When I first moved to this little farm 8 years ago, there was a lovely little garden plot surrounded by a handmade stick fence. It had 3 raised beds and a cold frame, and the rest was tilled up and filled with peas and other climbing things, and a spot for potatoes I think.
My ex-husband and I were not gardeners, and for the first 3 years here we spent every waking minute building, fencing, digging water/electric line trenches, and pounding posts. We let the garden languish, and I discovered where and when all the Farmer's Markets took place.
During that time I did plant some things; a few salad things, some onions, nothing too ambitious.
Then one day, to my horror, I discovered my ex spraying Roundup on the grass that was growing around the 3 raised boxes, and it was too late to stop him. Boy did I ever freak!! But it was too late. So I stopped using boxes too. I just couldn't even set foot in there, and I sort of stopped seeing that garden plot.
This winter I decided that I would resurrect the little garden. It's been 4 years since that stuff got sprayed on the ground. The fence has fallen down in a few places. The cold frame is all but sunk into the ground. The 3 raised boxes are still there, but sorely in need of new soil. The area around them has grown thick grass once again and there's very little sign that anything else ever grew there.
But I have plans. I hope to rebuild the fence, putting a gate in where I need it. I counted last night and I'll need a few posts put in. I will have to add some topsoil to the boxes so I'll knock the old fence down first so I can get in with my wheelbarrow. Then, hopefully, I will turn some of that sod over and find the rich dirt that I know lies below. I'm not sure if I'll be able to remove the sod or if I'll have to turn it and cover it with something to kill the grass. We'll see how that goes. I should be able to rebuild the cold frame, but that will be a project for another spring. For now I will concentrate on recreating the 3 boxes for my use this summer, and getting that fence rebuilt. I will prepare the rest of the ground for use next year.
I will get some pictures this weekend of "before/now" and hope that this will spur me to do all that I say I want to do. It's a daunting task for me, a non-gardener, but I know some of you would shake your head at the wasted space and potential that's just sitting there, waiting to produce some beautiful produce. It's time I got that going.
Can't wait to see the pics of progress.
