Project Overhaul-garden diary

This was my garden last year. The previous owner of our house built this garden bed on the side of the house. When we came to look at the house I was so thrilled to find this and all the other garden beds around the property. I think maybe because I was so excited that I over looked the fact that they were all built with treated wood. Literally I just realized  these were treated wood about 2 weeks ago. I'm still scratching my head and shocked that I never realized this fact. My focus last year was to test this garden space out to see what grows best where, where the sun was and how long it was shining on certain area's. Now I know not to plant anything along the back fence because its too shady. I really wanted a organic garden but didn't have the extra money especially because it was a test run year.

This year I plan on taking full advantage of the garden. My husband built a retaining wall (back neighbors property is higher than ours) with a drainage system so the back wall will only be used for decorative flowers and shady herbs. But the rest of the garden will be overhauled!  I tore down the treated wood and planned on tilling the garden soil so it would be easy to move where I wanted it. But....our tiller is broken. So I spent the whole weekend hand tilling the soil with just coffee and my shovel. Saturday I shoveled until I literally couldn't move. Sunday my best friend came over and helped me finish off what I started and this is what I came up with.

At first each new planting row was split in two but then it started looking like a graveyard.  Not the look I was going for so I just made one long row at a time. In the 3rd row I put our broken fountain turned into bird feeder. I really love this because it has a little girl holding an umbrella on it and its just adorable.
 Notice the organic mulch everywhere. This should help deter weeds (which love my garden area). If you remember earlier this week I scored this stuff for free and took advantage of all of it.

See that green garden bench? My husband built me that about 5 years ago and I painted it green. I just love it!

The treated wood box you see to the left will be taken down as soon as it stops raining here. This will be one long garden bed. I might split it up because my hose is located there. Still not sure how this will turn out.

Back retaining wall needs to be finished by filling the dirt in. This too will be taken care of when it stops raining.

Last year we built the green fence you see in the back left area. My dog cannot be trusted and sneaks into my garden to eat my compost any chance she can get. Urrrr! I plan on putting my arbor (came with the house) over the gate and planting some flowers or maybe some pea's to grow up the side of it.

See those barrels on the right? Those also came with the home and are on their last leg. Might have to take those apart....not sure yet. I put my tomato plants in there last year and they did okay.

Not sure if you can see but I also have some large metal garden art on the right hand side by the fence. They too came with the property and were holding up some rose bushes that I took out because they were over grown. I plan on using them along the wall on the left to grow my pea's up them. Or maybe some green beans....not sure.

That back fence that is so lovely and falling apart will be our next project. As soon as the retaining wall is completely done (garden area was done first so I could plant asap) we are building a new fence. I believe it was the original fence built when the house was built back in 1967. Long over due! We will be taking all treated wood to the dump and see how they will use or reuse it. All other wood I will hammer and pull out all the nails which should take  me a while to do. We will be using the wood for a few projects but the rest will be cut down and used for kindling.  I think next year we will be replacing the side fences....we will see.

Anyways there you have it. My weekend was spent in the garden working my butt off. Today's plan? Cleaning my house from 2 days of no chores. Should be interesting because i'm super sore!