Before the rain moved in, I set about a job I was not looking forward to but was desperate needed. An expansion of the front garden. While I never really have a problem with bigger gardens, the work getting there is the hard part, as it involves removing sod.

And I hate removing sod…. but I sucked it up and set to it. I started by marking out where I would expand to with some spray paint.

The idea was to more or less line the edge of the garden up with the bottom of the front porch stairs… but as you can see, I have trouble painting a straight line. Still it was close enough so I got on my knees and got to work…

It took ages, but finally I had it done! Then came the fun part. The reason for the expansion was to give some of the plants already in the front garden some breathing room. Many, like the bleeding hearts, needed more space to truly shine. So I got to digging and moving things around.

It was almost 9 pm by the time I finally stopped.

I still have to put some annuals in there, and then mulch both the old and the new areas so it once again looks like one cohesive garden. But the rain moved in and I haven’t been able to back out there to finish yet.

And I will still need to split a few of the plants I didn’t move up – mostly irises, so I’ll have to wait until they are done blooming.

I can’t wait to take pics of this later in the season to show you all how it’s filled in.

Just a little ginger King, surveying his kingdom

You may now line up, single file to declare your undying devotion and allegiance…

Yesterday dawned chilly and rainy so it was my sign to take a break from the garden. I considered starting a new quilting project, but Burton decided we needed to tackle a small projects I’ve been meaning to get around to for ages.

That fabric he’s sitting on…

I bought it back in 2023 with intentions to make new curtains for the studio window. The ones I had came down when we had the new windows put in (July 2023), and the old rod got tossed. I decided I needed new ones, and bought the fabric… but I didn’t have a new curtain rod, so the fabric got tossed in the stash and more or less forgotten about. But Dave and I were out on Tuesday other day, picking out a rod for the dining room window and I remembered my studio window was still in need too.

I don’t make fancy curtains, so they really didn’t take too long.

They do look quite perfect framing my little sewing space.

And here’s a closer look at all those industrious gnomes…

You’ll notice that it’s not just sewing, but there’s a little cross-stitch and knitting going on there too! It couldn’t be more perfect for our studio!

The holiday Monday saw Dave and I attempting to put out all our garden ornaments. We’ve amassed quite a collection of things over the years. This year saw a several new things….all from our thrifting adventures.

I don’t remember where we got these two neat plant holders, other than it was as two separate thrift stores, a few weeks apart. I think they are meant to hold several small pots, but I decided to try something a little different. I lined the compartment with some doubled hessian, and packed it tightly with soil. I planted some strawberries in them, so we’ll see how they do.

I’m happy to announce that Gertie had made her debut on the porch.

She’s still a naked goose, but I’ll change that just as soon as I can. I’ll probably start with something simple like a nice summer bonnet.

And Susannah looks just as beautiful in place as I imagined her. She is now the star of the driveway garden.

She’s sitting over the impenetrable roots of the Euonymus that use live there. I pulled it out early this year with the hopes of replacing it with another shrub. However, the roots were so thick there was no way we were getting them out without a stump grinder. Thankfully, we’d already found Susannah, and Dave was working on her restoration. I knew she’d be just the thing to cover the area.

I planted her up with some Bacopa to trail over the edges, and a big beautiful Gaura. It’s a new plant for me – one I’ve never heard of though apparently they are native to southern North America. They are also known as Beeblossom, – it’s those beautiful pink floral stems waving back and forth. It should bloom all summer. It’s a tender perennial, so it’s hard to say if it will make it through the winter… but it was so darn pretty, I think it was worth the risk. It’s like it was made for Susannah – just like she was made for that spot!

I’m afraid I can’t blame Lemmy for the lack of progress on block 15 this time. That’s right… it’s still not done.

I did work on it both Saturday AND Sunday, but all I managed to complete was the satin stitch flowers on the right-hand side. I may work on it throughout this week – just to get it done. But there’s still lots to be done in the gardens so…

This weekend has not been as productive as I’d hoped. I did get a few things done here and there, but thanks to a husband who always seemed to have some errand or other to run that couldn’t possibly been done without me, it wasn’t nearly everything I planned.

I did get a little revenge though – because I worked some of this into our errands.

But more on that another day. One of the things I did accomplish was getting my vegetable garden planted up. I planted several types of seeds – peas, beans, baby pumpkins, cucumbers, gourds and zucchini.

And I decided it was time to get my tomatoes out of their snail.

Many of you know the struggles I’ve had with starting tomatoes from seed (I’ve yet to be successful), so you can imagine how pleased I am with these seedlings. Now really, I probably should have put these in individual small pots to grow them on a bit more, but I decided to just throw caution to the wind.

I took the five strongest seedlings and put them directly into the Tomato Tire. It’s really too many tomatoes for the space, so I’ll pull at least three as soon as I see which ones are the strongest.

The rest I out in a large pot, just as a little insurance policy.

Also ready to plant out from its seed snail were the Sugar Baby Watermelon seedlings.

I got four good little seedlings just like this one. They are now firmly planted under the squash ladder which will serve as their trellis for the year.

And where are the squash you ask?

They got moved to one quadrant of the squash tunnel. I didn’t actually plant these little guys. They popped up in the soil where I had the squashes last year – a small one must have rotted away there. But I decided not to waste them as they were lookin pretty good. Hopefully I can win the battle against the squash beetles this year and actually get a squash or two I can eat.

Elsewhere…

I’ve got wee potato sprouts. This year, I’m experimenting a little with the potatoes. Instead of buying “seed potatoes” like I’ve done previously, I just took some small potatoes from my pantry. I put them in a dish on the window sill and let them sprout a little, and planted them in the ground. So far so good!

And the spinach and lettuce are doing beautifully. I’ve been leaving the top off the bed, and I think we may just harvest some of that spinach in the middle to add to our salad one night this week.

It will be nice to have a little treat from the garden so soon…. everything else is going to have to wait a while

It’s the official start to the gardening season here. While I (and most serious gardeners) started weeks ago – for people who just put in some bedding plants, or do up pots on their patios, or plant veg – now it considered the “safe-from-frost” date. So the long weekend is the biggest weekend for garden centres. I always think it’s a little funny because the garden is mostly just green this time of year.

The spring bulbs are pretty much done now.

These Poets Daffodils are always the last to bloom .They are also my favoute. They are mid-sized daffodil with a very short trumpet. I think they are just charming.

With the bulbs done, the summer perennials are filling in the spaces, though many are yet to bloom. There are a few exceptions.

One of the great in-betweeners is the iris. These dark purple dwarf variety are almost done.

But these two beauties are just getting started. I have many more colours to come too.

These little Spanish Thrift are blooming their hearts out on the driveway garden. The driveway garden is very dry and full of rocks, so these little alpines thrive there. So much so that I’ve just bought four more to add to the space (more on that another day)

Also in the driveway garden is this beautiful creeping Veronica. It blooms a couple times a year and it’s always a delight when it does.

Over in the Woodland Garden we have a little colour from the Leopard’s Bane and Lily-of-the-Valley. I moved the Lily-of-the-Valley there last year and it’s absolutely loving it. I found more in the original spot and moved it this spring so next years show should be even better.

This little Verbascum was planted last year so I was thrilled to see it come back. This one is out front, but I have a couple more out back. They don’t bloom for very long but they wonderful when they do.

The White Bleeding Heart is doing nicely.

As is the red.

Both of these could benefit from slightly better placement – which I’m hoping to make happen this week – I want to moderately expand a couple of the gardens.

We will also have an Allium explosion coming soon. This one is the first, but there are many, many more to follow!

And soon we will have Peonies!!!! Big beautiful Peonies!!!!

As many of you already know, Native species world wide are in decline, but one of the ways we can help is by incorporating native plants into our gardens and yards.

Now… I will never have a pure native garden… there are just too many non-natives and hybrids that I love too much to ever give up, but I do have quite a few native plants worked in here and there.

This time of year is when the woodland natives really shine.

Like the woodland poppy. She’s actually almost done for the season, putting out the last of her big bold flowers. But you can also see her seed-pods which are really good at spreading about once they dry and crack open.

I have two decent size clumps of our Native Geranium. I think she’s so pretty. The one on the left is a little older and more robust. The shooting range I belong to is set in a little woodland area and it has lots of these coming up along the paths this time of year. It’s nice to see them growing wild and in my garden.

My Ostrich fern came back beautifully. And part of me is tempted to rip out all my hostas in the woodland garden and replace them with native ferns. I honestly don’t know why I didn’t consider ferns when I started the garden. I like them so much more! The hostas are well established and can stay I guess… but I think I will add a few more ferns.

Last year, Mom brought me some Jack-in-the-Pulpit she dug up from her garden. It was actually from a plant I “liberated” from the wild a couple decades ago. I wasn’t sure how well it would take to being transplanted, but it’s come back beautifully. That funky little pitcher will only get cooler looking as the days go on, then it transforms into a gorgeous red-orange seed head.

And I was very excited to see these return. They are trilliums. Unlike Jack, I played by the rules and got them legally from a Garden centre. I bought two or three last year, and I didn’t think they made it through the winter. But all of a sudden, boom – there they were the other day. I don’t know if they will bloom or not. They can take anywhere from 5-9 years to do so, I and don’t know how old they were when I bought them. But I am just thrilled they are coming up.

And last -these are my native Columbine. They are small but boy do they back a punch .Just a sea of firey red when in bloom!

I of course, have many other natives: Coneflowers, Tickseed, Sneezeweed, Rudbeckia and more… but they are more grassland plants and shine later in the season.

There’s so much more to look forward to.

We’re all still adjusting to the abscence of Relic. It gets a little easier every day. I think the one feeling it most is this one.

While he HATED Relic when we first took him in, Rupert eventually got really attached to Relic. He often had to be wherever Relic was and followed him around the house. Now, he spends most of the day in the bedroom, really only coming down after dinner to spend some time in the catio. He’s always a little grumpy, but he seems a little more so right now. I’ve been trying to give him a little extra loving when I can.

We picked Relic up from the vet on Wednesday. Several more tears were shed.

The cremation company no longer offered the little stone-like urns that we have for the other cats, so Dave picked out this lovely carved box instead. I think it’s very suitable for our garden cat.

When we came home, Dave put him up on top of the antique treadle sewing machine, along with a sympathy bouquet send by wonderful friends, and one I picked from the garden.

Right below the machine was one of Relic’s favourite sleeping spots, so it’s a fitting place for our boy.

I really should be farther along on this sock. I should be finished it to be honest… but I haven’t picked it up since before the weekend.

But… it’s prime gardening season! Any chance I have to be outside and in the dirt I am. And since the sun is going down later and later each day, there’s just not much time left for knitting.

These don’t have a deadline though. And I’m on vacation as of 5 pm tomorrow…