Day #2 of Main St. Garden Project: August 29th

Now that we cleared most of the items and weeds yesterday, we are going to focus on demolishing the back structure, old raised bed and front triangular roof on the door. We'd also like to get all the brick and stones up, in order to recycle them into our new design. Much of the wood from the structure we will also recycle into our garden. We are really trying to use as much of the left building materials as possible in order to save money and the environment.



At the bottom of this picture you can see the large square stones that will be perfect for an entry pathway.




Upon arriving, we called grandma and grandpa to take the kids for a walk on the beach in order for us to do the work. In all honesty, it is hard to balance the kids, work, gardening, etc. and some days I have to surrender to the madness of parenthood. Some days, I just want to cry like I'm one of the babies. And although this project feels overwhelming at times now, I know that it is one day going to be a peaceful, creative place for myself and my family to relax, explore, play and grow together. As you can see in the far right corner, we have alot of wood to recycle and work with!


Many bricks stacked for boarders, pathways, sitting areas and stepping stones within the beds. This saves us SO much money!! We feel so lucky.


In the process of taking this structure down on the back left and the wood raised bed in the back right. The bougainvillea was so over grown onto our side that almost the entire plant rested upon this mesh. It was entirely cut back by large clippers while wearing thick gloves. The are thorny and painful to tame and although they look colorful, they are not pleasant to work with. They are also not allowed any longer in the SM Community Gardens. Thanks to my new neighbor Byron, it will be entirely removed within 8 weeks. I'm thrilled. We also cut the wisteria on the back right off of our plot and emptied the old bed and pulled the plastic out.



Gnarly.


Thanks to multiple helping hands, we are making this miraculous change and bringing life back into this abandoned garden.


I took out the brick diamond in the center. I used a pitch fork, but if you had a big pick or ax, you could knock them out faster. We piled them and realized we had a lot of brick to work with! This will definitely come in handy when building and designing. As you can see, behind me is the emptied corner, where the ferns and bougainvillea were. A huge difference, allowing us to utilize much more of the growing space.


It was tough at times. My lower back is bad and has worsened since having my 2 kids. But I love seeing the results so much. Very gratifying.


Mike unscrewing the roofs hinges.




And sawing the roof off with an electric hand saw.


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Using a hand saw to finish the job.



Testing out the structure and strength of the new entrance.





Originally we thought the blackberry roots were on our plot, but after trimming them back we realized they are our neighbors. I decided I want to put some trellis up to block it from my kids and put the play area on the other side.


Jordan loved exploring after his walk on the beach. He is more fascinated by dirt than the actual act of gardening at this age. I am going to design a kid zone in for toys and digging, as well as a bed for them to garden. Lets see what they can grow!!


A Japanese Beetle that had somehow ended up on his back. We also had two hummingbirds hovering over as we gardened. They welcomed us into the neighborhood and said "hi".