The start of the garden

There were a lot of drainage problems with this property when we moved here so my husband and I have put in 20 TONS of gravel with just shovels and wheelbarrows to give the water a few places to go and keep everything else dry.

The driveway was mostly dirt and a couple of puddle filled ruts so a lot of another type of gravel making it into a driveway that we could actually use. Quite a lot went into a 18 foot circle around our campfire ring and the rest went into pathways and borders engineered to move water where we want it to go.

The first plant was this old rosebush that came from Doug's grandparent's farm and went on to his parent's farm and then to everyplace we've ever lived. We're all at home here and it's spread a LOT in the years since this picture was taken.

Early Morning Photos

I went out to do some weeding and move some pots in the garden at 6:30 AM planning to beat the heat but it was already pretty steamy by then. I started pulling weeds out of the mulch up by the house and wished I'd used gravel instead. I find it easier to rake through gravel to pull out the weeds than it is to deal with the mess you get with wood chips. What are your thoughts on the subject?
I pulled up one of the extra large pots from the back yard but there are no photos of the ugly stuff because I just want to look at the flowers. I couldn't decide whether or not to cut some to bring in and draw or paint or just leave them out there until I get a firm idea of what I really want to paint today.
It's a good thing that I gave up and headed for the house after an hour or so because it was raining like
mad by 9:00. Hey, on the bright side of things-I didn't have to worry about watering anything.