Where There's a Will"ow" there's a Garden!

When we made the decision to purchase our home, we knew it was coming with one hefty task. The removal of one GIGANTIC willow tree. The tree, was beautiful. It gave our yard a lot of wonderful shade, the branches sang with the passing of the wind. Believe me I hated to see it go, but it had termites, and it towered over our house.

Here is the old willow before her demise. She towered over the massive truck.

You will notice the raised stone bed surrounding the tree. 

The raised bed, where the willow tree stood, had massive potential for something else in my life, But until the stump decayed below the dirt, I had to wait patiently and come up with a plan. Along with tackling the poison ivy that encompassed it (see previous blog!)

The tree was taken down in February when the ground was frozen so the trucks could drive on the yard. 

To fall the tree, they had to disassemble the stones around the raised bed. 

So, here we are. It is 2 years later. And I have finally decided to create…….

What else.. a GARDEN!!!!!!!

The mulch from the willow has now decomposed into a wonderful brown soil, there are weeds and a few sprigs of poison ivy but it's ready to be transformed. My first step was laying down some landscapers fabric to try to get a handle on some of the weeds and poison ivy that continue to haunt me. 

Landscaping fabric and posts for trellis

We dug 1.5 feet down to place the posts, and had no troubles with the stump or the roots. I had sprinkled some dried blood (Nitrogen) over this area numerous times in hopes that the roots would decompose and they definitely did.

Plants in through fabric, and rope added to trellis

Cutting x's into the fabric, i scooped a hole and added some new compost, then planted the little babies. The trellis will be home to the snap peas, and cucumbers. Behind the trellis, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, in front of the trellis, eggplants, zucchini, celery and cabbage. One yellow pear tomato on the right and some bush beans to the left! VEGGIES! YAYYYY

Blog after blog made me nervous so i covered it all in straw after planting, in hopes that my cabbage won't bolt. 

A 50 foot fence to keep the deer and bunnies from eating all my hard work and we are set!!!! Hello Gardening 2013 I'M ALL IN!!! Happy Gardening!!!

Feels like a worthy transformation… from Willow to Garden!!!!