the garden

The garden isn't what you would call minimalist.  Officially, we're taking the Permaculture approach. We're attempting to create an ecosystem.  In order to grow the plants we want and not have them become overrun with pests, we need predators for the pests.  These might be insects or birds.  Nature is naturally diverse and welcoming the diversity will yield a healthy harvest.

It's hard for me to wrap my head around leaving so many weeds.  I want to declutter... but my husband resists.
"Those? The bees love them!"
The bees apparently help pollinate our food plants.  My first reaction to all the insects was that the entire yard needed fumigating.  Parsley and catnip are so prevalent in our yard; the blossoms are beautiful, but the burrs in the autumn are nasty.

It took a long time to clear the garbage out of the yard when we moved in.  Now the garden is beginning to turn into a full blown food forest.  The soil is coming to life again.  Berries and trees that were stunted are bearing fruit again.  I think they've recovered from being hacked down to nothing before we moved in, and then sprayed down with Roundup.

We cleaned the shed as well.  I pulled everything out of the garden shed, swept away the spider webs, and raked the dirt floor.  Only half of what was in the shed could go back in.  Broken garden pots, decrepit tools, and split hoses were left out.  It's hard to see so much go to the dump.  Sometimes I call home purgatory.  It's that place between the thrift store and the dump where nothing belongs.  Finally getting rid of all that stuff feels amazing.  Now the shed looks organized when you walk in, and makes gardening more efficient.  Everything you need to garden, laid out in plain sight and in a central location.