On The Evolving of a Garden...

In the beginning.....

It looked like this.
What a mess.
Goldenrod and Wild Asters
and more morning glories than you could count
and a myriad of other weeds that I couldn't name.
(though this is picture of the upper foundation
I don't have a clear shot of the lower foundation
in all of it's horror,but you get the idea)

It was a dark and dreary space.

And then we ran pot bellied pigs through it.

And chickens.

And we ended up with this.
Ok.. so that makes it sound simple and easy.
It wasn't! I can promise you that!
There were trees in there and honeysuckle rootballs
the size of watermelons in August.
It took pulling and yanking and digging and burning.
Repeat.
Then tilling and more digging and yanking and burning.
Then the raking and the dumping of the barn cleanings
and more tilling and raking.
Then woodstove ashes and more barn cleanings
and more tilling and raking.
But, at last, we had a smooth (ish) surface to work from.

Then came the laying of the beds
and more hauling of the poop and straw
and more digging.

But we had the beginnings of a new garden spot.
One with NO FREAKING CRABGRASS!
Which was the whole point.

And look how it has grown!
From this...

To this!

And this!

Now..you may be thinking that in comparison
to the scraped clean paths of the earlier pic,
my garden looks just awful!
Well.. there is a method to my madness.