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A New Beginning
In September of 2007 my partner and I purchased a home in Tacoma, Washington, and left our garden behind in Seattle. Thankfully, my good friend Les moved into our house in Seattle and resumed care of the garden. We moved to a larger slice of paradise located in the very southern tip of Tacoma. We started documenting our journey, which includes the full remodel of our home and landscape on our Going Craftsman blog. Be sure to check it out for specifics. Since that time, I’d stopped contributing to Growing Appetite, because I was gardenless 
Good news, I’m back!
Every good landscape or remodel starts with a plan. After toying around with the landscaping at our Seattle home, I’d learned what worked well, and what needs improving. It’s great to be able to bundle that experience and start with a blank canvas. Our yard and garden in Tacoma is just that — a blank canvas. Well, except for the 1800 square foot concrete driveway that’s hiding a good potion of the dirt!
When I started putting together the landscape plan for our new home, the first major decision I made on paper was that the 180 foot long driveway needed to go. This driveway is large enough for an RV, a boat, a plane and about 4 cars. Altogether unnecessary for two people and a cat. We plan on ripping out 2/3 of the driveway (approximately 1300 square feet). In this reclaimed space, I plan on installing a fruit and berry orchard, a nice size kitchen vegetable garden, and an outdoor kitchen cooking and dining area sandwiched right in the middle. How delightful is the idea of having an outdoor food preparation and dining area surrounded by the fruits of your garden? Sounds like paradise to me!
To see our dream become reality, we’re committed to a pretty aggressive landscape plan for 2009. In 5 months, we’ll be transforming out backyard, which includes bringing in large amounts of soil. Once that’s accomplished, we’ll schedule to have the driveway removed in the late April/early May time frame. At one time we planned on doing this ourselves, but after killing ourselves to remove a very small portion of the driveway last year, we’ve decided that this is a task for the professionals. Once the driveway is gone, we’ll bring in the top coat soil, lay the bricks for the dining/kitchen area, and build the raised vegetable beds. If everything goes as planned, I’ll be able to put in a summertime garden in mid to late May/early June. Whew, what a relief that’ll be.
After two years of being without a vegetable garden that contributes to our food supply, I’ve realized just how important it is to me. Vegetable gardening is a good amount of work to do it successfully, but for me, it’s about the most enjoyable work I can think of. Soon, I’ll have built a little slice of paradise and will be able to reap the benefits of our labor! I look forward to sharing our new beginnings and new garden with readers this year. Stay tuned…
Tags:No TagsPosted by Boe on March 1st, 2009 under Garden Planning, Soil & Compost
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March 2nd, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Hi boys! Can’t wait to cook in that new al fresco kitchen!