We moved to our house in Powell which came with a twenty-four foot above ground swimming pool in May of 2001. In 2005, after knowing for quite some time that we were not “pool people”, we gave the pool away. My husband spent about a month removing the old weathered decking which revealed massive ruts in the soil from water runoff. We discovered a concrete drain that had been installed to catch the run off. It obviously wasn’t quite large enough to do the job.
Plan your Work… and Work your Plan… Right?
My plan was to create a shrub garden and patio in the area that the deck covered and return the rest of the space to lawn. I felt confident that if I brought in a lot of soil, built the area up and planted it that the existing drain would work and there would not be any further water damage. I would discover after the fact that I was wrong.
I spent much of the summer of 2005 digging and amending soil and creating the shrub bed. This picture reveals the space before I planted the shrubs and mulched the bed. I purchased some sixteen by sixteen pavers to use for the patio. The first hard rain washed away the mulch and made a gully through the shrub bed. I retaliated by creating a rock lined dry creek through the shrub bed. That worked to keep the mulch in place but the lawn area and future patio area still flooded every time we had a gully washer leaving a muddy mess.
I decided that what I needed was a longer creek that would carry the water across the twenty foot flat area of the back yard and then drop it where the yard slopes downhill. Great plan but I had a problem. I could not visualize the path for the creek. Nothing that I visualized seemed to look right and I didn’t know why. So what did I do? Nothing. Isn’t that what most of us do when a project stalls?
The Plan Isn’t Working. Now What?
I loved the way the shrub bed looked. The Nandina, Spirea, and Crepe Myrtle grew into beautiful mature shrubs. The Green Giant Arborvitae that I planted along the property line to hide the neighbors RV cover were stunning. Every time I looked out there I had a mixed emotional reaction. I was proud of the work that was completed but the patio area was a neglected mess. Why couldn’t I complete this project?
In the summer of 2010 I became determined to make this project move forward. I remember stopping at a nursery in Maryville on my way home from an organizing session with a client. My eyes were drawn to the piles of rocks and boulders. I purchased the perfect rectangular boulder to place at the end of my dry creek …the creek that was still in imagination mode. I was one small step closer to making my dream a reality.
Visualize the Project Completed and Write it Down
In January 2011 I wrote out some goals for the year. I wrote “I will sit in my glider on my new patio and drink coffee while looking at my dry creek and flowers on June 30, 2011.” I read my goal list daily.
A before and after by Rachel Matthews. Click to view her "Shape First System Tutorial".
In early March I clicked on a FaceBook ad for a free video tutorial about garden design. The tutorial was by Rachel Matthews. Rachel talked about mistakes that gardeners make. She says that we should not focus on the shape of the planting areas (as I had) but instead we should design around the shape of the open spaces like the lawn and the patio. She says, “Unless you have the shape right you will never have a great looking garden.”
That Video Was My Defining Moment.
I looked out at the area and I could see the circular shape that would define the lawn. My heart was pounding because I could see where to put the creek and the patio. Look carefully at my before picture and you will see where I stretched out a garden hose and some rope to define the shapes.
I had found the missing piece. I set to work with a consuming focus to complete the project which I finished on August fifteenth of this year.
I am really excited about the creek. When we have a hard rain the creek runs like a gushing mountain stream. I find it absolutely fascinating to watch.
The glider and bench were added a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been slowly adding some plant material. I am so looking forward to next spring and I am extremely grateful to Rachel Matthews for providing the video.
I Wonder…
would I have noticed her offer if I had not written that goal down in January? I believe that writing the goal and re-reading it frequently kept the project at the front of my mind. I doubt that I would have clicked on an ad about garden design if the dry creek dilemma had not been bugging me on a daily basis. I believe that if I had not written the goal I would still have a mess in my backyard.
How About You? Do You Have Some Stalled Projects?
So why am I telling you all this? Because I’m pretty sure most of you have some unfinished projects. It’s time to dig them out and decide if they are still important to you. If the answer is no, you should let them go. If you have a strong desire to complete a project, decide what you want, set a date for completion and write it down.
Read the goal every morning and every evening. This will keep it on your mind and you will find yourself taking small actions to move it forward. Are you missing a vital piece of information, an item or financing to complete the goal? Visualize the end result to the best of your ability and keep reading the goal. You may just run head-on into exactly what you need.
This completes the organized gardening series. I hope you have enjoyed it. I would love to hear from you so please comment. If you are interested in gardening then I recommend Rachel’s blog.