| When I moved into my new house I was excited | | | | strawberry plants. Much like the pumpkins they do |
| to finally have a yard of own to landscape | | | | better in dry conditions and have less fruit rot |
| however I saw fit. My front yard was a breeze | | | | when the berries are on softer soil. I planted my |
| to design and things seemed to be going great | | | | garden and added a few marigolds to give the |
| until I turned the corner and saw the condition my | | | | garden an extra little dash of color here and there. |
| back yard was in. There before my eyes I saw a | | | | Over the summer my strawberry plants grew an |
| sloping desert staring back at me with a mean | | | | abundance of big juicy berries that were quickly |
| look on its face challenging me to a duel. I gave it | | | | eaten up by my family. I saved so much money |
| a hard look back and accepted the challenge. | | | | at the fruit stand it was well worth the few |
| I quickly got to work pulling up the clumps of crab | | | | dollars I spent on the strawberry starter plants. |
| grass that were somehow managing to survive in | | | | As fall approached, my pumpkins grew bigger and |
| the dry sloping sand. While I was working on the | | | | bigger and a lot of my neighbors asked if they |
| weeds I remembered helping my aunt tend her | | | | could reserve a pumpkin for their family. When |
| garden when I was a little girl and an idea popped | | | | harvest time came around I had a handful of |
| into my head. Instead of spending tons of money | | | | orders and a big table full of extra pumpkins to |
| and energy fighting my sandy sloping backyard | | | | sell. I made a pretty penny that Halloween and |
| landscape, I decided to make my enemy an ally | | | | had a lot of extra money to buy candy for the |
| and make some money in the process. | | | | trick or treaters. |
| My plan of action was to plant a garden on my | | | | Who would have thought I could find a Garden of |
| sloping sand dune and grow certain types of | | | | Eden on a sloping sandy desert in my backyard. I |
| vegetables that needed a lot of sun and didn't | | | | am very happy. Me and my sloping backyard |
| mind living in sand. My aunt always use to have | | | | landscape have become friends. My family has |
| me put her pumpkin vines on beds of straw to | | | | even given the backyard a name and we all call |
| help keep them dry and reduce flat sides on the | | | | her aunt sandy now. We love the delicious food |
| pumpkins that laid on the hard ground. Another | | | | she provided us with and our neighbors love her |
| plant I remembered helping my aunt with was her | | | | too. |