A white-collar mom gave up a high salary to return to the countryside and build a garden, and the whole village was stunned

Image author: Yin Lanmo

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At first, Yin Lanmo was also very hesitant about whether to give up the job she had worked so long for, live apart from her husband, and return to the countryside to live with her child and the elders. After she voiced her concerns, Lanmo's husband immediately expressed his support, telling her to do what she wanted to do and fulfill their shared garden dream.

With her husband's help, both sets of parents came to understand her. After some twists and turns, she decided to take up gardening, which could both satisfy her garden dream and give her a career.

The first problem to solve in building the garden was land. The plot connected to Lanmo's yard belonged to her uncle. At first she worried that her uncle would not agree to let her use it, but unexpectedly, after hearing her plan, he immediately agreed.

When the garden had just begun to be built, her father-in-law, who supported her the most, sadly passed away in a car accident. She once considered whether to give up and stop building, but later her husband said that his father would surely want to see the garden completed. So Lanmo carried this belief and continued along the garden path.

The open land had long been abandoned, and the terrain was uneven. To level the ground, the several-hundred-sq-m yard used a full 18 truckloads of soil.

Lanmo is not a professional, and with such a large space she had no idea where to start. Fortunately, her younger brother ran around helping and assisted with designing the drawings.

After the drawings were finished, the construction of the garden officially began. The first thing built was the most difficult part of the garden, the pond. At first, geotextile membrane was used as the base, with stones laid over the surface.

Later, the geotextile membrane ruptured and caused leakage, so the pond had to be torn open and rebuilt. To prevent leaks in the future, the bottom of the pond was changed to concrete.

To make the pond more beautiful, she also built a small wooden bridge over it.

Worried that the garden's soil would be washed by rain onto the road, she decided to make a roadbed. To avoid involving an illegal structure, the roadbed did not use cement; it was made entirely of river cobbles and granite.

The courtyard wall did not use a traditional wooden fence, but instead adopted a more Zen-style bamboo fence.

The courtyard was very large, and making a full ring of bamboo fence would basically require thousands of bamboo segments. Although buying bamboo segments online was convenient, it was also quite an expense. When Lanmo's father heard about this, he said there was bamboo in the hometown and that he would take care of this problem.

Although Lanmo repeatedly told her father not to go cut it himself, her father said he was not at ease when others did the work, and the bamboo others cut would definitely not be as good-looking and evenly shaped as what he selected.

The surface of the bamboo had a thick layer of grime. To make the fence easier to paint later, she decided to wash it all. The workload was so great that her mother, mother-in-law, and elderly grandmother all joined in to help.

During the construction of the bamboo fence, she also endured a lot of criticism. Villagers who did not understand kept accusing her of "having nothing better to do after eating her fill" and "messing around for no reason"... But with her family's comfort and help, the bamboo fence was still successfully completed!

Building the plastic flower greenhouse for the gardening display also took a lot of effort. She negotiated with the seller for several months before finalizing the building materials. During construction, the workers she hired kept complaining that the building difficulty was too great, the materials were too poor, and so on.

Fortunately, the flower greenhouse was still successfully built. In the winter of 2016, Lanmo's garden had already taken basic shape.

The garden path continues. After finishing the pond, bamboo fence, and greenhouse, she began slowly adding flowers and plants to the yard.

Hollow bricks were planted with flowers and plants and assembled into garden scenery.

Bricks were smashed and combined with green grass to create ground patterns.

The open space beside the flower greenhouse was paved with large stones and planted with green grass to make a garden path.

The flower greenhouse and the garden were connected by a bluestone slab path.

After a round of design and filling in, the garden began to have color.

In the spring of 2017, the garden welcomed its first spring.

After that, she continued to add many flowers and plants to the garden one after another. By this year, the garden has already shown its most beautiful appearance. Surely those narrow-minded people who mocked her back then must feel ashamed now!

From 2016 to 2018, with her family's support, Yin Lanmo spent two years realizing her original garden dream, and even more, created a beautiful kingdom of flowers and plants for her daughter, adding a lot of fun to her childhood.

Of course, behind all this beauty, there must also be the support of a model husband, because only with a husband who cares for the family, is hardworking, and can earn money can a woman who loves flowers pursue planting the flowers she likes without hesitation!