When Life Dumps On Your Garden…Make a Pool?

Mother’s Day weekend!  I do enjoy Mother’s Day but I have to say, my favorite thing about it is that when Mother’s Day rolls by I know that it is time to plant my garden!!!!  WooHoo!  My Grandma Nijakowski would say that you have to wait until after Mother’s Day to be safe from the frost.  I waited till the day before Mother’s Day. Close enough.

It has actually been years since I have been able to have a garden….a real garden.  Last year Jackson (my son) and my husband took me to the store on Mother’s Day to pick out a few things to plant in pots on our balcony off of the apartment we had.  So sweet.  We had some basil and maybe 20 cherry tomatoes from our harvest J I loved growing things with my son even though we didn't have the space or the money to do much.  But now, I have a whole  yard to work with!!!

I also planted a few plants when I was living in New Zealand.  I was sharing a small house with 8 other girls. This was a two bedroom one bath home.  I miss those days and all you beautiful ladies. I planted a few plants, but for whatever reason I got a few beans out of it and out of two tomato plants only one tomato grew!!!  I think the dirt was too sulfuric or something. Who knows? 

 When we bought our house, we couldn't see much of the back yard since it was buried under a bunch of snow. As spring has now sprung, all these wonderful plants, bushes, and flowers are coming up!  It has been such a joy to find new things growing all around.  The previous owners had put a bunch of love into this yard.  I could hardly wait to get a vegetable garden going, especially being able to do it with my son.  I love doing things with him, teaching him, and seeing his little mind grasp new things. 

This is my boy after we went on a bike ride/run (he rides, I run). We love to find new places to explore and came across a park loaded with dandelions.  Of course, he got so excited and started picking a bunch for me. Uhh, who would have thought dandelions could become such treasures?  I made this chain from all the flowers he picked me.  

Focus Erica, focus…Garden got it. J

So the week before Mother’s Day, as I found time, I began to dig out a big rectangle in our back yard.  I had a bunch to dig up since it was all landscaped, taking plants that I wanted to save and replanting them elsewhere. 

I went out to begin gardening and I hear rushing water.  As I walk closer, I realize that the whole corner of our yard was flooded.  I ran and got a patio chair to stand on and look over our fence only to realize that our neighbors were draining their pool.  We have a drain right behind our fence that they were aiming for but a ton of water was coming into our yard. Awesome.

As I am stressing out by the fact that not only is our back yard being flooded, but a bunch of pool chemicals were also dumping right where I was going to plant my garden, my little guy comes up to me with a huge excited smile.  “Mommy, is it OK if I put my feet in the water?” he asks.  I sighed giving up my garden spot and told him to run inside and get his swim trunks on.  He was thrilled, to say the least. 

As he was changing I built up a bunch of dirt along the fence to keep more water for coming in and then dug out a little hole for my son to play in.  

“Mommy, it’s ok?” He asks again to make sure I didn’t change my mind.

I love him.

Such a happy guy!!!!

After this I decided to move my garden right up by the house on either side of our deck, and since I have a billion different seeds, I planted in other random spots around the yard.   I cannot tell you how happy I am that our neighbors didn’t decide to drain their pool one day later.   Thank you Lord!  All of my plants would have needed to be moved and I would have needed to buy all new seeds.  I probably would have cried.  Like, a whole lot.

I love that I will now be able to pick from my garden as we sit on the deck! Love it! We can also, watch to make sure bunnies aren’t eating everything.  There are at least 3 bunnies running around our yard at most times.  This could be a problem, but they are so cute!

I had a real love, hate relationship with what happened. There was a ton of wasted effort that I put into clearing out the back corner of our yard. A TON.  However, Jackson and I had a blast.  It is also quite possible that I really enjoy playing in the mud. 

 

I know you all are wondering where my little girl was this whole time.  She was with her daddy mostly.  Every time she goes outside she eats dirt, rocks, mud, anything she can find!

That’s not chocolate on her face. 

Girl, stop eating mud! It’s nasty! Pretty sure that she thinks it is a game now.

Here are some pictures so far of our gardens and some of the fun surprises around our yard.

I got the back mess somewhat back together

We found a birds nest up in our shed.  Everyday, I would lift Jackson up to see what was in there.  He was so excited when the first time he looked he found four eggs.  Yesterday, I lifted him up and his little face lit up when he saw that the eggs hatched!

We are loving this yard!  

We are so excited to see our garden continue to come to life!  I will be posting updates on our gardens in the future.  Thanks for reading!!!

- Erica