Summer Garden Love

I hated yard work as a kid. I despised it. It was drudgery and then…it wasn’t. It stopped being work at some point and became solace. Comfort – something primal in pulling weeds and cleaning out beds, watching things grow. Coming back after a week away to see what had changed, and who was blooming. Coaxing life, and beauty, into being.

The flowers became friends and I know them all by name. We are in partnership, God and I, in this effort. He who made all things has entrusted this little plot to me and I witness His miracles out there, daily.

Gabe and I have overhauled three yards now, starting from scratch and bare dirt. It can be hellish work, I admit. I’ll never lay sod again…

Like children, the beauty and the burden is in the labor. It’s worth the effort and with time, patience and a little experimentation, anyone can have something beautiful to be proud of.

Every night after the kids are in bed, we sit outside on our patio by the fountain and we just look. It still boggles my mind.

This was the day Gabe broke ground on the new sprinkler system. The hardscape install was finally to begin – and judging by the size of the little dude in jammies, this was the spring of 2008.

We’ve been working on this yard for ten years now. Nearly five years to remove the chaos so we had enough of a blank slate to start over. I thought we’d never finish – we were going to be living with bare dirt and weeds forever. I remember not wanting to even go back there, it was too overwhelming.

Same view, two years later.

Time and patience prevailed. My backyard is now a haven, a paradise and but for some of the bigger tasks (like laying sod) we did it all ourselves. Every tree, every shrub, every plant – I know them all and I know them all by name.

Don’t be afraid to get a little dirt under your fingernails.

Do you garden?

What do you love?

What do you hate?

Need a little inspiration? 

I’ve started writing garden love for my Campbell Patch blog – pop on over and check them out.

Garden Design: Tips & Tricks (Part I)

Garden Design: Fun With Foliage

Happy Wednesday!