Garden Report

Downsized the Yard

Although our house is rather large, our lot is rather small. The front yard is spacious, but the side yards are zero-lot lines which means you basically don’t own but one side. The other is community common area.

The back yard is a narrow strip between the house and the brick wall, but it runs the width of the house. Most of the back is decked with treated wood with the part of the deck from the door being about a 12×12 square and with 4-foot wide decks leading off each side. I’d prefer flagstone than wood for all this, but that will come later.

Simple, But Beautiful

I chose to keep it simple with only Knockout Roses across the entire back. My gardener planted a Meyer Lemon Tree in the northwest corner. On the far edge of the big square part, I have large patio pots. Those pots are my little garden of tomatoes, yellow straight-neck squash, and herbs. Everything is thriving. I have small tomatoes on the plants, the herbs have doubled in size, and so have the squash. There are baby lemons on the tree.

I tend to my little garden each day, marveling at the baby tomatoes that have appeared. I can’t wait to bite into a garden fresh, red, ripe tomato. There is nothing that tastes better. Because of chronic pain caused by sitting too long at the computer, I now set an alarm every hour so I can get up and move around.

I find myself going outside and sitting on the deck and gazing at all the roses that are blooming their hearts out and at my miniscule garden. Dan Butettner said: You rarely get satisfaction sitting in an easy chair. If you work in a garden on the other hand, and it yields beautiful tomatoes, that’s a good feeling.

Takeaway Truth

I concur.