My favorite part of gardening and growing food is, of course, the harvest!

But in at a close second is planning! Winter is the perfect time to dream of gardens and come up with plans for future plantings. Seed catalogs start arriving and they are all the spark that is needed to warm the heart on a cold winter’s day.

I have been dreaming today and planning my future “secret garden”. 

I read The Secret Garden as a child and it truly captured my imagination. My lifelong obsession with walled gardens was nurtured by the beautiful courtyards and walled properties that were common in the area of Mexico where I grew up.

So, I have plans for converting one small section of my yard into my own secluded space. I won’t be building any stone walls, unfortunately, but I plan to create a living fence made of fruit trees and shrubs that will enclose the space that currently has fence on two of the four sides. 

I hope to have it completed in a few years. This year, my focus will be on planting the living fence. The fence will include a variety of espaliered citrus trees interspersed with apple, pear and pomegranate (a mix of evergreen and deciduous). 

The space already includes a well-established loquat in one corner and several blueberry bushes along the existing fence. Along the fences there is also a well-established ground covering of oregano and mint.

The finished garden will have a paving stone path, a swing, a multitude of kitchen and medicinal herbs, strawberries, blackberry vine (but not the wild ones that are growing there now), a climbing rose and no grass!

I hope to be able to fill the area with ground-covering plants and possibly a checkerboard area with paving stones and plants. I already know that oregano and mint do well here (perhaps too well), and I hope to have some small patches of strawberries. But I’m still searching for some other good ground covers. I’ve read that thyme is great, but it never seems to last more than a season for me.

If anyone has any experience with a good ground cover, preferably one that is edible or has a medicinal purpose, that does well in our Southeast Georgia climate - I would love to hear about it!

The goal is to have fruit trees that will bloom and produce fruit at different times, so that it will always be a space that is full of beautiful aromas and tasty things to snack on! During the winter, I love to dream of the finished space and imagine myself sitting on the swing enjoying some fresh picked loquats while engulfed in the scent of orange blossoms! 

While I’m dreaming of this future space, I’m confronted with its current reality. It could be easy to get discouraged. But one thing at a time. One day at a time. One plant at a time. I’ll get there eventually! 

But for today, the dream lives on!

What are your garden dreams?