Since June 1, Dave and I have been home owners for a full five years! (And boy have those five years blown by). Last week, we raced into London one afternoon to sign some papers at the bank. We refinanced our mortgage, wrapping in some high-interest debt to free up some cash so we can finally get to renovating the inside of the house. On the agenda for this year is my office and his workout room – they are the two rooms that need the least amount of work/are the smallest, so we figure they are a good place to start. But before we do… I wanted to finish up a little outside project.

When you last saw the catio… it looked like this…

I’d redone the largest open area of the paths with rock instead of mulch. I’d planned to get a load of rocks each week until it was done… but of course, I found other things that required the $$ more urgently. (See note above on high-interest debt). So… the rest of the paths have been sitting there, looking like crap and driving me crazy. I wanted the project DONE.

So Saturday morning, Dave and I got up bright and early, and headed into Sarnia to Home Depot. We got another load of rocks (20 bags), I bought him breakfast to say thank you for loading them all onto the cart and into the jeep, and we headed home. He set to work mowing the lawn, while I unload the jeep and went back to work on the paths. Those 20 bags got me this far…

They filled in a good portion of the left side path. But there was still the big area at the end – and the right-side path with entry way to do. So… Dave and I headed back to Sarnia and got another (and the store’s LAST) 20 bags. Then we headed to Rona+ to see what they had for rocks because I knew 20 bags wasn’t going to do it. They didn’t have anything that matched. So we headed to Strathroy to check in with Home Hardware – they too had nothing that matched.

So, I took Dave to lunch at our favourite Greek place (he LOVES their souvlaki) and while we ate, I checked stock in other Home Depots in the area. Chatham was out. Windsor had some but it a two-hour drive.

London has not one, but THREE Home Depots. We hate London. Not the city itself – it’s a very pretty city (know as the Forest City because there are many, many beautiful parks), but the traffic. London is a city that has EXPLODED in population in the last few years, and unfortunately many of the current roads weren’t designed for the level of traffic it has. It’s almost as bad as driving in Toronto. (Which most of us did for many, many years). But… the London Home Depot closest to us (a 50 min drive) had over 80 bags. Sadly, if I wanted to finish the project this weekend, it was our only option.

We finished our lunch (delicious as always), and headed home. Dave went in the house to tinker on something, and I started slinging rocks again.

Those 20 bags filled in almost all of the end. I did some quick calculations and figured another 25 bags would finish the project off. It was 5 pm. I wanted the project done. So… we got in the car and headed to London. How bad could traffic be in London around 6 pm on a Saturday…?

Not terrible actually – but the parking lot at Home Depot was another story. After dodging cars, we made it into the garden centre, loaded a cart with 30 bags (five extra, just to be safe), and headed home. By 7 pm, I was slinging rocks again and by 8 pm…

… it was done! And I couldn’t be happier.

In the end, I needed 24 bags to finish it off. So I used the extra six bags to shore up a few spots that were on the thinner side.

Before it got dark, I let the boys out to have a look.

They seem to like it.

I came out Sunday morning to find Rupert sprawled across the rocky path in the shade – but he got up before I could get a pic. I think they like it almost as much as I do (though Lemmy’s probably a little miffed he can’t poop in it like he did with the mulch).

I absolutely love how it looks. The space is so much cleaner, brighter and tidier. And I don’t have the cats tracking mulch in the house every five minutes. And best of all – I don’t have to do this again next year! There’s no topping up like there is with the mulch.

I honestly wish we had the money to do the paths in between the raised beds (they are mulch too)…. but I really do need to go spend some money on the inside of the house…

C’est la vie. Maybe next year. But I’ll make sure to get enough rock at one time!

Salad does not get any fresher than this!

And there’s so much more where it came from! Whatever else happens in the garden this season, I am thrilled that I finally had success with lettuce and spinach this year. A pile of that spinach is going to be picked and cooked up to go with some steak and baked potatoes tonight.

And speaking of potatoes….

We have potato sprouts in the laundry basket! And that’s not the only one – there are several! This little experiment may just get results!

And over in the garlic/shallot bed…

… we’ve also got potatoes! Last year, this was the bed I planted potatoes in… and it looks like I missed one when harvesting.

And speaking of those shallots.

My shallots are trying to bloom! I’ve never had this happen before, but apparently it can happen because of wild temperature shifts – which we have had. I do need to go cut them off, because I’ll get small shallots if I don’t.

The bean and peas are taking off beautifully!

The tomatoes are taking their time but they are doing well. I’ll pull a couple of those soon, but I want to make sure that one in the middle is as strong as possible before I do.

In the end, I got three Mini Mike Melon seedlings to take – and they are just getting their true leave now. The heat had descended so these should really start to take off soon.

I hope the same will happen for the two carrot beds. I feel like they are taking their sweet time, but I’m trying to remind myself I feel like that every year… then all of sudden I have tonnes of carrots.

My cucamelon seedlings were not strong enough. They died off about a week after planting them out.

Happily, one of the local nurseries had some young plants in much better condition, so there will be cucamelons down the line.

And last…

Last week, I threw a pile of zinnia and cosmos seeds in one of the raised beds (the ones I tried to grow foxgloves in). They came up pretty quickly, but the squirrels just LOVE digging in the bed… as you can see!

And lets not talk about what Furby does!

The June garden usually kicks off with roses, but the cooler spring means we aren’t quite there yet. We’ve got lots of buds, but no actual blooms yet.

The Peonies, however, are putting on a good show.

Foxglove are starting to bloom! These are among my favourite garden plants!

I’m happy to report the red and white poppies are still coming up.

Here they are with all their offspring. Aren’t they glorious? I wish they lasted longer – but they will be done in another week or so.

Just as spectacular is my Scottish Broom. It gets these firey little pea-like flowers. Such a neat plant.

Also pea-like is my false indigo. It is somewhat of a native…. it’s actually native a little south of here, but is now considered naturalized in Ontario.

This Fleabane is what some would call a weed. I certainly didn’t plant it, but it’s more than welcome to pop up in most places in my garden, as long as it’s not blocking something shorter.

I got some cushions for my catio bistro set…

And almost every morning, I go out and find this little ginger curled up on one of them.

From the looks of it, I should have got a darker colour to hide those dirty paw prints.

While I love the simple act of gardening (you’d have to to build as big a garden as I have), the thing I love most is getting as close as possible to an amazing number of critters I share the space with.

About 70% of those critters are toads! I am constantly disturbing toads as I garden. Many will not agree with me, but I think they are absolutely adorable! Just look at his little toes!

While we don’t have a pond (yet), there are several around us (plus a river which runs by the town), as such, Dragonflies and Damselflies are regular visitors.

This yellow guy was HUGE! They are almost always very calm too – making it very easy to get pictures of them.

I’ve seen quite a few butterflies already (including a Red Admiral, a Monarch, a Common Skipper and a Sulphur) but I haven’t been able to get picture of any of them. But this guy wasn’t going anywhere

It’s a Unicorn Caterpillar moth and it was having a little rest on the screen of the kitchen door. It doesn’t show in the picture, but at the right angle, it has a little bit of blue/green iridescence.

There’s the usual cast of characters when it comes to birds…

But the real excitement is coming from this little guy.

He’s a Northern House Wren.

He’s been busy buildin a nest inside the little thrifted bird house I found last year.

He also sings while he works, and he’s been doing his darndest to attract a mate. I hope he finds one. I love hearing him singing his heart out in the yard.

Not quite so melodic are the juvenile starlings…

They are big enough to fly… but they are still following Mom around, demanding food. And boy can these guys SCREAM!

I’ve been watching them come to the feeder multiple times a day, and Mom is still doling out snacks. I bet she’s counting the day until they fly off on thier own.

As ever, the Orioles remain elusive.

I can hear them often, but this has been the best pic I’ve been able to get so far

And last… no garden friend post wouldn’t be complete without at least one pic of these guys…

Peanut service is still suspended at Squirrelington’s, but it’s expected to resume soon. And word is, the restaurant got a little upgrade.

I hope they approve of the china pattern!

I think I mentioned a few weeks back that I was expanding my collection of native plants. Back in early spring, I put an order in with Ontario Native Plants and at the end of my vacation week, they finally arrived.

I wanted some more plants for the woodland garden, particularly for the bed up against the house. It’s very dry, sandy loam there. And it only gets sun in the late afternoon. Definitely a challenge.

I chose six plants:

New Jersey Tea.

Left is my little fledgling New Jersey Tea shrub, Right is what it will become. I chose it, not only because it thrives in dry conditions, but also because it’s the host plant for the mottled duskywing butterfly, which is considered endangered here in Ontario.

Obviously my little sticks have a long way to go to becoming a shrub, but I’m confident it will get there.

Another plant I chose was a Heart Leaved Aster.

I already have two native asters (Smooth Aster and New England Aster), but this one grows in the shade! And it has pretty heart-shaped leaves. As you can see, I have two gnomes overseeing this one while it grows.

The next plant I put in was Narrow-leaved Vervain.

It’s only a little plant – so it’s also guarded by gnomes. And look at those pretty little flowers. This one is vital to the Common Buckeye butterfly. I’ve seen one in the garden just once before but I’d love to have it be a regular visitor.

The last plant I put in was Spotted Bee Balm

I didn’t take a picture of the plant (which isn’t in bloom yet) so this is what it will look like eventually. I have two other native bee balm (as well as some hybrids) in the garden but this one is so unique. It’s also the host plant for the Karner Blue butterfly – another endangered butterfly, similar to the Spring and Summer Azures I’ve had in the garden.

Out front, I’ve planted Heath Aster.

It’s in the driveway garden behind Susannah Swan. It should provide a nice pop of flowers right into winter.

And the last plant I ordered was the Michigan Lily.

Mine won’t bloom for a couple years… but won’t it be so pretty when it does?

That was it for that order… but you know I didn’t stop there. I wanted to expand the small garden on the outside of the fence. This is where my native geranium and woodland poppy live. (There’s also a hydrangea).

It doesn’t look like much right now…. but in there I’ve added a native blue lobelia and a native columbine

The Lobelia wil bloom later this year, and the Columbine is just finishing it’s bloom season.

I also added a non-native fern, and a hosta to the area, but this post isn’t about them.

Last….

It looks like my Jack-in-the-Pulpit is VERY happy in its woodland garden home. Look at all those little seedlings coming up!

This past weekend was absolutely perfect, weatherwise, so I spent almost every minute of it out in the garden. That means, with the exception of today, I’ve got nothing but garden posts for you this week.

I didn’t get in the sewing studio. I didn’t knit a stitch. I didn’t paint anything. However, once it got too dark to be in the garden, I did come in and stitch.

As a result, I got a good amount of work done, stitching out the ribbons that curl and loop gracefully from the the back of the fairy. I’m really pleased with how well the purples work with the rest of the colours.

I am however, going to rip out that one small section of light purple on the bottom left part of the ribbon end.

The shade I chose is much too pale and doesn’t flow well with the other shades. Happily, I discovered it before I’d filled in too much of that colour!

The other day, I posted on facebook – a picture of a new (well, thrifted) fairy that Dave had painted and put on the fence for me.

These pics….

And a cousin, who lives across the province said… “Now you need some gnomes!”

Well dear cousin… have I got news for you!!!

So just for her, I went around the garden and took pics of all the gnomes and fairies I have in the gardens. I thought you all might like to see them too!

Let’s start with the fairies. The one on the fence above is laser cut metal. It was solid black but I had Dave spray paint it with silver glitter paint. The gate is in the woodland garden and always in shade, so she pops nicely.

This one I’ve had since we moved her. I bought her from the local hardware store – she was orignally rustic rust coloured, and I painted her with green glitter spray paint. But she needed to be re-painted the year so we did her silver to match the other fairy. She’s now hanging from my swinging bench.

I bought this spinner this year – she now hangs from the arbour at the entrance to the woodland garden

But the woodland garden isn’t just home to fairies…

Quite a few gnomes that live there too

I have a whole collection of these verdigris style fairies. The ones with the globes (which are solar lights) sit on concrete stones around the veg beds. The last one on the swing, is swinging above the strawberries right now – though she moves around each year.

Also in the veg beds

The gnomes have moved into their little mushroom homes.

Though their happy little village could be under threat from Furbzilla!

We picked this laser cut gnome on our travels to the cottage a couple years ago. This year he’s guarding one of the raised beds.

But the gnomes aren’t just outside.

And there’s more to come….

All of the ones above are awaiting a new paint job, and homes around the house and garden!

It’s still to early to grade my seedy efforts, but I think its fair to say, at the very least, the salad greens are a resounding success!

The first salad will be enjoyed this weekend!

The beans has popped up and are growning quickly. The peas are much the same, despite Furby’s “help”

I’ve harvested a few radishes. I don’t eat them, but Dave says they “taste like radishes” so that’s a success. There’s lots more coming. Some will probably end up in that salad.

I’m trying a new thing with the potatoes… growing them in a laundry basket. There are three layers, separated by straw. The greens are supposed to grow out the sides. Having put it all together, I’m not totally convinced by it. But time will tell.

The sunflowers, and other sprouts are all looking good. The sunflowers, at least will probably go out into the yard soon.

May is drawing to a close, but the garden is really getting started. Something new blooms pretty much every day.

Regular readers will recall that these particular poppies weren’t planted. In this spot, I planted a solid red, and a solid white. But poppies are promiscuous, and they cross bred, and this is their offspring. I really can’t complain. I’m curious to see if there are any solid red or white left. Time will tell.

Because of the Iris Borer Moth, it’s been a pretty poor showing for the recovering irises. This one was completely unaffected however and it’s just stunning.

Happily, my Shaker’s Prayer Siberian Irises are not susceptible to the moth. I split it up into several different spots last year and they all seem very happy about it. Each bloom only lasts a couple of days, but boy are they gorgeous when they do.

The chives are very floriferous and the bees are loving it.

And I’ve got a variety of alliums coming up almost everywhere else. They are mostly out front, but I do need to split them up so they will probably spread to the backyard this year.

I have a couple Verbascum in the garden and I would like more. This little magenta one is always the first to bloom.

All my Widows Tears are blooming. they will bloom on and off all summer long. The dark purple also need to be split up so it will probably make it’s way to the backyard too.

I’ve got this lovely little Alpine Aster at the front of the sidewalk garden. It doesn’t last long, but it’s a little bit of cheer while it’s around.

The Lupin are in full bloom. Sadly, it’s just my purple ones. My pink one disappeared. I bought a new red one this year, and I hope it is actually red. Several years back, I bought white, and got more purple! I’d love to have them in every colour.

My purple lilac has finished blooming but the pink one (Tinkerbell) is in full glory. And oh does it smell wonderful.

I have several ornamental sages, but I think this pink one may be my favourite.

And this little Geum is absolutely blooming its heart out. I absolutely love it. I bought it last year – it was on the pricier side. If it wasn’t, I’d buy several more. When it’s done blooming, I may just see if I can split it up a bit.

And of course, there’s so much more to come. What’s blooming in your garden?