Spring seemed to just come and go with a whirlwind of road trips, concerts, work and garden projects. Things kicked off in April with a vacation to good ole Nashville (which I’ll share a separate post about) and then a few weeks later a quick 24 hours in Chicago. In between my mini-getaways and working I’ve poured the vast majority of my spare time into the huge 100 square foot garden I started in March.
It began as a place for me to create, work, and unwind, but it’s evolved into a beautiful and functional space that has allowed me to spend time with my family and bond over projects we’re working on together. My dad, Tracy, is an all around handy-man/wizard when it comes to… well, just about everything! He leveled out the ground we chose for the garden and built a retaining wall, complete with steps up into the garden so instead of raised garden beds, we have one giant raised garden! We installed a fence with additional chicken wire at the bottom to keep the adorable, but garden consuming, bunnies and squinnies out and used an old picket fence of my mom’s for the gate.
March
April
May
The next challenge was watering a space this big without running up the water bill every month. Tracy devised a simple and yet complex plan to redirect water that the pump in the basement would otherwise be pumping into the yard, into two 55 gallon drums instead. Clean, filtered, fresh, and most importantly, free, water every day to help the garden flourish.
I wanted to go vertical with my herb garden so we used two pallets and rebuilt them with shelves and weed fabric to hold in the soil and plants. We also added an archway that my mother gifted him several years ago that had rusted over. A layer of primer and some vibrant paint brought it back to life and attracts hummingbirds.
I built a trellis for the cucumbers out of leftover fence, used stones out of the creek to line the walkways, and now we’re in the process of slicing up some old trees that had been cut down to making stepping stones throughout the paths. We even found one that was slightly heart shaped! <3
I’m so proud of how much we’ve been able to re-purpose to make this garden come to life. I’m also very proud to have two loving parents that support and help me in accomplishing my goals and ideas.. even if they tell me I’m “off my rocker” when I first tell them my ideas. 😉
The garden is very close to being finished so I’ll share more photos once all the aesthetic parts are completed and stay tuned for some new cocktail recipes that will be rolling out this weekend!
Samantha Simeone says
That looks amazing! It’s incredible how far it’s come in just a few months! And how wonderful to be able to work on it with your family! 🙂