Bountiful Backyard Sanctuary

There was this tiny problem I had when I first chose to try my hand at home gardening, I had no supplies nor any ideas of how to do it. Little did I know what wonderful, rewarding and fruitful the experience would become. With little more than some scraps of wood, a few old tarps, and a healthy dose of determination, I embarked on a journey that has transformed my backyard into a luxuriant Eden overflowing with fresh, homegrown produce.

One day as I was driving along on garbage night, I saw rakes, some old garden tools, and a holed filed hose. This sparked my idea to make a modest garden plot. First, I remembered you need to disinfect everything…so off into buckets of hot tea went my recycled items, a few hours there, a good scrub and dry with an old rag. Wala the tools were good as new, perhaps minus a prong. Gathering up discarded fencing, stray boards, and tattered tarps, not knowing what marvels would soon spring forth from the soil.

Those first promising plantings were a delightful mix of zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, radishes, and rhubarb – an absolute masterpiece of colors, forms, and tastes waiting to unfold. As I managed my amateur garden, I noted some of the wildlife were having a feast. So, I retrieved some large sauce cans from restaurants, and plastic milk cartons then placed them carefully over each plant to nurture it and keep it alive. [The wildlife could not get their heads inside to crunch on my harvest.]

I was amazed at the flexibility of nature and the special moments of waking each morning to find the plants had sprouted a little more each day and thrive.

Before long, my little plot had outgrown its makeshift boundaries, and I found myself expanding, crafting new isles from sturdy wooden planks.

With each addition, I welcomed a fresh array of edible delights: squash vines snaked their way across the soil, their golden blossoms giving way to plump, striped gourds; emerald-green tomato plants burst forth, heavy with the promise of a future salsa harvest; cucumbers coiled upwards, their prickly tendrils grasping at the sky. Lettuce, beans, and fragrant dill soon joined the party, their leaves unfurling in a vibrant tapestry of greens. A row of corn stretched skyward, their tasseled tops swaying in the gentle breeze, while a young pear tree gave an overabundance of fruit with its slender branches reaching outward in the bright sunshine of the yard.

To scare off any would-be raiders, I shaped an amusing scarecrow from an old pair of jeans and a tattered shirt, propping him up in a sun-bleached plastic lawn chair to keep a watchful eye over my expanding garden.

As the weeks passed, the backyard transformed into a lush, productive oasis. Zucchini flowers gave way to lengthened green squashes, while ripe tomatoes pleaded to be plucked from the vine and cut into a capris salad. Crisp radishes emerged from the soil, their peppery bite a perfect accompaniment to salads, and tart rhubarb stalks lent themselves to sweet-and-savory jams and crisps.

The backyard soon became a kaleidoscope of colors, with fiery peppers winking from beneath broad green leaves and onion tops swaying in the breeze like tiny green sentries. Plump cucumbers hid amidst prickly vines, waiting to be spiralized into cooling summer salads, while butterhead lettuces formed tight, leafy rosettes that made for the most satisfying of backyard salad bars.

As summer stretched lazily onwards, the cornstalks grew tall and proud, their tasseled tops releasing a gentle rain of pollen to ensure the next crop.

What began as just every night travels on my way home collecting a humble assortment of cast-off supplies had blossomed into a lush, fruitful edible Eden – a backyard oasis that offered me an abundance of fresh, flavorful produce and a profound sense of accomplishment.

From those first tentative seedlings to the thriving garden, this journey has been one of progression, endurance, and an ever-deepening gratitude for the wonders of the natural world. So even if have had experience with a green thumb or if you are a newcomer at the world of home gardening, I invite you to test your knowledge in your own backyard.

Go on a scavenger hunt and find items, get your hands dirty, and nurture those first tiny sprouts. For in doing so, you will grow a bounty of fresh, homemade goodness, but you will also brew a secret union to the rhythms of the earth and the magical way things will grow.