Other Gardens....

I have noticed that other people who blog about gardens have big gardens. At least the ones I have seen. They are properly landscaped and the people must spend a real lot of time out there. Me? well I just have a back yard and front yard and even though the trees are mature, I don't have the time to spend on maintaining a great garden. I just want one. I get it looking good and the kids come along and well........you know how it is with kids. Yesterday Lydia and Tobin in cahoots with Reina went out to play. Well I guess they must have been bug hunting because the rocks on the rock garden were now in the play area. Hmmmmmmm! How did I guess what they had been doing? Had they replaced the rocks I never would have know. Then I opened the seat on the little trike that Reina had been playing with to find it stuffed with leaves from my HOSTA'S!!!!!! Acck!!!!!!
So its really a uphill battle most of the time. Just picking up the toys they leave around is a chore but I want them to enjoy my garden and remember it. Maybe its just me? I remember my Dad's and my grandmother's gardens with fondness. I remember every detail about Nan's garden from the seat Granddad made from sticks (before that was popular) and the wonderful plum tree. My dad had an apple tree and the apples were never on there long enough to get ripe. So good, and my first pet is buried under that tree. I wonder if anyone will ever know? My parents being long gone from this world.
I even remember my other granddad's garden. His was a working garden back when they relied on it for food. He kept rabbits, at the time I did not know their fate. Next door my uncle Bill kept chickens and I have always had a fondness for the smell of chicken feed. I loved to help him collect eggs. There was also a huge patch of rhubarb that I could hide in. He had an orchard. I suppose he must have been quite self sufficient back in those days.
So, back to my garden. I am trying to make it interesting and child friendly. We divided it up into rooms. The very back was my shade garden and now its got wood chips and a play house with ivy under the trees.
I have pathways through the gardens to help divide it up and put two arches with swings under them for Lydia and Tobin back when I babysat for them. Now Tristen and Reina enjoy them.
I put fountains, again so the kids enjoy them. If only they would keep their hands out (smile) and not come in muddy all the time.



Did I mention the 4 poodles we have..............well, that's another thing. Back when we had Bridget (poodle) I made poodle paths among the flowers so she could visit her many admirers. I just took those out as the poodles we have now are not social butterfly's as she was. I am in process of making a patio with those but need a few more stones. Its by the fish pond. That's another story.



So anyway suffice it to say my garden will always be a work in progress. I love reading blogs to get ideas but I know my garden will never look as they do. I must be happy with that.