lush life

Please excuse my long absence. I hurt my back in a car accident last November and doing all my gardening set me back in a major way in April. I'll spare you the boring details, but it was painful and I wondered if I'd ever get back to my previous self. I'm about 95% now and life goes on. So there you go, and there I go.

I have to admit I was beginning to wonder if I'd made a huge mistake having 4-5 yards of compost dumped on my driveway. It was WAY more than I needed, but how could I know? It was hard to visualize just how much dirt that is. Trust me, it's a literal shit load.

After a friend came and took some away, I spread the rest under the beds in the front yard. I'm sure my azaleas and gardenias appreciate it. I also filled and/or topped off about a 30 pots for for various plants. The original reason I got it was for my veggies. The beds in front just got covered about 2 weeks ago. Amazingly enough, I got my projects done even though I just didn't have it in me to blog.

So here's the belated update.

Compost delivery.

hopeful and excited!

nervous.

This pile was bigger than my car. :/

I was originally going to make the beds out of cyprus rough cuts from a local mill, but could not get connected with the guy so I finally decided to blow it off and use what I had. Behind my garage was a bunch of marble and granite remnants that I'd acquired ages ago, so I hauled them around and used them as my walls. Plus they were free, so that was good.

This bed is made with cedar and hardware cloth left over from the compost bin.
I had so wanted them to be pretty and matching (ha!), but by this point, I was just hoping they would produce something edible.

 I also topped off the herb garden with fresh compost.

Oh, and I almost forgot, I carved out this little drain area at the bottom of my driveway. Not too shabby, eh?

Some where around the back breaking labor of digging and hauling and filling is when my back got kinked up. 

Anyhow, thankfully that is all behind me and I'm finally on the mend after countless chiropractic adjustments, massage therapy, tapping(!)(do you know about this EFT?-it's pretty awesome), and epsom salt baths. I have been able to return to yoga and most every thing else. As a massage therapist myself, I can tell you I was OBSESSED with fixing this issue. I did so much research and actually learned some things that I know will make me a better therapist. So I guess that's an upswing. I definitely have a deeper compassion for anyone suffering from chronic pain. 

The beds are all planted now and growing and there are even a couple tomatoes and a pepper starting to grow!!! I'm not sure how the rest will go, time will tell. It's been raining here BUCKETS for the past 5 days. Today is the first sun I've seen in a while. Needless to say, it's humid as all get out, but relatively cool. 

Because of the back drama, I lost track of my list of goals, but I feel somehow, I got everything I needed to done, and now I'm just waiting to rake in the bounty!........

PS. My little drainage area by the garage at the bottom of the driveway worked swimmingly with all the rain we've just had, so I'm feeling a little smug about that.