Bye bye love. Hello bulldozers. I think I’m a-gonna cry-y.

As I mentioned in my prior post, I will be growing a new lawn that will be simple to care for. But before the new lawn goes in, the old lawn and plantings of years past must go out. Or be trampled, crushed, mauled, etc. by the Kubota equivalent of WMDs.  To preserve as much as possible I have been moving plants from one spot to another. It’s not been easy.

We used to have a beautiful fern and hosta garden along the long dark side of our deer fence. It had been impossible to grow grass or nearly anything in that area as sugar maples crowded out any potential for light, so we used it to mulch leaves in the fall and be covered by ferns and hostas in the summer with daffodils in the spring. Each fern and hosta was carefully picked for color, position, shape, etc. Some ferns were long and lacy, others compact and broad. The same for hostas but with a broader array of patterns and shades of green. We had acquired these plants over the years the way you always do: some from garden-club sales, some from friends, some from local nurseries, some from mail-order catalogues. Each was added at different times to fill out the quilt of green we were creating. But now we have to rip out that quilt and re-stitch the resulting pieces into other places.

We have been slowly planting and re-planting over the past few months (bulbs we have stored in the basement) in preparation for when the contractors would show up. We knew that it would happen sooner or later but were hoping for later so that we could enjoy the garden for a as long as possible in an undisturbed form that we are familiar with. My wife and l like to observe the garden from different vantages. We always see something that we hadn’t noticed before: how the maples and oaks filters the light at the end of the day, how the viburnum attracts more birds than other bushes because of its berries, how the hill undulates, changes shape and composition every season.

Perhaps we should count our blessings as most of the construction will disturb mostly grass, which can be replanted easily and not missed that much. I have never been able to get excited about grass seeing it as something our family plays on that stops erosion rather than share the all too common American  passion for grass. So any replacement the fulfills those criteria will work for us.

Fortunately the new septic system won’t change the look of our gardens or land too much. Its design is reasonably compatible with the topography and surroundings: the first design created a massive soil lump that would have looked like a burial mound extending up to 8 feet above our current grade. On the bright side it could have made for great sledding. But now there will be new undulations and gentle shapes taking form on our hill: first the manifestations of men and heavy equipment, and then nature’s relentless grinding of water, wind, heat, cold, and gravity.

Yesterday, we made our final push to ready the property. I and Clive (my daughter Kathryn’s father-in-law) took down the rails of our deer fence leaving only a fragile plastic mesh barrier between us and the deer. The job was easier than I thought with us losing only one board to rot. The posts are a different matter as I can tell that many of the bottoms are rotted out and will need to be replaced. My daughter, Sarah, and Clive’s wife, Ros, moved the rest of the wood pile that will be in the way of construction. My wife was picking up stones that we had collected from our property that were being used as garden borders and steps.

As I helped her to load up the stones in a wheelbarrow to put them in a holding spot, I was amazed at the amount of items we have moved around and changed in the garden over our 18 years in the house. I was equally impressed at how quickly it can all be picked up and put in a pile, waiting for another rearrangement counter to natural order and movement. Today I will dig up the last of the hostas in a few border gardens and be done. The contractors can start.

I also had to take down the frame of our compost heap, which will be moved by bulldozer to another location. With the frame gone, I could see lots of ready compost at the bottom of the pile. I’m looking forward to using it in a few weeks.