On the 4th anniversary of digging my garden, Husband announced, “It is time to re-lay those beds.”
Sigh. That meant stakes, string, tripping over string, and lots of long, hard work. The end result? As (infuriatingly) always: perfection. Husband is an artist, and to him that means straight lines, clean edges, order — at least when it comes to building furniture or landscaping. There was no point in arguing. He was right, and I trotted along behind, toting tools, holding the tape measure, and trying not to trip.
Because my garden is on a gentle slope, and because my beds are not raised, or contained in any way by boards, they do tend to sag a bit. I tried not to draw analogies between my advancing years and my accompanying sag, and instead cheerfully helped Husband get my garden back in line.
Here are a few photos to give you an idea of the precision of this operation:

The top of the garden. Note the neat edges of the bed that will hold the carrots and beets this year.
And this is the pea bed. I asked for this first, as the peas were going in first:
The far edge of the garden that borders Good Neighbor is also the source of poison ivy. I already have a case of it, as I went in to clear the edges and I forgot that the leafless vines were poison ivy vines. I guess it is a small price to pay for a clear flower bed for Red Spider zinnias, but it doesn’t feel like it right now. Here is the bed marked with string:
The newspapers are placed between the strings. They will suppress the weeds. The zinnias will go to the right of the paper. Then I put straw on top of the newspaper, to give me a cushion-y place to walk, and to have it look nicer than a path of faded NYTimes.
Then I saw that my garlic, planted last fall, was Husband’s perfect evidence for the need to re-lay out the garden: I’d not paid attention to the bed’s intended borders, and (gasp!) a few garlic plants were placed OUTSIDE THE BED. Horrors.
Here it is: Garlic Out Of Line:
And, huge relief: Garlic, relocated:
It was getting late. I was getting tired. Gordon, the new puppy (to be introduced to you soon in a post tentatively titled “Staff”), likes to dig (as he is part terrier, we think), and he “helped” by trying to dig.
Gordon Between The Strings, thinking about digging:
And then, Gordon with his nose down, getting ready to dig:
And finally, Gordon, broken-hearted, on the wrong side of the gate. Sorry, Gordon, but I chose my garden today over your feelings.
As I said, it was becoming a very long day, with disciplined Husbands, undisciplined dogs, and Practical Amy, who just wanted to plant seeds in the dirt and stand back. I was trying to ignore the fact that I was starting to lose it, when I noticed a shadow of the cherry tree on the ground. The shadow looks like a crazy woman in the garden. I think it is MY shadow.
Straight lines don’t really matter that much to me, although I do appreciate them. My garden already looks nicer, darn it. This beauty stuff, this Good Results stuff, always encourages Husband. I just have to accept that fact.
WORDS FROM OTHERS
“When builders lay out straight lines, they use stakes and string. Although stakes and strings are low-tech, they’re almost fool proof: The shortest distance between any two points is always a straight line, even if the points are stakes driven in the ground.”
— From Home Depot, Canada, website
Yay for straight lines and growing your garden!
Congrats on the newest staff member.
Pammi
Thanks, Pammi! I’m going to share more photos of him soon —
I’m glad I got to stop by and see the garden in progress!!