I'm The Next Martha Stewart!

I think gardens are beautiful, whether they're planned out or not. Love 'em. Love the produce, love the flowers.... just love 'em all together. I do not, however, love all the work that goes into them. I want the finished product. Maybe because I've never had one of my own to work in and toil over, or maybe because of my childhood experiences. For any of you who have seen our house, you will know that it has a pretty big back yard. When my family moved in when I was three, it was all grass. A few years later, my
parents took out about half the grass and made the other half a pond, a patios, pavers, and three large-ish vegetable beds. Plus, there were two cherry trees, a peach tree, a pear tree, a mulberry tree, an apple tree, a plum tree, raspberry bushes, a strawberry patch, an herb garden, lots of vegetables, and lots of flowers. Woof. It kept us so busy! When my folks made the change from all grass to all that, they also took up all the grass and sifted through the dirt to get out all the rocks. This obviously should have been done when the sod was laid, but it wasn't, so the grass never grew very well. So my family spent what feels like seven summers (it probably was only one and the beginning of a second) filtering through dirt and collecting rocks. Filter and collect, over and over. Us kids got paid a penny per rock.... actually, I should clarify- Graham and I got paid a penny per rock, Annie and Liz got a nickle- maybe even a dime! They'll deny it, but I clearly remember my outrage when I found out. You can't make that up.

So, years have past, the sod was laid and is now a lawn, and some changes have been made. We now don't have one of the cherry trees or the pear tree, the raspberry bushes or strawberry patch, plus Eric and I haven't planted much yet this spring, so the flowers and veggies aren't present. But it's still quite daunting to us. Neither of us have ever had our own garden. I'd rather just have a nice, beautiful garden placed in our back yard, but I realize that the chances of this are slim. So Eric and I are laying out our plans for our yard. We're trying to be realistic and optimistic, which don't sit well together some of the time.

The reason for this post is this: to any of you experienced gardeners out there, please let me know of any beautiful yet low maintenance plants you have experience with. We're tentatively planning on using one of the beds for pumpkins and watermelons, and to use the other as part strawberry patch, part peas, maybe some peppers and tomatoes, etc. The third bed belongs to Liz, and I think she's got grand plans for it. We planted some raspberry bushes yesterday, so if anyone knows any secrets for their care, please pass it on. We'd like to get ideas for some good, easy to care for flowers to go around the patio and in planters, so those suggestions would also be helpful. Thanks to all who take pity on my ignorance!