Let's talk a bit about what has happened with my garden over the years and take stock of what I currently have growing. Note that this year I plan to have a larger garden than normal. I will focus on trying to grow plants that I've failed to grow in the past. I will also focus on new things such as propagating mushrooms (to say the least.)

This last summer (summer of 2013) my roommates flattened my garden while I slept. The reasons for this are still unclear, but in the end, I am the only one who suffered a loss. I went outside to find that my grapevine that's over 20 years old had been cut to a nub. The entire yard was flattened, so they did do their job. I guess, over the years the dirt had washed up onto the cement. Not to mention that I deliberately tried to "create" a tiny hill, which I thought added a lot of character to the tiny backyard, but in reality, it didn't help with the flooding and run-off issues that we were having.

I also had the trees trimmed in a way, that made you feel as if you were entering a fantasy land, of sorts. The trees and leaves arched around you and you had to sort of duck into what may as well have been another world. And while it looked magical, there was nothing fancy on the other side. Just some sheds and storage. And it turns out that the trees had only been annoying people when the branches would smack them in the face, on occasion. So, there went my whimsical entryway into a magical, make-believe forest.

Yes, it is pretty bad that no one consulted me before flattening my garden. I lost nearly everything. Even my huge artichoke plants that came back every year were gone. They didn't leave one blade of grass, not one! My nectarine tree was cute down to a few stumps. In the end the only thing I got left with was some Aloe Vera plants (thank goodness because these are family heirlooms) and my two Granny Smith Apple Trees.

It looks as though we are going to have to go through the "re-birth" of my garden and this will take several posts, I'm sure.

* RainFern*