A Bit of Earth | Duckabush Blog

When Kathy and I were first married, we frequently listened to The Secret Garden soundtrack, partly because it was one of the only CDs we owned (along with Les Miserables and Joseph and the Amazing, Technicolor Dreamcoat). We both enjoyed the story line and the excellent vocalists.

At one point in the story, Mary Lennox gathers her courage and asks her guardian for ‘a bit of earth’ in which to plant things with her friend Dickon and (ultimately Colin Craven). Granting the request, Archibald little suspects that he is really granting her permission to reopen his dead wife’s Secret Garden that he has locked up in his grief. The landscape design process is the foundation for every successful landscaping project.
Throughout the construction process, the landscape design is referenced every day. Observations and suggested changes should be noted because they too will affect the ultimate outcome. In many ways, the landscape designer is the quarterback of your project. You have hired them to create your project and take it to completion. There will hand-offs to construction crews, but how can you be confident that your intentions are carried out?
Most important it finding a professional landscape designer that you trust. Then be sure to discuss the common landscape design mistakes so that your project meets your standards.

All she wants is a bit of earth …

Today, with much less pathos and hardly any singing, we began to re-develop our own ‘bit of earth’, in hopes of a vegetable harvest this summer.

I waited much too long this year to transfer my tomato seedlings from their seeding tray into pots — they were badly intertwined with one another, and I had to use way too much force to separate them. I’m afraid a lot of them will not survive my rough treatment.

I don’t think this little guy is going to make it …

Time will tell. We converted David’s bedroom into ‘Tomato Central’, since he has a south-facing window. Sometime around the 11th of May, it will be safe to plant them outside.

David mowed the lawn, and I did a little weeding in one of our raised garden beds — with a few more weeks of effort, our yard will be ready for Spring! Of course, by that time it will be Summer …