Reading the opening pages of Jamaica Kincaid's book My Garden (Book): I was inspired to reflect on my own first garden. I don't count my first gardening experiences as taking place in my own garden since they occurred in my mother's garden. We had a small plot next to the house where we managed only to grow green beans and a patch of rhubarb. My first garden is really the one I started when my husband and I purchased our first house.

We purchased the house in March, and once spring really arrived here in New England I came to know that there were no plants in the yard except for a few shrubs in the front of the house. As a novice gardener I promptly went out and purchased what was in bloom at the garden center and planted. I discovered that certain plants only bloom at certain times in the growing season. I had early spring/summer bloomers. By July my blossoms were spent along with my modest budget for plant purchases.

The following year I did a little more research and purchased summer blooming perrenials and annuals. Now I had two seasons covered. Being a weekend gardener I still didn't know the lay of the land or should I say the path of the sun. It wasn't until I became a stay-at-home parent that I could fully come to know my yard. I had bought plants only to discover I had planted them in the wrong places. Some marked "full sun" couldn't handle the "full sun" that I had. They were better suited for partial sun spots. Some "shade" plants needed more sun than I was giving them. So I came to learn one of the most valuable lessons: "Know thy sun."

In my first yard I could not dig a hole without hitting a rock. Life gives you rocks, build rock walls to surround your flower beds. I was pretty proud of those gardens that I created. When we put the house up for sale nine years later on the listing it clearly stated that some of the plantings were going to be leaving with me. Not only did I have to pack all our possessions, I had to dig up and pot my favorite plants to take with me to the new house.

Once Again we purchased the home of a non-gardener. There was nothing but those traditional foundation hiding bushes. I was an artist with a blank canvas. Now eight years later I'm still working on my masterpiece. It truly is a work in progress. The lessons learned in my first garden were applied to the second. Although we only moved one mile away from our old house the land here is totally different. Instead of rocky, loamy soil, I have sand. There are no rocks for building walls and raising beds. Again one must learn to work with what the yard provides you.