The birth of a new garden

A section of the area where the new garden will be developed. This is how it looked like after it was cleared of litter and debris.

Sometime late September of this year, Mom has identified a good spot to develop a new garden on the upper half of the farm. Framed by a row of mahogany trees on the east, a row of mango trees on the west, a portion of the fence on the south and a portion of the dirt road on the north, this space is quite shady and cool even when the sun is at its peak.

Mom started clearing the area of weeds, rocks, dead leaves, twigs, trash and other debris. This task took her several days to complete since she was all alone working on this project. After the arduous task of prepping the area finally it was ready for planting.

Then Mom picked some choice plants in the nursery and moved them to this place.The first areas to be planted are the base of the trees. The plants were positioned in between the exposed roots, which helped frame the plants, added more emphasis and texture.

A portion of the footpath that Mom created, which had to be redone to widen the path.

Next step was to plan where to lay the footpath. We haven't decided yet on what material to use for the footpath, still Mom began to put the border plants which will help demarcate the 'future' footpath within the garden.

Since I'm far away and not able to physically help, all I could do is give suggestions and advice when necessary. Like when I learned that the footpath Mom was working on was only over a foot wide, I suggested that she widen the path to give room for plant growth. Otherwise as the plants grow they'll take up more space, which could mean less space to walk on eventually.

Slowly the garden was taking shape. And then a powerful storm came...

(to be continued)