Garden Diary - June 30

Well, I missed my chance to photograph the peonies - they bloomed beautifully right after my last post, and then several torrential downpours in quick succession shredded all the petals off. Next year I plan to relocate the peony bush, as the roses grew up in front and almost completely blocked them from view. I had no idea the roses would be so vigorous - I haven't pampered them at all. And even though I'm not too fond of roses, I have to admit they're quite beautiful - a very rich red.

All the mulching is complete in the front, all of the seedlings I've planted have grown well (recent additions in the past two weeks: coral bell, decorative green clover, hens & chicks, bachelor's buttons, blue perennial sage), and I've planted a number of seeds for perennial herbs (chives, tarragon, sweet marjoram, lavendar) and annual flowers (nasturtiums, california poppies). I also transplanted a miniature rose that was getting lost behind the backyard forsythia.

I'm experimenting with putting a few pieces of the leftover wood from the retaining wall in the ground - not really deep enough to hold back any dirt, but I like the contrast between the geometric and organic shapes. The clematis is in full bloom and is amazing. I wish I had a place to plant clematis on the other side of the porch - it makes such a beautiful curtain of flowers as I go through the door.

I've finished some pruning in front - the forsythia needed another trim, as it was starting to sprout up as tall as the house. The front hedge got a full trim. And the purple-leaf sandcherry has been thoroughly pruned for what looks like the first time in years - I took out a number of dead and tangled branches, and have reshaped it so that it's more tree-like, and stands out above the fairly tall perennials around it. The white daisies look like they're almost about to bloom, and there are some tall spikes of a mystery plant with tiny mauve flowers. The yellow evening primroses are a bit lost in this bed of tall plants - either they should be moved elsewhere, or I should break up this bed with some more variety of plant height.

In the back we've been battling earwigs on the kale, although we've still been able to enjoy eating it (a recent omelette had kale, arugula, sage and chives from the garden) - a plan to trap the earwigs is in development. Some animal stole my one, beautiful, almost-ripe strawberry and then abandoned it largely uneaten in the middle of the lawn, so I've taken a photo of the others to enjoy, in case they're stolen too. I've had a few raspberries to eat so far, and the gooseberries continue to ripen. The beans are all climbing up past their trellises (which I've expanded with more fishing line), and the tomatoes, squash and zucchini are starting to tumble out of their planter.

I've mulched over all of the dirt and sod that I trucked back from the front yard - it forms a raised bed along the back of the yard. I plan to re-plant a number of vegetable seeds that didn't make it before (only the arugula and nasturtiums came up) - this time they'll be at the appropriate depth in their own little starter pots with lots of compost, instead of lost in the mulch, and hopefully they'll do well as fall vegetables.

The clematis in the back looks fabulous too - I should actually get a bigger trellis for it next year, as it looks a bit cramped as a densely carpeted square of flowers and leaves. I've also had a small mystery bush blooming next to the shed - white flowers with a very strong, sweet scent.

The sweet peas and morning glories that I planted in the one tiny patch of dirt along the side fence have sprouted up - it's a tough place to grow, but they seem to be doing fine. I may fill up the rest of my containers and group them in that area, as it's rather a long, boring stretch of mismatched concrete and garbage/recycling storage.

It seems like the big heavy work (digging beds, leveling and transporting dirt, eliminating sod) is finally done - now I get to fine tune the placement of plants, work at maintaining their growth, and enjoy the fruits of my labour!

Garden Diary - June 16

There's been lots of change in the front yard, which is very exciting!

Immediately after my last post, the peony bloomed (a paler pink than I had been expecting). And it looked beautiful. Until the multiple torrential rainstorms of this past weekend, which tore off all of the petals. There are still some unopened buds, so hopefully I'll still have a chance to photograph it. Although it's gradually being swamped by the rampant mint, and the looming rosebush (which is also starting to bloom now). I think next year the peony will need to be moved to a better location.

The clematis in front looks ready to bloom any day now, and has happily climbed up the fishing line all the way to the porch overhand. The clematis in back had one flower open over the weekend, and several more opening this morning; I'd forgotten that it is a beautiful deep burgundy colour.

The biggest change has been the (near) completion of the terracing around the retaining wall. I already had about a quarter of it mulched and planted, but the rest needed alot of sod dug out and dirt leveled (and toted to the backyard, pail by pail). My plan for the terracing was put to the test this weekend with the incredible amount of rain, which pointed out a few problem areas (I could see mulch lifting up and floating away by the minute). A few rocks in strategic spots seem to have helped divert the flow. I also finished putting in the path of stepping stones. There's just a small section left to be mulched, and then I'll plant seeds for some annuals (like nasturtium) and perennials (herbs, sedum); hopefully it won't be too late to be getting these plants started. I also have two daylilies to plant, and may transplant some herbs from the back yard.

In the back, the mystery bush by my shed is blooming with lovely white flowers. The pile of sod and dirt from the front yard is piled in a row along the back; I plan to level it down and mulch to create a bed. I've been stealing mulch from the back to use for the front, as I wasn't able to buy any more bags of the brand I'd been using, and I don't want a colour mismatch. So the beds in back will get re-covered in the new mulch as soon as possible. Some of the seeds I planted in May have come up (the nasturtiums, beans, Indian spinach, zucchini, squash, and sweet peas), but there is no sign of the others; I'll probably give them another try, since many of them should do well as fall vegetables. The tomato and kale seedlings have also done well, although one kale plant got chomped, and still really only has one leaf. The sage bush is blooming, with lovely (and edible) mauve flowers.

Garden Diary - June 1

This was a very productive week in the garden!

In the front, I have been working on mulching over and defining the edges of the new beds. Mark and I have toted multiple loads of dirt and sod to the back of the back yard in an effort to get all the remnants from the old hill leveled out. I've got about a quarter of it done - I'll need to get more mulch before I'm able to complete the rest. I'm making a pathway through the beds with stepping stones (courtesy of Nadia and Phil's extra patio stones). And I've put in two plants so far: the blueberry bush and maidenhair decorative grass which I bought last weekend.

I also bought some more plants this weekend, which I will hopefully get into the ground soon: a gold-coloured creeping sedum, woolly thyme, purple sage, golden oregano, purple-veined sorrel, a deep purple Sweet William, a burgundy-coloured daylilly, two strawberry plants, and seeds for a purple-coloured sedum. Since so many of the existing perennials in the front have green foliage, I'm aiming new plants with other colours of foliage. And I'm also aiming for drought resistance, and spreading groundcover.

I've untangled and created a trellis for the clematis that will allow it to grow up to the porch roof. The peonies are getting close to blooming, and I can see now that they will be a bright pink. I've also thinned out the forsythia, which was starting to look like a giant green blob now that its flowers are gone.

In the back, I've cut down a smallish tree (I'm not sure what kind it is, but I've found shoots of it all over the place, growing like weeds) - I actually had to get out a handsaw for it, as the trunk was almost an inch and a half in diameter. It was crowded up against the purpleleaf sandcherry, which has quite a pronounced forward lean, so hopefully this will help it straighten out. I've propped it up with a wrought-iron plant hanger, and tried to prune it to encourage more bushiness (I think it's been putting out branches that are too long in an effort to reach more sunshine).

I've untangled the clematis in the back, and tied it up more to the trellis. The lilies-of-the-valley are in full bloom now, and the rhubarb continues to grow. I haven't lost any plants yet from the ones I transplanted earlier this spring, even though there was a bit of a scare with a possible frost warning one evening. I have put some copper mesh wire around the bases of any of the plants that I think the slugs will want to eat; hopefully this will deter them.

Some of the seeds we planted have started to come up: beans (scarlet runner and purple pole beans), zucchini and squash. And the tomatoes have been moved to a sunnier location, after Herculean efforts by Mark - the large concrete tub they were planted in weighed a ton, and had a drain from the bottom that prevented it from being dragged across the lawn. But, with my genius idea to use round rocks from the front garden as ball bearings, we were able to roll it over to rest between the two bamboo teepee beds. I don't think it will ever move again - if the tomatoes don't like it, they'll just have to get dug up to move elsewhere.