Restarting – New Trouble

A really important addition to the list of chosen troubles is a heavy focus on gardening.

What this has looked like so far is:
1. Going to the Friends of the National Arboretum plant sale and buying a ton of plants for the front yard.
2. Working hard to identify invasive plants, especially in the back yard, and get them out. Even some natives that are too aggressive are getting the boot!
3. Moving plants that we like to better spots. There were a ton of bulbs on the side of the house, they’ve gotten separated and scattered throughout the new plant beds in the front yard. Tyler also moved an azalea that was driving me nuts in the front of the house due to color asymmetry around the front door. Really excited to have that fixed.
4. Taking a class on hydroponics with Tyler, and jumping right in with a Facebook Marketplace purchase of a tower garden.
5. Celebrating the volunteers in our vegetable garden from last year, and adding a few more plants to the mix.

I have enjoyed this so much, and it’s been a great activity that Tyler and I both enjoy, but contribute different things to the overall project. There aren’t many topics we’re both interested in, so it’s good that we found one!

There’s a lot more that we have planned:
1. I’d like to create maps of the front yard, marking out what is growing where. Mostly, this is a tool to help my memory. I’ve been super frustrated to find how poor my memory is for plants! I can’t remember names of them at all, and there’s always a scramble when I order new plants, trying to figure out where I intended to plant them.
2. A joint project between Tyler and I will also be a printed catalog of what we’ve planted and the type of care it needs. I’m hoping he can create a sort of digital form that I can fill out, and we can then format it into a pretty sheet of some sort.
3. So much more hydroponic growth! It’s really nice to have an easy to use, ready-made planter, but we’d like to DIY one as well to see how difficult it is— the instructor who taught us made it seem very simple!
4. We have grand dreams of someday creating a rooftop garden, or using the space over the garage to grow more plants. Definitely longer-term planning there, not a this-year execution.

It’s been super exciting to spend so much time outside, working to make our yard both more beautiful and productive of food and supportive of wildlife. The weather has been really supportive this spring, with lots of pleasant temperatures and low humidity. But rainfall is way below average— so hopefully that will catch back up soon.