Proactive Spring Gardening

Early spring is when I like to take action against weeds with some really serious pro-active weeding. The damp soil makes it much easier to pull the sprouting weed seedling effortlessly.  We have 2 garden beds along the patio, and they are both done now and ready for the season.  This is the Japanese weeping maple garden on the south-east end of the patio:

';And this is the new one on the south-west side.

 We managed to also get the garden patch just inside the driveway gate done as well.  Nothing like a little mulch to make things look happy.  Four more bedding areas to go, plus the 2 window planters.  Our goal is to have it all complete this year before the May long weekend.  I think we'll make it with a week to spare at least.

Spring Patio Cleaning

Nothing like a sunny April day to get you motivated to get out the patio furniture and clean clean clean!!  Nothing like "30" Seconds - a great green slime, mold and pollen remover spray.  Just spray, wait 30 seconds and hose down and voila- it's all clean again and ready for another season.  Three patio tables, 7 chairs and the BBQ - all done and sparkly clean.  We usually get this done in May, but we have had such a mild winter and early spring that we are way ahead of ourselves.  Woo-hoo!!

Another Garden Project

We have a garden of sorts on the west side of the patio.  For 7 years I have tried to figure out what I want this garden to be, and each year I dig things up and move things around and am never happy.  This year, I thought lattice and vines might work so Chris constructed the lattice for me. I started to paint it the colour of the house, which looked dreadful as you can see below. 

I repainted it and am much happier with the colour now.  The plan is to hang bead curtains on the archway between the lattice and the house to create another room entrance.

 Today we worked on the bed together -- with Chris adding landscape ties on either side to close it in, and me doing more plantings and covering the soil with mulch to keep the weeds down.   We now have an evergreen clematis and plain clematis starting their climb up the lattice.  I've picked butterfly / bee attracting plants and am clustering them  to create an English country garden look.

Gypsy, as you can see below, has found her new favorite spot in this garden which she thinks has been built just for her.

 I've also added a birdbath and a few statues.  Another couple of days and I think it might be done.

Backyard Birding!!

Two little feeders hang in a Japanese maple out front, and are hosts to a pair of nut hatches nesting in a bird house on our wisteria arbor.  Occasionally a  junko will stop by, but nothing bigger can access the feeder.

When working in the garden, it is great therapy to be in the middle of these delicate little birds.  Always mindful not to startle them, it makes me slow down and often just stop what I am doing, relax  my breathing, and watch them feed.

But then of course we have the monster bird from across the way - Harry the Heron - who likes to sit on our cedar tree in the front and taunt Jake before flying around the back to visit the pond for breakfast.  I caught this photo early this morning when I heard Jake barking non-stop.

Easter Bird

The perfect little centrepiece!
I found this bird vase at my favorite little shop on Bowen:   Belle O'chio.   Picked a few flowers from the garden and voila!   The perfect Easter  decoration!