We've gardened, and gardened, and gardened. And now we would do it for others.
Several years ago, we helped build a garden for friends. It's so easy for weeds to take over, and when the one family member whose garden it was went out of the country for a year, that is what happened. Now that I've learned a few lessons about weeds, and now that we had opportunity to share that knowledge with others, it was time to act!
There really are a few flowers growing in the garden above. It was our job to find and save them! Our goal was to weed as much as possible, lay down landscape fabric, secure it, and cover everything with mulch. This is what we did with my mulched veggie garden pathways last year, so we were "experts" in a way!
Greeted in the yard by Sweet Pea.
Because I went straight to work--I wasn't just the photographer this day--I didn't take many pictures. Here is one halfway done (actually, the bulk of the work is done by this point!), the landscape fabric pinned down over the whole garden, and secured around the edges with the original rocks that were used as edging.
Why won't you play ball with me??
The Lord's Provision.
This family's mom Helen, a widow, had given us permission to spend $20 on whatever mulch we could purchase to complete the garden. I also had experience with this part of the job, too! Before heading to the M.'s house, we stopped at Lowe's and loaded up a garden dolly with as many bags of mulch in recovery bags as we could find. (Click on over to my link above about my garden pathway to find out what these are and how to save money.)
When the sales associate rang up our mulch purchase, we had room for one more bag, albeit full price. We came in 48 cents under budget! I was thrilled and knew the Lord had provided.
When Miss J. commented that we may not have enough mulch to cover everything, I looked at her and told her, "The Lord provided this exactly within your mom's budget. There will be enough." And there was, perfectly. I love how the Lord does that.
Gathering up the garbage.
Time for a break!
Miss J. and Miss M., dirty and happy.
Miss M. had just turned 21, so two of my guys went "bar hopping" with her. Yes, that's a piece of re-bar!
Meanwhile, Danny cleared the side entrance, where guests would be coming in. There's a bowling alley parking lot on that side, very convenient parking (they get permission for guests to park there).
Because we purchased different types of mulch, the garden looks like a patchwork. But that quickly fades with a few rains, plus time.
Below, see waaaay back there? That's still their property--it's so deep--but it has grown in with "native vegetation." So they had some plastic fencing to put in along the border so that guests would know to stay out.
Fernando got my camera, and me--sweaty, dirty, happy worker.
Finally, we were done. Time to have a little fun before the girls fed us dinner! Miss J. had caught two frogs, which survived a few hours in a bucket. It was time to let them go.
Sweet Pea came to investigate.
She chased one around the garden. I'm sure it was traumatized.
What a blessing it is to share our knowledge, skills, and time with others! The M. family's friendship garden is truly that, wouldn't you say?
Back to life,
Christine
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