New Spaces in the Garden

Nothing makes a gardener happier than having a new garden to develop. It's probably like giving a painter a fresh, blank canvas to paint. Well, that's exactly what happened to me last weekend, and I'm so excited at the possibilities with this new space.

It all started with a project I had put on my husband's “honey-do” list. We have a typical side yard that I never let anybody see because it is where the not-so-pretty items are - the garbage toters, the compost bins, the currently unused chicken coop, the air conditioning unit, the broken chair waiting for the next scrap metal pick-up day, etc. Also back there is an 8'x10' shed. I've wanted to move the shed for some time so that the bedroom windows on that side of the house don't have to look out on that bit of an eyesore. I thought I might throw some hardy shrubs out there and call it done.

Anyway, my husband headed out there Sunday and took the shed apart (it's plastic interlocking panels). Moving about 12' back, he worked with our kids to set it back up. Oh my goodness! It didn't occur to me that the vacated space would look so big and blank and ready for ideas! My imagination was on overload thinking of all of the things I can do with that space. Can you say courtyard garden? Two bedroom windows look out on that spot. My husband had to put the brakes on my ideas when I mentioned taking out bedroom windows and installing french doors. A lot of my ideas become his projects, and he knows his limits of what he can or can't do!

Now I spend every spare moment looking at garden designs and plant ideas for the new space. I'm all over the internet, gardening books, and landscape magazines planning what I want to do. I'm hoping to have some big pots out there, and since I've never really tried container gardening, I'm looking forward to the experience. How about you. Have you ever “found” a new gardening space in your yard?

Wish me luck!

Blank slate. (photo by Janet Snyder)

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