And So it Begins

It's time to get this blog started.  I've been thinking about it for quite some time now but, as with many things in life, I haven't gotten past the thinking stage to actually doing. That's going to change now. 

Several years ago I had the idea of creating my own Shaker-style garden.  The Shakers valued order, practicality, and efficiency in many things, including gardening.  Often their gardens had raised planting beds, wood or brick walkways, and a fence around the whole thing.  Their gardens were both functional and beautiful.  They were also fairly permanent, so for me as a renter, a Shaker-style garden had to remain just a daydream.

This summer my husband and I finally decided it was time to buy a house.  We found a nice little cottage with a big back yard.  In the middle of that back yard was a pool that hadn’t held water for many years.  It was made out of plywood and 2x4’s and after we signed all the paperwork and became homeowners, removing it was one of the first things we did.  The process took several weekends but, with the help of my father-in-law, we got it done.

Pool early in the de-construction process

At least three large frogs called this home.

With the pool out of the way, we now have the perfect place for my Shaker Garden.  The space where the pool sat is about 16 feet wide by 24 feet long and nice and level.  We were able to salvage much of the wood from the pool and it is going into constructing the walkways, raised bed and fence.  There was even a nice pile of gravel used for fill that will go into some other narrow paths within the garden.  I hope to get everything set before the snow flies so that the garden will be ready and waiting for planting in the spring.

The pool's gone and the first walkway is in.

The white box in the back houses our weather station.

I expect this blog to be a combination of an account of the garden-building process, a record of planting, an amateur how-to guide, a collection of attempted recipes, a photo album and a journal for times when I feel like reminiscing.