Low-impact landscaping

Now that we've (mostly) cleared out the garden, it's time to figure out what the hell we're gonna do with it. Luckily, my aunt just happens to be a landscaper (and a rad person to boot). She came by to help us come up with a plan that fits in with our goal of creating an awesome outdoor space - without buying a bunch of new stuff and creating a ton of waste in the process. Basically, we're aiming to:

- use second-hand material as much as we can (tools, plants, compost, containers, etc.)
- recycle all garden waste
- collect rainwater to use for watering
- plant and grow some veggies, reducing the amount we buy at the store

My aunt had some pretty cool ideas, including using scrap metal to build garden beds (like so), building a retaining wall out of cement blocks and using rocks we've found as drainage in the bottom of containers. Now we're on the hunt for materials. Luckily we had some pots left over from the (unsuccessful) balcony garden at our old place, so we've been able to get started on some herbs in the meantime. P threw together a shelf from some painted cement blocks he had and some scrap wood from our renos. Parsley was a housewarming gift, chives were passed on from a co-worker and the bonsai has been with us for over a year.

Interim herb garden

It's already the end of March, so the clock is ticking. Hopefully we'll be able to scrounge up some containers by next weekend and get started on the fun part - planting!