June 2008 Project Start: Secret Garden

Earlier this year we discovered a woodchuck had burrowed underneath our garage. For Keeley's safety we decided that we needed to get rid of it. First we removed all the junk that had been being stored behind the garage. This exposed the entrance to it's den which we plugged up with some rocks. A week later, we borrowed a trap to use to catch it but never ended up actually using since by then we were pretty sure it had already moved on to find a different home.

We were wondering what we could do with this space to avoid any further destructive animal activity. I've always wanted a shade garden but up until now, all I ever had was full sun. This seemed like a great opportunity to gain some more garden space.

So far I've done some planting and embedded about a third of the stone pathway. I've still got the other two thirds to go. Plus I'd like to add a few more plants still this year and mulch. I'm very happy about how it's turning out so far.

We're calling it our secret garden since you'd never guess that it was there.