Chapter 1
New house, New Possibilities
We closed on it in April of 2004... a modest, 1000 square foot spit-level home in the Columbus suburb of
San Magharita... It was built in 1980 or so, (not too new, not too old) and upon a pretty generous plot of land... At the time, the house was our main focus... We spent most of our spare time and resources at improving a few rooms (i.e the living room received a fresh coat [and new shade] of paint, the bathroom carpet & was pulled and re-floored/painted, etc). Truth be told, I gave very little attention to the yard at all that first year...
There were a few exceptions... In the front yard, already planted were a few rose bushes, some lilies, a Yucca plant, a couple of patches of ornamental grass, and a large patch of fennel growing under an old pine tree... I’d go out every once in awhile and do some watering or pruning , but that was about the extent of it..
The backyard was nearly devoid of plant life, however... Except for the lawn (which was in kind of poor condition) the only thing back there was a tiny but happy little catnip plant growing right by the foundation of our “Florida Room “(AKA a “Three-Season room” or an enclosed porch). I liked having it there, mostly because along with the house, we kept 3 cats on from the former owners of the house (old family friends), so I figured that at least I’d have a moderate supply of the herb for them. I’d also read that catnip plants were fairly hardy and would come back year-after-year... So I left it alone... no... more or less
ignored it for the summer and into the fall.
That summer, we had also adopted Stella from the county shelter... Since she was obviously neglected and abused by her former owners, I wanted to give her the best place possible to run and play as possible... Alas, that year, the lawn took center-stage....
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And so it went for the following year... Mowing, fertilizing, etc.... you know... the basic suburbanite slob thing.... Unfortunately, the catnip plant didn’t make it through the winter... I figured it was mostly due to my neglect, but I still thought it might come back.
It wasn’t until the summer that I thought I may try some kitchen herbs... I started with a Purple Basil seedling given to us by one of our friends as kind of a late house warming gift. Jen and I bought a few containers, soil, a watering can and a few other plants (though for the life of me, I can’t remember what). Sadly, the basil didn’t last long.... nor did anything else.... The following winter, the containers went up into the attic, and I figured that my thumb was indeed brown as I had initially feared.
On the plus side, I did learn a few things, though I didn’t really know it at the time... I noticed that the grass grew particularly well along both my east fence and in the 300 square foot patch of yard between my Florida room and the west fence (so much so that it would stall my lawn mower if I let the yard go too long between trimmings). Of course, that could have been because of Stella and I’s nightly ritual of throwing the Frisbee/tennis ball around (thus wearing a strip of grass down to nothing) or the fact that those two places were precisely where she chose to defecate regularly (her “poop” zones, as I like to call them.). I think the most important factor though is that those two places receive the optimum amount of light throughout the day... A factor that I had drawn upon in the next few years for the site of my garden.
I also figured that the 300 square foot patch (which I call “the L”) was not used too much by the dog, and since it was such a bitch to mow, it might be an ideal site for alternative use.. of course, at the time, a garden was only one of the possibilities rattling around in my brain... on my more ambitious/creative nights, it was the possible sight of a hot tub, a side patio, a woodshed/workshop, and an entrance to a subterranean lair, complete with a moat and an 18th century pipe organ and submarine base........
... okay... just kidding about that last one.... i still want the hot tub though....
My point is, by the late months of 2005, as the snow began to fall, I was actively contemplating the idea of a garden, despite the past 2 years of more or less failure....
