We finally got some decent weather this weekend, and I spent most of the weekend looking like this…

What was I doing that got me so dirty? Digging.. digging, and digging some more.

Well, actually, first I got some mulch down on all the non-planted areas of Edible Alley (and Willow Grove tucked away behind it.)

Then I got out my shovel and removed all the turf in a nice little border all the way around.

And then I topped them up with some nice black earth. We have really nice sandy loam here, so the black earth is really just a bonus for the plants.

Those new borders will be planted up with a whole pile of perennials. I won’t say just what yet, because I’m really not sure myself. I have two boxes of bare-root plants sitting in the house, and another two on the way. Plus… all the garden centres have opened, and I may have snagged a new plant or two when I was getting mulch and soil.

I also took advantage of the nice weather to paint up a could of things. First was the old raised bed I had the strawberries in. (Next weekend, it and all the other raised beds, will get filled with soil.) Second was the old wooden ladder I’d gotten last year at a garage sale. I’m going to experiment with growing squash vertically, and it’s going to serve as my trellis.

And as if all that wasn’t enough, I also removed the turf for a new bed out front.

I had to remove at least some of the lawn to plant the climbing rose I have for the trellis. And I thought, why not just made a bed the whole length of the walkway to balance the driveway garden on the other side? I wanted to make it just as wide as the driveway garden, but to be perfectly honest… I just couldn’t dig any more! That’s okay, it can be expanded next year.

Like the back, it got topped up with some nice black earth too. My climbing roses will be here this week, and you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be planting them right away!