In April 2018, after living in Oregon less than a year, we tore out our back yard, which was a combination of grass and weeds, with a few random roses and ferns, and started to put in a cottage garden.

I decided to document the development of our garden because it’s our first real garden and I’m very excited about it (we had a cactus garden in New Mexico but I don’t think that counts), but also because as a super amateur gardener, I honestly did not know what I was doing. I hope that some of my mistakes may be helpful to other new gardeners!

To find out what we planted (and what did and did not survive!), click here!

Here is how our garden grew.

BEFORE

Old photo of the yard found on Zillow. Why is there what looks like a big boulder in the middle of the yard? Is it the stone on which the previous homeowners sacrificed their enemies?

Spring 2017, just before we moved in. Note the big sandy area in the yard, which served as the neighborhood kitties’ litter box before we had the sand hauled out.