I had been thinking about how to landscape around the side door which faces the old driveway. There is an entranceway and two roses which I had planted on April 22, 2010, a Climbing Pinata on the left and a Climbing Joseph's Coat on the right. I attached a trellis to each entranceway post for the roses.

I was considering just putting down weed blocking cloth with red mulch on top, and then just set potted plants on the mulch. So, on May 8, 2010, my wife and I headed for Lowe's to buy the weed blocking cloth.

On the way into Lowe's, we stopped at the how-to books and found one called "All New Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew. I had heard of square foot gardening before. Our back yard is mostly shady, and I haven't had much luck with a garden back there. The only part of the yard (besides the front yard) that gets a lot of sun is the side yard next to our old driveway. The soil is poor because of sand, construction debris, etc., so a raised bed would be the only way to grow a garden there. I read the book and decided to try out square foot gardening.