I hated digging in the clay soil and I knew my beds had to be level. This meant that I had to choose a location where I would have to dig as little as possible. What’s more, water does not drain well in my sloping, clay backyard. This affects the placement of the beds, as I do not want to place them in an area where the water pools. I have been planning to build a rain garden for years and figured if I am going to have to dig and build the beds, I need to build the rain garden first because it will take up a lot of the space in the yard. I was beyond frustrated with what to do and was getting more and more impatient with myself because I wanted to get my beds prepped.

I decided to table the idea of the trellis connecting my two raised beds. I can make it a priority next year. For now, I need to take care of the water drainage and the addition of these three beds. I have already bought two ladder mesh blocks and T-posts to build my trellis. I returned the T-posts and decided to add smaller trellises in each bed.

I came across an offer for natural stone on Facebook marketplace. Since the price was right, I decided to build a bed with natural stones. That way it would be more durable and look nice. I bought enough stones for a 6” x 4” bed, with a few stones left over. Now things were moving forward. I had enough material for a larger bed and the two smaller ones I had built. Now I did not have to worry about building a mound for the plants, and everything was going like clockwork…sort of. I still had no idea exactly what I was going to do, but I had the materials, which was reassuring.

Not knowing what to do, I looked for a place and began to dig. I started with the stone bed. As I started digging, I realized how close I was to my potential location for the rain garden. I stopped digging for the bed and started edging out the location for the rain garden. This gave me a rough idea of the size and location of the bed, and then I could get back to digging the stone bed. When I dug out the sod I ended up with a huge pile of it. I am the biggest proponent of reusing and recycling. I decided to take all of the sod and soil and build a mound around the rain garden. I also took some of the large branches I had cut off, broke them into smaller pieces, and buried them under the soil.

I did not have a set plan, I just decided to start somewhere and see where I ended up. Once I had finished building the stone bed, I decided to place the smaller wooden beds opposite each other at opposite corners of the stone bed. I plan to add seating in between and put up a small fence to separate this area so my sister-in-law’s dog does not trample all over the garden when she’s looking for her ball.

Creating the edging for the rain garden gave me a new perspective on building the rain garden. After I had laid the edging, it rained. This gave me a better idea of the water flow, where the water collects, and how long it takes the water to drain. The next project will be the rain garden. Hopefully, some water-loving plants will be available when I am done.

Gardening takes a lot of planning and organization. If you are a beginner like me, every step is a learning experience, no matter how prepared you are. As much as I hate digging in the dirt, it’s therapeutic for me. When I see the fruits of my labor, it’s extremely motivating. I feel good when I take a risk and try new things, no matter what the outcome. I could walk away with the feeling of having achieved something and being motivated to do more.

I almost forgot…….all three beds are filled with broken branches, leaves, compost, and coco husk. The two smaller beds each have a bag of topsoil.