I have been enjoying the garden everyday and particularly my walks around to see what might be breaking through the ground or blooming…
the poppies continue to tease me in their slow process of blooming… each morning I check them out to see if any of them have opened, but not just yet, lol…
the vegetable garden is doing well… peas, beans and a few cucumbers have poked their heads through the soil and are keeping the three tomatoes company;-)…
I have also taken to weeding, which is rather new for me…
I have cleaned up a number of spots in the side garden and am excited to see the painted fern has come back and multiplied…
the wild columbine has popped up in about three spots and I am watching them carefully to ensure they don’t get pulled…
great wander around the garden before the rain a few days ago…
excited to discover the milkweed is growing in the ground and in the planter where it did very well last year…
it appears that one of the dahlias may be poking through the soil…
and most exciting of all, the Monarch Dark Dynasty Butterfly Bush has new growth on it… this is huge as I’ve tried to overwinter them before without success…
right now only one of the pair shows any signs of buds, although that one came outside earlier than the other… fingers crossed…
headed outside this morning and cleaned the glass table-top… I swept the decks, moved furniture around, found cushions and blankets and brought the plants out of the garage…
then I had a sit down by the pond;-)…
got coffee, pistachios, and almonds ready for my BS group… our first in-person gathering since the fall…
everyone arrived with various delicious treats and we had a wonderful visit…
we went from sunny… to cloudy… to windy… and back to sunny… a few times… birds flitted about and jackets came on and off as required, lol…
just after everyone had gone, and the space was back to normal, it started to spit…
spent a delightful hour with Hilda the Gardener a few days ago…
we discussed our plans about what will go where in the garden as well as some options for variety this year… even just talking about how the garden might look is energizing…
she brought me shoots from her spider plant which I have now put in water and set on the rooting ledge, lol…
and we set a date to go plant shopping together… not sure if this is a good thing or a very bad thing🤪… her vehicle has lots of room in it…
spent time in the garden on Monday, even though the temperature was cool…
found the trellis pieces and the connectors for my planters and put them up… was worried for a few minutes because those connectors did seem to be hiding… my neighbour was out and helped me fasten them to the chain link fence so they won’t blow over…
added a bit more soil to each of the nine pots and then planted three of them with peas… apparently they like the cold to get started…
brought out the purchases from last week so they could get a bit of sun and set an alarm to remind me to put them back into the garage before bed…
and then yesterday I found popsicle sticks and made tags so that I can remember what got planted where, lol…
I walked to the Park today… first time in I don’t know how long… at least a year, and maybe longer than that…
took a bit of self-talk to get out the door… I am certainly feeling braver on the whole with being around other people, but I haven’t walked any distance for a long time…
so happy that I did it… the streets were clear of water… thank goodness… and there were very few people on the sidewalks and paths…
walking through the forest in the Park always brings me joy… and they have new signs with wonderful quotes along the way…
the trail has been renamed Story Trail and is part of the Indigenous Youth Storytelling Program… what a great idea… the trail has obviously been cleaned up and there was even a hut made with fallen branches… I am hoping that it might be covered with leaves as the summer progresses…
going through the English and Leo Mol Gardens was a bit disappointing, although really, considering the weather, what was I expecting, lol… the gardeners were everywhere raking and cleaning up the spaces, but there were very few blooming things… I saw one tree, a few daffodils and maybe a berginia in a few different locations…
the great news was that it was basically empty so I had ample time to stop and look whenever I wanted…
there were many geese and I did spot a few goslings, which was delightful…
I was a bit tired by the time I made it back to the house, so I had a nap…
although it wasn’t very warm I went out and worked in the garden for an hour or so…
most of that time was spent weaving the Virginia creeper into the lattice along the garage and removing bits that were in the wrong places… it will be interesting to see if this makes any difference to how it looks throughout the summer as I’ve not done this before…
mixed up eggshells and some leaves with the soil that we picked up the other day although I didn’t put it into any planters yet…
moved a floating basket from one pond to the other and added a tiny piece of floating water lily to anchor it… no idea if it will grow in this, but will watch and see…
the sun was out for a portion of the time… I still needed a light jacket, but sure enjoyed being outside;-)…
herbiggirlpants 