It’s not everyday I get to write about something this life changing! You may remember that a while back I made an offer for some land. That piece of land didn’t work out and I was pretty disappointed. Sometimes life has better plans and we just don’t realize it at the time. Recently we found another piece of land for sale. It’s not as big as the first property, but in almost all other ways it’s better, more usable and still in a great location! It’s 7.26 acres and only 6 minutes from town. Our area of Tennessee is a hotbed of real estate activity and this property is an amazing find. We closed on the land on Thursday and now we know where our future home will be!
The Plan for the Land
Our plan for right now is to maintain the land and hopefully begin building in about a year. It has a great building spot and several areas or zones that could be used for all kinds of gardens. One of the greatest challenges is getting all those plants that I’ve collected over the years over to the new land. In some cases it will be easy to transplant many of those. In other cases the shrubs and trees have grown so large that without special equipment and a lot of aid it would be a huge challenge to move.
Tempering my Enthusiasm
It’s very easy to get overly excited. I’ve been looking forward to buying some land for years. We never meant to stay in our current house so long. The economy had issues and our income never rose enough for us to upgrade our home. Things have a way of working out eventually. We’ve been here over 10 years and I know I have planted thousands of plants during that time. I was excited to have our first home on 1.3 acres and went wild with planting it. You name it, I tried it. Some were great plants in my garden while others faded and died long ago. Remember this: Not all plants are great plants!
My garden has changed a lot in those years. In the beginning the landscape had next to nothing in it: two Bradford Pear trees, some Japanese Hollies, and a spirea that was as resilient as they come. Now much of my yard and gardens are in the shade where before it was all sun. Trees I planted that were as small as 5 feet tall are now 30 or more feet tall. The field on the hill is a little forest of sassafras with paths the foxes enjoy playing in.
Our New Garden
Our new garden needs to be done in steps and for right now the first step is deciding what needs to be transported over to the land. Not everything in my garden is worth keeping. I need a plan, or at least a list, of my garden favorites that I can transplant or propagate and bring over. I also have to plan our future home. Patience is required and sometimes that is not an easy thing!
I’ll have more to share with you in my next few posts. I’ve worked hard over the last year and a half to make things like this a possibility. There are a lot of great changes ahead that I am looking forward to. I hope you’ll continue this journey with me!
For a better view enjoy the video below!
The Ugliest Tomato I Ever Grew
I’ve been looking back at my photo albums lately. Looking back at old photos helps to get a perspective of where the garden is going by remembering where it’s been. I can see how effective my efforts are at developing a garden, how much things…
My Spring Challenge (Clearing the Weeds and Planting a Slope)
Here is a picture of our new territory that I didn’t quite know I had until a couple weeks ago. It is covered in a variety of weeds including notable family favorites like ragweed, goldenrod and Queen Anne’s lace. Now if it were just the…
How to Propagate Catmint from Cuttings (Nepeta faassinii)
Last Saturday I was shopping at a nursery where I found a ‘Walker’s Low’ Catmint (Nepeta faassinii). I’ve talked about the benefits of Nepeta before so it may not be a surprise that I bought one. I planted the new perennial the other day in…
Time Spent on the Land
I’ve been spending a lot of time dreaming about what is to come for our family, our new house, and the gardens. It’s easy to come up with ideas but always much more challenging to implement them. I’ve designed a potential house plan and I…
Plant of the Week
Here is the new plant of the week. Obviously this is an old picture since nothing is growing right now, but here’s a little taste of the spring to come. This isn’t from our yard but it is a nice example of a vine being…
Thinking About The Future Vegetable Garden
Recently I went over to our property and filmed a short video showing where our vegetable garden could eventually be. It’s fun to imagine the good that the future holds but at the same time it’s frustrating that we aren’t already digging in that dirt!…
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