Pretty impressive, eh?

Yesterday’s blog about the transformation of the diningroom window into a hummingbird haven, prompted me to think it was probably time for the semi-annual “compare and contrast” posting.

I may not (and let’s face it, never will) be successfully growing and harvesting enough fruit and veg to feed myself year round, but, dang, the garden sure does look pretty these days.

This photo was taken yesterday.

This is where we began in May 2010. Pretty fucking impressive contrast, eh?

So, how did we get from this sad photo to the one above it?

Considering where I started in May 2010, I was quite pleased that three months later the garden looked like this. Please note the ceanothus (planted for its bee-friendliness to replace the dead rhododendron marking Jenny’s grave) in the bottom left corner.

I don’t seem to have taken a comparison photo in 2011. It was a bad year for the blog. Not much better for the garden. Hardly surprising, under the circumstances. The photo above was taken in April 2012 – first year I attempted to fertilise (semi) proper beds.

 

By the time this photo was taken in May 2013, I had (thanks to Krys and Glenn) a proper raised bed with fresh top soil. It was a good year for peas, beets, tomatoes, courgettes, squash and strawberries.

 

Alas, I don’t seem to have taken a comparison photo in 2014. Closest thing is this one of the prayer flags I put up confound and confuse Bambo after his garden invasion, but you can at least see there is now a second raised bed, thanks to the wonderful Cec Ashley.

By June 2015, the garden swing (best garden news of that year for both Stella and me) was added. Now let's see that first photo again.

Once again I say (along with giving thanks for the friends who’ve helped), pretty fucking impressive, eh? Oh, and FYI, remember that ceanothus I said to note?

This is what it looks like now.

Back in the back forty

Time today for a bit more housekeeping. In the house, you ask? No. Never mind the bloody house. No, back in the “back forty” (ha, ha).

I really should have taken a photo a month ago when the daffs were in full bloom all over the back. (One flowering thing bloody Bambo won’t eat.) It looked fabulous. Now it’s time to trim them all back.

One thing, now that I’m looking properly, is growing (and growing) increasingly clear: the weeds didn’t get (or perhaps did not read) the memo. This is a rock garden, featuring heather and lavender. No other vegetation need apply.

Well, except ferns. We like ferns. Wherever they wish to pop up they are very welcome.

As for the rest, they’ve got to go. So I start weeding.

What, I hear you ask, does the broom have to do with anything? It is actually playing quite an important role. It is allowing me to sweep away the bloody pine needles (which, moistened over winter and adhering together like mud, are encouraging weeds to spring up apparently out of nowhere).

Two hours later, much better. There’s still a considerable amount to do back here, but I think it’s time to kick Stella off the zero gravity chair, make a cup of tea and read the paper.

For now, job done.

Outside the back door

It may have taken me until a couple of days ago to get around to the first entry of garden blog 2016, but things have been going on in the garden – and outdoors – for some time.

For example, first al fresco breakfast was on April Fool’s Day. (Thought, what with the date and all, it might have been a bit mean to post this at the time, when friends back east were under two feet of snow.)

 

The kitchen door herb garden is coming back well. Well, almost.

Took this photo this morning. Had I taken a photo on April 1st, I would have made the following comment about the pot on the left of the top row: “Surprised to see parsley I don’t even remember planting growing in this pot.” As you can see, there is now nothing in this pot. Turns out, as I’ve obviously forgotten, that while Bambo will generally leave herbs alone, he does make some exceptions and one of these is parsley. Bastard.

As followers may remember, I got up one morning last July to discover that Stella’s favourite chair had apparently been attacked overnight by a raccoon.

Yikes!

As much as I do love the garden swing, where Stella and I spent a good deal of last summer, I did also love that zero-gravity chair. Take advantage of a trip through Nanaimo to purchase a new one. Five minutes after I put it up…

It may or may not be obvious from the photo, but Stella really is giving me an “it’s about bloody time” look.

Coming soon: News from the actual garden. Seriously.

Do fence me in

Yes, yes, I know. Everyone has been wondering (all five of you) when the hell I was going to get the gardening blog going again. Well, here it is: the starter entry for 2016. 

First disappointment of the year is the discovery, when Irmani and I return to Gabriola from wanky Whistler, that the bamboo fence I erected last year to protect the wisteria from deer has collapsed in a wind storm. Crawl around the back to see if there is anything I can do about this. The answer is no. Not a chance. This requires Mr Fixit.

I ring Cec, explain my problem. He comes round to have a look. Bless him, he does not look at the fence, look at me and say, “What a stupid way to try to make a fence.” What he does say (and what I’ve already figured out) is that the only way this thing I have optimistically been referring to as a fence can actually be a fence is by hammering in at least two more fence posts at the back.

I go to Arbutus, purchase fence posts.

This morning Cec comes back with his scaffold, sledge hammer and a bag of plastic ties. We set to work. An hour later, not only is the fence repaired, but it is standing up a damn sight straighter than it was when I erected it last summer.

It is no longer likely that a slight breeze (or wisteria seeking Bambo) could knock it over again.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, I am not a complete mug, so I pick up a third fence post at Arbutus. I figure, if a very kind and helpful man with a sledge hammer is coming around to hammer in fence posts, I might was well get another post on the side of the garden where the wire is leaning so far forward (or back, depending on how I position it) a half way intelligent deer could actually probably step over it.

It may not be immediately obvious from this photo, but, yes, that is a new fence post in the middle.

What should be immediately obvious is that this bed has been dug over – and fertilised – and is now ready for peas and other seed. (In case you’re wondering, the rolled up chicken wire is an attempt to discourage Stella and Roxy from using the freshly dug earth as a giant litter box.)

More anon. No, really.