A Time for Garden Renewal

I took the past week off from writing in order to oversee the renovation of our backyard garden. Fifteen years after its initial landscaping, the garden was feeling quite weary, with plants choking from excess moss above ground and gnarly oak tree roots beneath the surface. The irrigation system was riddled with gopher chew holes and blown-off sprayers, both of which distributed water in haphazard fashion to all the wrong places. Pesky regional weeds were outshining the original plantings, and the soil was desperate for nutrients. In the midst of all of my creative endeavors, I had disappointed my own backyard with my lack of attention. It was calling out to me, "Mama, please help!"

We live in a quiet, lovely spot, just far enough away from the rest of the neighborhood to allow us a little peaceful seclusion. But I wasn't feeling the peace when, every time I looked outdoors, endless work was staring me down, in the form of hose repair, root removal, and the constant pursuit of rampant weeds. Instead, I found myself retreating to the vegetable garden on the eastern side of our lot (which last year suffered a major gopher invasion of its own).

The time had come for some renovation. Sometimes you simply have to call in the experts. I reached out to the creative woman who was one of the original landscape architects for our property, and she came to my rescue. Her vast knowledge of plants and her talented eye for color and texture were a breath of fresh air. She offered immediate ideas for renewal, as well as help with irrigation and nutrient issues. She inspired me to start loving my back garden again, and what a good feeling that was.

So now, new soil, new plantings, and new water distribution are in place. I spent the weekend adding spots of annual color and ridding the remaining nooks and crannies of weeds and litter. I was sticky, sweaty, bug-bitten, and dirty by the time I was done, but it felt so good to once again dig in the earth, hang with the creatures, and listen to the silence, which is actually a very loud chorus of nature's best. I'm back home where I belong, in my own backyard.