Garden
Garden Project
The site is owned by me and my partner Erik. It is located on the west side of Olympia WA.
From the driveway, go through the gate into the back yard. There are several lean-tos along the fence with small pathways around a large shed. Follow the path to the right into the back yard. This is a very small space. There is a small cement patio detached from the back door of the house. There is a small amount of grass with a fire pit, a large swing set, and two overgrown raised beds in the far right corner. Most of the grass in the back yard is mixed with gravel. The yard has a tall privacy fence atop a retaining wall surrounding it.
The beds make an L shape, about 60 sq. ft. They are currently overgrown with grass. They are flat, need to be tilled and receive about 4-5 hours of sun a day in the summer (I think). The soil looks clumpy and depleted. I plan to bring new topsoil in before planting anything. Last summer I saw and talked with two raccoons who had been visiting our garbage cans. I asked them to stop making messes and unfortunately, haven’t seen them since. There are virtually no other animal signs that I have seen. The old owner did leave a disturbing amount of chemicals in the shed. I am confident that as we begin growing plants, healing the space and having a conversation with the animals, insects, plants and fairies we will see them choosing to spend time in our yard.
The feeling in the back yard is one of neglect. When we bought the house we knew that the old owners were going through a divorce and that the home and property hadn’t been maintained for many months. I feel rather sad when I am there, but I sense a lot of potential.
My reason for choosing this space for my garden is my children’s sadness over leaving our rental home, which was situated on a triple lot. There were many varieties of trees and shrubs, some of which the kids had made a fairie fort inside of. We also had a large edible flower garden and many fairies, bugs, butterflies, possums, squirrels and raccoons. They are missing a wild place to play. Although I can’t create woodland in our tiny backyard, I hope to create an enchanting play area for my girls. We have been gifted a swing set that I am developing plans to turn into a play loft, with climbing surfaces, ropes and play house underneath. This is my answer to my kids need for small spaces to play in. I have been reading Geography of Childhood, Why Children Need Wild Places, which supports my observations in stating that kids choose to play in cozy, child sized dens when they are available. It would be preferable to have shrubs that they could hollow out, but in lieu of that, I am going to grow something up the sides of their play loft, to simulate a fairie fort. I also plan to grow wildflowers, sunflowers, and other edible flowers, which my kids can turn into dolls, plates, cups and whatever else they can imagine.
As I sit with my garden which is not yet a garden, I am struck by a sense of woundedness. This site has been neglected, poisoned. What it really needs is time to heal, rest and renew...
I found this website. It has all the info needed to start planning a healthy
DIRT GARDEN:
http://www.avant-gardening.com/ogardening.htm
"When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves.”
David Orr
The bulk of my work this year will be building the soil, developing a composting system and talking to the fairies and devas: asking them to help me heal this space. I plan to plant wildflowers this spring and in the fall will really prepare the beds for next year. I plan to till the earth with a borrowed rototiller, then add fresh, chemical free earth on top of this I will plant wildflowers. We have several soaker hoses that will be used to water the flowers. I hope that after a year or so of building the soil and spirit of this garden I will hear a YES about planting veggies and herbs for our consumption. Until then, we can enjoy the wildflowers and get another CSA share from Boistfort Valley Organic Farm.
This drawing below is a garden plan I drew for my front yard garden which is too big a project for me this year, but eventually.... 
