HOW I GOT INTO THIS MESS

I didn't always garden. In fact I didn't ever consider gardening until Terre and I bought our house in 2001. Terre was insistent on wanting a house with a yard so that she could have a dog. So we bought a place with a postage-sized lot on the 'prairie' in suburban Chicago. Having a natural adversion to lawn care (a childhood affliction) and realizing that something had to be done with this piece of scrup grass I had little choice but to consider gardening. Besides the back yard would need completely fenced in if 'Stinky' (the mythical dog) was to join our family. And I promised Terre she would have an electric garage door opener (detached garage/buried electrical line from the house) by winter. Then two events got us going - the spring inexpensive plant sale at the local supermarket, and the discovery of an old flagstone patio buried under 4 inches of soil and grass. I now had enough stone to build a walk, a wall and you get the picture. I was off and running.