One thing about me; I like pretty spaces. More accurately, I like to create pretty spaces. I like to think I’m pretty good at it, too. Once I get a picture in my head of what I want a space to look like, it usually ends up pretty accurate (case in point: The Shed). Every now and then I tend to bite off more than I can chew so to speak, and what I think will be a month or so of weekend work turns in to 3 months of basically full time work (again, I submit The Shed as evidence). So here I go, diving in over my head again.

This is my backyard. It’s half an acre of unkempt, wooded mess. Does that look like a tree laying across part of it? That’s because it is. It snapped off and fell a few months ago, and there it has lain, a priority to no one but me. Why do I care? The space it is laying across it gets the best afternoon sun of the entire yard, therefore it should be growing plants and not playing resting ground for dead wood.

While the tree graveyard is priority number 1, it’s far from the only space on the improvement list. I plan to improve the chicken run, plant a secret garden in the far corner, plant a pollinator garden behind the house, and build a giant picnic table off the patio.

If this was an episode of an HGTV show, this is the part where I would expect them to say “the scope of this project will take 2 weeks and cost $20,000,” and a crew of capable professionals would roll in and my backyard would be a beautiful oasis 14 days later. Since this is real life instead, I’m going to say the scope of this project is going to take all summer and given my budget of as close to $0 as I can get, cost whatever time and energy I have, and my crew of yours truly and her very handy, yet very busy husband when he has the time will eventually make it happen. It’ll just be more of a season than an episode.

As with The Shed, I plan to update here and on Instagram, so if you’re interested in following, I’d love the virtual company. Episode 1 (which could likely be a season on its own for all the work involved): Space for a Vegetable Garden starts tomorrow.