Friday, May 13, 2011

Full bloom ahead!

Last week-end I took my pictures then wasted unknown amount of time looking for a good picture of my original flower garden... Finally gave up knowing I had some in my office computer (!) and figured I'd wasted enough time.  So, what I had in mind to write just didn't work any more.  Thought I'd do it on Monday but next thing I know here we are the following Friday and still not updated.  Sigh...

So, dear readers (should any of you exist as of yet) pretend that this was posted last week-end!

Things are really starting to go nuts, garden-wise!

I blinked at the ferns went from 6 to 14 inches!  The rhododendrons are in full bloom (pity it'll only last a week, maybe two if I'm lucky).

 

That red maple is starting to sprout leaves, though they are not yet fully formed...

 

It's been an eye-opening experience for me to really pay attention to how things are coming into their own, so to speak.  I used to take it for granted.  Oh look... the buds are appearing.. oh look, now there are leaves... and so on.  Now, I'm really seeing it all come to life and it's been a great experience!

During this week-end (remember, we're really talking about last week-end!)  I wanted to focus on planning my veggie garden.  I wanted to show you how it looked when I moved into this house with no backyard to speak of, and now I can:

 

Now some people might think this is wonderful.  I, on the other hand, feel absolutely suffocated by all this stuff!  It has taken me almost four years but now I'm ready to yank it out!  Not all of it, just some. (In truth, my hubby will be doing the hard labour so I can't ask him to do it all in one shot!  Last year, I had him remove about four tufts of grasses and it was quite the job.  This year, he'll be removing the left side, but keeping the lovely white roses - gone will be the Black-Eyed Susans, the grasses and the Russian sage that, in my most humble opinion, is just a poor excuse of a plant with its faded lilac "blooms" sticking up from pale boring leaves.... you can see just the tip of them in the top left picture.  Kinda sad, really!  So buh-bye!  In their stead will be lovely tee-pees of cukes, string beans and anything else that will love to climb!  As well, there will be some root veg, I'm thinking.  Still not sure what exactly as I can't see how much space I will inherit!

This is what it looks like now, before the "purge"!



Looking forward to getting in there and ripping out!






Sunday, May 1, 2011

Growth in one week

Considering the amount of rain and the lack of sunshine we received in one week, I'm amazed at just how much everything has grown...

The rhododendrons are truly starting to bloom:




My red maple is really making progress:


Even the ferns are unfurling slowly:


After spending Easter weekend at Mom's and seeing her rhubarb has begun to sprout, I found myself wondering about mine!  Surely if hers has begun to make itself known, mine must be even bigger (we are, after all, a little more south than she is!)  How could I not have even seen it!  Granted, I got carried away with the front garden I forgot to check the backyard... still, my kitchen window does face it.  I just didn't notice it!  I now have all sorts of recipes floating around my head just waiting for said rhubarb to be big enough!  Hurry up, already!


I now find myself on this beautiful Sunday afternoon wanting to plan my official garden.  Hubby is adding new earth to all our various planters and gardens and, once the rains that we are expected to receive all next week have passed, out come the grasses that suffocate me to make even more room for edible plants.

For the first time in my life, I actually want to plan, prepare, organise my garden and actually get things like onions and peas and other cold hardy plant in the garden BEFORE all the other stuff that usually goes in come Victoria Day week-end.  And THIS time, we ARE going to Marché Jean-Talon as well as our local garden centres to find the best plants to plant.