In ten short months, from a bare canvas of dirt I grew a colorful cottage garden. Come visit me now and walk the meandering pathways, stoop to pick peas, and linger…sit in the sun by the small fish pond, and smell the flowers as they tumble over their driftwood bordered beds.  It didn’t cost much, just a small scraps of time and lots of imagination. In the dead of winter when it was “too wet to dig,” I dug. I buried kitchen waste, fish guts, spread sweet lime, hauled steer and chicken manure, and covered the grass with a truckload of straw.  In the first warm rays of Spring with shovel and fork I dug raised beds and planted seeds…peas, carrots, lettuce and potatoes.  

     With no plan in mind other than to separate the flowers and lawn from the veggies, and wanting a rose covered arbor, my husband and I built a lattice fence, with an arbor entrance, for honeysuckle and roses.  We attacked with a vengeance the blackberries that sprawled where the ferns now grow, and in more raised beds set down asparagus along with the strawberries. I scattered more seeds than Johnny, and wild lilies by the bagful.  

Friends played their part, sharing seeds, and “starts” and roses were scavenged, or propagated from cuttings. I wanted a pond, so I began to dig. Two tree stumps and one doctor visit later I had a large hole, but no liner but I did have an old waterbed mattress, which just happened to fit. I filled the pool, stocked it with goldfish, and spent hours wading cool rivers for “just the right rocks” to define its border.

     Now you see the fruits of the labor, but you don’t know my secret…it’s the water fairy who lives near the pond…she shares her good fortune, as I share mine. From the starts and seeds that were given in the spring, I now share in the Fall the harvest of summer, in a circle of friendship, an ever evolving cycle of loving and giving, its these magic ingredients that make a good garden.