From the beginning of time, until 2008, there was a stretch of earth that was dark, fertile, and at rest. It faced the southeast. It had a gentle rise, allowing water to drain away. Like any covetous human (which I suspect is most of us), when I saw it, I wanted it, and so I took it. It had everything I’d ever wanted in a garden plot.
Husband Will gave me the great love gift of days and days of his time, subduing a rototiller, and taking the grass off of a 50′ x 40′ section of our lawn.
Before I began, I approached our neighbors. “I want to put in a vegetable garden, and I’d like to put it here — right between our houses. Would you mind? You would be able to see it from your windows.”
Neighbor Carmine’s response? “The closer the better!”
And then I received the second love gift: Carmine told me to wait before turning the earth over, because he wanted to remove a diseased elm from his property, because it would shade my garden-to-be. Let me clear it out first, before you do too much work, said he. His generosity, and that of his wife Judy, that is repeated almost daily, has resulted in my love gifts in return: baskets of produce and pickles, left on their front porch.
Here are a few photos from 2008. I wonder if the amount of work this entailed will be communicated through the photos…you tell me.
The sod removed, the beds layed out, but no deer netting yet.
Rhubarb only, so far, lower left. Another gift from the Good Neighbors, and it's a gift that keeps on giving! We have pies every spring now.
Everything was new that year, including the adventure of growing broccoli, foreground.
And oh, the trellises. I will tell you all about them in another post. These were built by Husband Will. A work of art, like everything he touches.
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