In Honor of Earth Day – a garden of love and friendship

This has been the first time in our 16 years of marriage that we have had a yard!  We apartment dwellers decided it was time for some grounding!  I have a feeling that there will be no turning back henceforth!

So here is the front yard when we first moved in:

To this:

The back yard went from looking like this to as it looks now.

We hoped to cover the mossy concrete with dirt.  Instead we got ripped off with a little clay soil and a truck load of rocks!

But it slowly began to take shape – my green thumbed mother drew me up a plan and got me on the road with my first bunch of plants.

Lii helped me muscle in the stones – we were sore for days – she more than I!  (Just for the record, I  didn’t boss her as much it appears – we kind of posed! She might disagree!)

Dolphin came to give me a literal hand and dug out rocks so we could put in vegetable plots in the back yard.

One neighbor let me use his extra bricks and my other neighbor let me take my pick of cuttings from her garden.

Seema, then stepped in and helped me dig up dirt and lug it to my soil starved yard.  She also helped me lay bricks to reserve the soil for the plants and not the path.  (I lament that we did not take pictures!)

Awesome birthday gifts allowed for purchase of pots and tools – thanking Treas and Lii!

The kiddie-roo’s were inspired and helped me paint the pots and rig the bird bath.  Unfortunately, we realized that the white was too startling for the birds and so we decided to go earthy and improvise some terracotta pots and a basin into an eco-friendly bird bath.  Incidentally, Ria spotted a pretty Bee Eater perched on the rim of the bird bath this morning and also an interesting bug that looked like it was wearing socks!

I had no idea I could fall in love with dirt – but I have!  There is something so incredibly therapeutic about rooting around in the soil.   Somehow planting, tending and watching life unfold brings so much beauty and joy.  I find myself waiting to finish school and chores so I can work in the yard!

We’ve harvested my spinach and amaranth twice already and are looking forward to tomatoes and musk melons.  I think my garden will look even better and yield a lot more next season (which will have to be after the monsoons – when we return from the US).  I am still very much a green horn!  I must admit it was hard not to fantasize about Home Depot and Lowes!  Still I thought we did pretty well considering!  What’s not to love in a garden made with friends?  Happy Earth Day!  Thank you Ma and all my friends!