Gardening generationally with the Garden Fairies

Gardening generationally is a great way to jump start a new garden transformation. Buying a house with a yard that needs work can be daunting proposition for a first time homeowner. The process can be made easier when you are able to enlist the help of a small army of volunteers. On Sunday March 28th, it took twenty family members, Garden Fairies and Wizards three hours to accomplished what would have take a one person sixty hours. See more pix of this event on the slide show.

Lisa Schmidt, a long-term member of The Garden Fairies was able to help her son Noah start the process of transforming his new yard with the help of her family, friends and Garden Fairies. Noah recently bought a fixer-upper in Oldsmar Florida with a double lot. With the exception of a grand old oak tree, the space is practically a blank slate.

At 9:30 a.m., with the rain building in the Gulf of Mexico, the crew started with the basics– trimming overgrown plants and clearing leaves and debris. Another team made nineteen stepping stones. As luck would have it Noah’s property came with twenty plain stepping stones, many of which we unearthed while cleaning up. Noah wanted masculine styled stones, no pansies please!

Geometric designs evolved from a nice variety of tile Lisa had collected. We started off with basic bordering and graduated to asymmetrical designs. The speed at which we did Noah’s stepping stones was impressive– the key was using a minimum of broken tiles, opting to fit whole ceramic and glass tile on the circular stones. Fitting small broken pieces is very time intensive. At the end of the session, everyone agreed this was our most efficient mosaic stepping stones session.

Noah’s property has large expanses of turf with undefined areas for foot traffic. The Garden Fairies suggested that Noah consider using his stepping stones to create pathways inter-filled with gravel. Mind you, Noah will have to settle for two less stones– Tiffany his girlfriend has claimed those for her new condo.

Noah’s new house comes with a detached garage with attached roofed workspace– perhaps a new Garden Fairy mosaic making clubhouse? Don’t worry Noah, we will bring the food and wine and promise not to party too long.