Monday, May 20, 2013

Victoria Day Weekend of Gardening

I have had a very productive weekend of gardening!  I was so happy to finally have gotten started on the backyard gardens, and we had the most beautiful weekend to do that :)

I started off earlier in the week in an effort to move my composting box from one side of the yard to the other.  Over the past few years, our lilac bush was swallowing up the back corner of the yard and the compost was no longer in full sun, but full shade, and it was taking a long time for the yard waste I threw in there to compost.  I didn't take any 'before' pictures, but under the lilac was the compost box, long uncut grass, a huge pile of dirt in front of the compost (from my son's pond expansion last summer), and masses of weeds growing happily on top of the dirt pile!

Here's the corner and the lilac now (the yard is full of the scent of this beautiful lilac!)

 
And underneath the lilac, my lovely remade corner garden ... this is where all the mess was.  But I dug out all the dirt, weeds and even emptied the compost box (no mean feat!) so that the ground was all nice and level again.
 
 
I emptied six (!) bags of "bark nuggets" all around the lilac ...
 
 
I replanted the hostas (which grow like weeds in my somewhat shady gardens), and transplanted some young ferns into the back corner, and then tossed the rocks I dug up into a little pile, and tossed a log in for good measure.  I love ferns.  Where I grew up there were ferns growing wild in the woods below our house alongside the creek.  They were as tall as your shoulders and smelled so wonderful.  And the dappled sunlight from the trees down by the creek was so pretty on all those ferns ... magical! 
 
I took away as many ferns from my mom's house as I could manage, and last year my son and I created a fern garden in his pond area.  This is how it looks this year ...
 
 
We're both glad that the ferns like this spot and are doing so well.  They've sprouted up all sorts of tiny fronds, and it was from here that I had extras to transplant in the back corner.  The stepping stones were some that I gave my parents over the years, and then brought back to my house.  This small area was fixed up last year by my son and I.  It's just beside our patio and quite shady.  Nothing really grew well under the bush (which none of us know the name of, but the flowers stink, so we have referred to it always as the "Stinky Bush"), so we lay bark nuggets down in this area and lined the edge with rocks we'd collected over the summer.
 
This is my son's pond, which he drained of stagnant water today and will now clean the liner, fill with clean water and two shebunkin fish (all that the great blue heron left last year), and get the pump running again.  He's had a pond for about five years now, this is the second pond (just larger than the first), and he added a waterfall last year too.  My son recently had a birthday, so we bought what I'm sure every 15-year old would love ... a wooden garden bench :)  He was very happy with it and laid some leftover stones down for the bench to sit on ... it completes his pond garden very nicely.
 
 
My husband very kindly set in the black edging all around the back garden and alongside the lilac bush.  As you can see I need to repair some bald spots in the yard, but I have a plan for that too. 
 
 
A small ring of found rocks I placed around our pine tree.  I tidied up this little area too, raking all the pine needles off the lawn and back under the tree.
 
 
My sleepy helper ...
 
 
My bleeding hearts, which grow as well as the hostas.  Can you believe that I transplanted these bleeding hearts just last summer, and look how huge they are this spring!  This garden got tidied up as well, with the edge along the grass sharpened and weeds pulled.
 
 
The iris from my mom ... and I'm happy to say that there are quite a few buds amongst those green leaves!  This garden gets hidden by our pool in the summertime, but right now it's looking pretty good.  Can't wait for the iris to bloom ... maybe this week or next!
 
 
And this is where I moved the compost box ... into full sun again.  It doesn't look like much here, but the amount of work that went into digging the compost out of the box was a lot of work, and I had to spread it around all the gardens one shovel-full at a time.   Even the box was set deep into the ground (as you can tell from the dirt marks around the bottom), and it took a fair bit of work to get it dislodged again.
 
 
Now all that dirt that you see surrounding the box, and the 2x4s leaning against the fence used to be where we had one massive pile of firewood.  I had to first move two stacks of firewood from against the fence before I could put the compost box here.  It took forever, but now the wood is stacked here ...
 
 
and I've listed it on Kijiji for free to the first person who wants it.  I have blisters on my hands from moving all this wood.  My son helped me move the last of it this morning, but it was only about one-quarter of the entire stack.  I was so tired of these wood piles looking awful in the backyard and they were attracting wasps and who knows what else.  In fact I even found a tiny black bat hidden under the top logs having a snooze yesterday.  It startled me at first because I thought it was a mouse, but when I saw how slowly it was moving I realized it had wings!!  Cool!  I removed the rest of the logs very carefully after that. 
 
So after three days of intensive gardening, I'm exhausted and ready for a well-deserved cup of tea.  Here's a couple of photos of the entire backyard (using my fancy 'panoramic' photo feature).  First looking towards the house from the back fence (leftover edging there, and the weedy circle on the right is where our pool will be, also why there is a fence running through the middle of our yard) ...
 

And then looking towards the back fence from the house ...
 
 
I hope you all had a wonderful Victoria Day Weekend ... not long now before we'll hear the explosion of fireworks in the neighbourhood!!
 
Happy Victoria Day to my fellow Canadians,
and thanks so much for stopping by!
 
Wendy
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

24 comments:

  1. WENDY!!! Wow you were busy! Busy good for sure! I love the fern garden! It is so pretty! And the back corner you created is fantastic! How awesome that your son has a part in the gardening as well! His pond and bench are just perfect! I hope I can instill a love for gardening in my son too! Your garden is beautiful! Great job friend!!!

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    1. Thanks so much Nicole :) I feel a great sense of accomplishment this morning. My son's pond garden needs some attention this year, and I'll post about that another time.

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  2. OMG........i love ur garden like anything....i love those flowers, the backyard,pond, plants......mind following me back?in Canada does everyone have a backyard?a backyard this big............?

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    1. Thank you Meghana! The backyards here all vary in size (as I'm sure they do in every country). The newer homes have smaller yards than mine.

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  3. Holy batman, were you busy this weekend! And oh how I love before and after photos!!!!! I am amazed at what you have accomplished! I love that your son has created his own space and his pond is so beautiful! What an articulate and thoughtful young man he is! I really like your lilac bush too ~ what a treasure!! I am hoping my hostas will grow like weeds in my north flower border. I love them! I'll probably add some ferns too! Can't wait to see more of your garden!

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    1. Thanks Stacy (sorry I didn't take the before shot!) My son has plans for his area, but I sometimes sneak in there and sort out the plants a bit for him when they become overgrown. I'm sure your hostas will do great on the north side. Ferns like triple mix, rich soil and I water mine well when it gets hot.

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  4. You have a beautiful garden and you have been so busy!, I wish we had the weather for gardening my poor garden looks like a bog at the moment we have had so much rain :)

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    1. Thanks Linda, yes I worked hard at it this weekend! Once the weather turns nice I hate to be indoors. It rained overnight here, which is probably a good thing as my house now needs some attention indoors. I'll send you some of our sunshine shall I?

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  5. You have done lots of gardening Wendy! This weekend weather was ideal for all out door activities. Oh! the lilac tree is so pretty !

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    1. Yes, I got a lot accomplished and quite pleased with myself ;) I hope you enjoyed the gorgeous weather this weekend too! For once the clouds came in on the work day.

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  6. Wendy what a beautiful garden it all looks lovely ... you have been a busy bee. I love the lilac I can almost smell it ... we had a lilac tree in the garden of the house I grew up in and every year I would be sent to school with armfuls of blooms for the May Queen parade. For some reason Mom would never cut it to bring into the house, some superstition or other no doubt but it was ok to take for May Day at school ... such sweet memories Sarah x

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    1. We sometimes bring the lilacs inside, but they don't last more than a day, so I'd rather they live longer on the bush. You English have so many superstitions for so many plants! I've never heard of one here. Your classroom must've smelled wonderful on May Day ... something we never celebrate here, which I think is a real shame.

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  7. Wow Wendy, what a busy bee you've been ... Your garden looks amazing and so tidy! I tidied my borders and added bark chips and looked great ntil chucks escaped and scraped it all out and it went everywhere ... grrr!

    Glad you've had such a productive weekend ... now yo deserve a rest!

    Love Claire xxx

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    1. I used to have a terrier that dug up EVERYthing, including the plants! I know how frustrating that can be ... thankfully Cody is not a digging dog. Bark chips do wonders for a make-over don't they? Have a great week Claire ;)

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  8. What a lovely tour of your garden and I'm quite envious of your growing hostas - the slugs & snails always seem to get the better of mine!
    Sounds like you had a very busy but productive weekend,
    happy Tuesday,
    xx

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed the tour Gilly. I find the occasional snail, but not many. I have more trouble with earwigs eating flower heads (and a certain rabbit family living under the shed!). Enjoy your week!

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  9. You have been busy, Wendy, and what a great job you did :) Your garden looks so tidy and well attended. I love the lilac bush and the fern garden! Also the pond area is lovely, your son is doing a good job with it, and that wooden bench looks like a wonderful place to sit.
    Thanks for the tour around your beautiful garden :)

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    1. Thank you for all these nice compliments Hilde :) I spend lots of time on the gardens now that my kids are older. I still have to sort out the front garden, but although I keep looking at it, I can't decide what to do there ... that might be next weekend's project! Enjoy the rest of the week.

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  10. What a workout you've had - never mind a cup of tea I think you deserve a large glass of wine! What a useful son you have there - it must be lovely having someone to share the enthusiasm with. I did a similar day in our (much smaller) back garden on Sunday and can't stop looking at it out of the window (although I've still got to tackle some bald spots as well!) Gardening's great! Jane x

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    1. I agree, tea just made me more awake, and I needed something to wind down ;) It is nice to have someone share the gardening. We like to plan things together, and he has some great ideas. I too keep looking out my bedroom window onto the fern garden (so nice in the morning sunshine!). Enjoy your gardening Jane :)

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  11. Hi Wendy everything is so beautiful

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  12. Your garden looks great - love the fern and hosta garden. I have a new shade garden that was planted last year using some ferns, hostas and astilbe. It's filling in nicely.

    Thanks for visiting my little blog project and leaving such a nice comment.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Heather. I've been thinking of adding a bit more to the shady areas, so thanks for the tip on astilbe ;)

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Thanks so much for leaving a comment, it's nice to know when you've stopped by! :)

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