For me there is a difference between a yard and a garden. I had a yard at the apartment house I lived at before I moved to my current place. I never planted one single thing, even though I had permission and packets of flower seeds and good physical conditions. I noticed that my yard here at my new place became my garden when I started thinking about how I would change it... how I could bring out the grace of the forsythia by cutting some branches... how the privacy of the backyard could be enhanced by extending some already established lines just a bit further, so as to work with the circulation of sight and of perambulation... It became my garden instead of my yard whenever I thought about the spirit of the trees and plants instead of their utility. I plan to plant a cedar in order to block the view from a neighboring apartment house through my patio door, but that is for utility, and if that were the only change I ever thought about making, this would still be a yard. But in the process of choosing that particular tree, I learned that in nature, cedars grow right along with black walnuts, as they will do here, so it seems like introducing two new friends to each other in my backyard -- "Walnut, meet Cedar, just moved in from the clan farmstead. Cedar, meet Walnut, established and respected in this neighborhood for years." They nod and shake roots and become friends. This yard is becoming my garden as I meet and collaborate with the spirits here to make a place where we all feel good about spending time with each other.

Wow Jeanne...things ARE looking good in your "shed" garden! Your tipsy buckets look so good...I need to move mine, they are getting too much shade where they are. LOVE the windmill and the million bells is HUGE and GORGEOUS! So many cool accessories..the galvanized containers and the wheel with the zinnias in it are great. What is the tall plant growing right next to your shed...the one with big leaves and tall stalks? Looks really cool! TFS~

YIKES! Three years to hit its stride? My tiny plant that arrived by mail order last spring just grew and grew after it hit the soil. By summer's end, it stopped so much focus on growth, and started putting out the occasional bloom. Now it is eating my little rose fence along my lawn, and invading the territory of the rose next door (7 feet away). Of course this is just what I wanted. But in addition to even more new canes, the thing has an uncountable number of buds on it!. I fully expect it could eat my whole city. And all this two years before it hits its stride? Can't wait!

Hey Martha, I go to school at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. Its about 4hrs from my house. I spend every day or every other day in the garden because I unfortunately do not have a job. In terms of parents helping, I wish, lol! My parents, unlike me, are at work all day and on the weekends they are relaxing.But I have always enjoyed gardening and raising leps for the longest time.