From sandbox to garden: A three day transformation

This is what I saw when I looked into my backyard at the beginning of June. Ugh. Well and there were usually a group of kids in it playing since it was their “sandbox”. When that happened, I don’t know, but I figured why not until I was ready to use it. Anyways, I felt like the time was right – haha – really I decided it was now or never since the weather is starting to get so hot, so I took the time to get it done.

This project that didn’t seem do daunting at first turned out to be a completely out of control. There was a tarp – yup a tarp – buried about 8 inches deep underneath the whole thing. REALLY?!?!?! It was there when we moved in, but I didn’t think much about it until my garden didn’t do so hot for the last two years. This year, I wanted it to be spectacular, and this tarp has to be the culprit (or so I hope).

So I start digging, and digging and digging, and soon I am whining and my dear husband comes and takes pity on me, and helps me dig out (what we thought was all of the tarp) until well after dark. Tired and sore, we went to bed, ready to finish it in the morning. After sleeping like a log, I went out the next afternoon determined to finish it. I got the whole thing leveled, and then realized that we had missed part of the tarp. NOOOOOOO…..so I started digging and digging and digging and soon I am whining and my dear husband comes and takes pity on me AGAIN. Bless him. So we get it all out this time, and I start leveling it again, and get two rows planted before we head off to bed.

I come out the next afternoon and know that it will get done, but then I am worried about our new puppies getting into the garden or the kids trying to use it for a sandbox again, so I ask my hubby to get me a Garden Fence that I can use as a border. Of course, he says “I can build it” and comes home with nothing and drags all of his tools, wood and supplies outback and sure enough, starts building me a fence. I am totally thrilled because not only does it look amazing, but it is heavy duty and will stand up to our puppies and kids.

Here is the final picture of what it looks like now. I am SO EXCITED!!! It looks amazing (thanks to my amazing hubby and his mad digging and building skills 😉 ) Now if the garden will just grow it will be perfect.

Did you plant a garden this year? I would love to hear about it!

 (This post was featured on Laugh Live Repeat, a site that we used to run, but decided to merge with this one. That is why pictures are marked that way. The post is no longer available on that site, but this is all my photos and stories.)