by Valerie Preston

Created on: August 15, 2008   Last Updated: September 21, 2008

I loved my new home. I was a young woman then, buying this gorgeous mobile home on my own, and it was all mine! I gazed about me with pride, taking in the glorious details. I had just moved in, and I loved the privacy the lot afforded, as it was set back quite a distance on a cul-de-sac in a mobile home park. My front yard was bigger than anyone's, but at that time it was a just a big sandpit with plenty of desert weeds. Still, I was happy as a clam.

The park rules mandated that I landscape the barren lot, and my huge front yard was cursed with the soil typical of the high desert of California, a hostile mixture of clay and sand interspersed with rocks; soil that was so hard I had to add products to soften it and still had to beat my way through. After all, this was the desert.

I had never planted a garden before. I could have gotten by with grass and a few shrubs, but I had always dreamed of a lush garden, and that became my goal. But I didn't really know where to begin, and I had no idea that I was in for a 6 month marathon event, one that would dominate all of my free time and challenge my fortitude to the limit.

I signed up for landscaping classes at the college. I also hired a designer, who drew a plan complete with which plants to use. It had a curved walkway that crossed and divided the front in two, while providing entrance from two places, just like I wanted. It was a beautiful plan, with over 100 plants and trees.

I had to start by leveling the lot. A machine would have completed the task much quicker, but by hand with a flat shovel and rake, it took me about a month. I fought with that soil, and we almost merged into one as day after day I would attack it with all my might, forcing it to become flat and rock-less, nurturing and ready for planting. Neighbors marveled at my diligence or thought I was an idiot, either one. As soon as I got home from work, I would change clothes and start leveling, and I'd work till the sun went down. I am a perfectionist, by the way, so it took even longer. I did this in the heat of the summer, truly putting my sweat into that soil and sometimes blood too. But never tears. I was on a mission.

When I conquered my battle with the soil I tackled the circular walkway (I have to brag about this because she was a beauty), I laid the forms to create the pathway, then laid black plastic, covered it with sand, large stepping stones, and then bark chips surrounding the stones. It was perfect. I had learned the technique at school.

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