Holding Pattern

The garden is on hold until the weather warms up a bit. We were almost there until snow flurries and high winds messed it up, so we wait.
See that neat stack of pavers? A kind lady gave them to me via Kijiji, keeping intact my title of world class scavenger/recycler.
I await a warm day to start laying the pavers, or to be truthful, to find a willing son or grandson to lay them.
My plan is to eventually eradicate every blade of grass.
I don't use pesticides so the removal of the lawn will be a welcome thing, and I'm sure the neighbors will be pleased.


For amusement, I watch the silly geese honking their return to the neighborhood.
Oh have you guys been away? And you chose to return. Pity.
Face it people, geese don't have a lot going for them. Try skidding through the park once they've been visiting.
Nasty.
Yep, it's time for the warm weather.

A Simple But somehow Complicated Fish Pond

I figured I could handle installing and caring for a little fish pond since hey, I raised six kids and we all survived, and that had to be harder.

You buy the plastic form, find a willing person to dig in into place, fill'er up and toss in the fish. right?

Well, yes, but that's the easy part.

I found my willing digger and the form went in. Come to think of it, that was the last time I ever clearly saw the bottom.

I found the fish at the pet store, stored in a tank in a back room for 29 cents each. Dear mother in heaven, what could they possibly be sold for besides residing in a pond? Anyway I broke the bank and bought six.

They settled in nicely and grew to three and four times their original size and I was so proud.

Then I got the idea that it would look good, in fact brilliant, to pile rocks upon rocks around the pond and then I could play with the idea of waterfalls here and there.

I scouted nearby building sites and loaded the car several times over with heavy but promising rocks, brought them home, unloaded then one at a time from the car parked in front, carted them along the goat path to the back deck, up two steps, way down to the end, down two steps, drop the rock and go back for the next. You get the idea, this was a labor of love.

And here it is, ready to face its first winter, looking beautiful. Look at those waterfalls, two of them.

Once I got some advice from pond people about over-wintering the fish, we did well right up to the moment the snow melted and the ice pushed and shoved every rock out of place, mostly right into the pond. It wasn't a pretty sight.


It took a while to pull away the debris and shovel out the mudslides.

Now I am so much sadder and wiser and the stones are arranged with a view to keeping them securely in place and you can forget those waterfalls--you want to see that then hike to Niagara Falls. They have plenty and god knows the rocks fall into the water there also.

I had almost learned my lesson but Attic boy is here and he did one more little thing for me.

I had lugged home an eighty-pound mirror from Habitat for Humanity and he managed to install it over the pond on top of an existing mirror without lasting damage to the fish, the pond or our relationship.

Rock on Attic boy and on to the next brilliant idea.

Estherwilliams Is Back

It's the kind of day that reminds you not to store away the winter woolies just yet.

Despite that I quick-stepped outside to give the fish a brief visit and there she was, sweet Estherwilliams, our resident frog from last year.

Here she is last year at her peak and wearing her summer coat.



And here she is today, still in her winter wear.



Welcome back, Esther. We missed you.

Spring Has Sprung

We are at that stage of melting snow revealing lots of dirt and debris and we couldn't be happier.

I am delighted to report that none of the pond fish turned into orange popsicles over the winter.
They are frisky and happy and soon their quarters will get a spring cleaning, once I figure out how to do that.



Max also got his spring cleaning. He was a walking fur mat so Chris, the patient groomer came to the house and gave him a Mohawk of sorts.



The back yard is squishy at the moment but soon I'll be reunited with the garden.

I love spring.

The Boys of Summer

The water is murky but take a look at that big guy. He was smaller than his companions when he moved in a year ago.



This is the last of the hold-outs; they're all tucking in for the winter and I'm collecting seed pods to start indoors in the spring.

I say Tomawtos

I get my best ideas at three in the morning.

This morning I'd spring out in the garden bright and early and just tear out those overgrown tomato bushes, the ones still bowed down with unripe fruit. Then, and here's the thinking part, I'd take those unruly branches down the basement and hang them upside down from the rafters.

That way, I had read, the fruit will ripen and you don't waste a thing. Yes I do know about green tomato relish. forgetaboudit.

Anyway, by the time the sun came up and I was actually out there, it didn't seem as good an idea. In fact, it was one of the worst. The damned roots were enormous and unwilling to budge and the branches were seriously clinging to the cages.

A quick phone call and my sweet daughter-in law Miss Lorrie agreed to take whatever I could wrestle free and she'll ripen them in paper bags and then make salsa.

Now that's a plan.

This is most of the heap after they had been wrenched from their home.



This is where they'd been, tucked between three kinds of peppers, basil and one fennel.I was curious to see what the latter would grow up to be and as far as I can tell, it never did.



This is what I culled from under the bushes. Out of sight there's another huge pail full picked from the branches.



The good news is that once the tomatoes were planted in the spring the bunnies stayed away from the garden. The bad news is that this little wretch appeared the minute the harvest was complete.

Building a Bigger Berm

I'll admit the berm looked more like a pimple, a blemish when it first emerged in May. One might even be cruel enough to suggest I was too lazy to toss garden detritus into the composters and it just landed in this heap.

But no, cruel ones, I have a plan. I'm just not entirely sure yet what it is.



Every time I dig out more lawn and that happens as often as I can pry the shovel into the sun-baked ground I add more to the berm, tossing the new stuff upside down on the pile and it breaks down into good soil amazingly fast.

Here it is two months later.



Right now it's growing zucchini, watermelon, canteloupe, a pumpkin, and a whirligig, one of each. They are obviously happy growing here and I'm taking names of anyone wanting some zucchini. Please..



This will give me lots of time to figure out what I want it to become in its next incarnation.

Speaking of the esoteric, and suddenly we are, Buddha is patiently watching over the whole shebang and he's doing a fine job.

Come On Julius--I know You're Out There.

Julius my resident frog just upped and disappeared overnight, the same way he appeared in the first place.

He wasn't noted for doing special tricks and I never heard so much as a twangy croak from him but he had charm and he was loved.



It's hard to tell what's going on here since I played around with the picture, but the china frog on the right is waiting patiently for his pal to reappear. Look closely and you'll spot Julius on the left.

I like to think he left home to find a wife and will return with family in tow.

Recently I visited a garden nursery teeming with croaking frogs; lovely noisy frogs but each one was lacking that certain Julius quality.



Come back Julius. You've missed your curfew.

Behold: a Waterfall

I had a perfectly fine pond and at last count two goldfish frolicked happily at home there.



Was that enough? apparently not because I began dreaming about waterfalls, tiny tinkling little bursts of water making musical sounds while flowing into the pond.

I confided this to my pal the Empress

She sighed ever so gently, gathered up her child and they came along to my favorite stash, a vacant lot scattered with yummy rocks. We hefted all the car could manage without tilting back on its haunches.



After the unloading process that we hope will soon fade from memory, I was allowed to sit on the deck steps ready to fetch and carry, while the Empress did some masterful re-arranging.

There was one glitch and she had to dis-assemble when we discovered that the strongest pump would only attach to the hose where the smallest waterfall was to be, but finally everything was in order.



The only flaw in this beautiful Eden is that every bird in the neighborhood thinks it's the perfect place to take a bath and I'm not sure the fish are happy about this.

The Empress hopes this will keep me happy and unwilling to plan bigger and better for a while.

The Path To Somewhere

This path is making so much progress that it's no longer referred to by its former name, The Path To Nowhere.



I've been planning this microcosm of a yard bit by bit and this is where it began. That enormous dish was removed by the previous owner.



My son Steve came to visit last year and before he had a chance to cry, "Hey, I'm a guest here", he had installed the fish pond.



Then Mike and Lorrie were invited to lunch recently.I want it on record that I gave them a nice lunch and a few minutes to start the digestive process before I handed them the shovels.



A lot of digging and eighteen bags of gravel later and we have this lovely path.

Right now the path ends at the berm, another unfinished project and currently sheltering some leggy vines. I mean, where else does one plant Zucchini and watermelon?

I'm giving my hapless loved ones a rest before I tell them where the path is leading, but don't you hear it crying out, "Lead me to a Japanese Tea House?"

Oh sure you do.

My Miniature Walden

When the roses were at their blowzy best the lawn was carpeted with petals. What do you think? Is there a business here supplying rose petals to wedding parties? Would Thoreau have stooped to such a base thought? I think not.



Lately the young mourning doves have been camping out here, along with bunny. Bob the Goose is the perfect garden pet--he doesn't eat or, er, anything else.



The Delphiniums are excelling this season.



My garden pal and I did a garden tour on the weekend and this garden tucked away in the woods thrilled us. My goal is to achieve this out-of-this-world look.

The Roses Are Front and Center

These rose bushes were the only sign of garden life when I moved here; each branch making its own bouquet.


No one had ever thought to prune them and I feel like George of the Jungle when I hack away at them in the spring.



The windows on the back fence do a fine job. This is the pay-off, right now when they are blooming their little hearts out.



Just don't mention the word, "dead heading" to me.

A Bad Day At the Pond

The good news is that the missing fish were deep down in the pond.

The bad news is that now some of them are dead.

Overnight,one of the improperly fastened hoses fell out of place and water drained out onto the lawn, leaving only a small pool at the bottom of the pond where several frightened fish thrashed about.



The pond was quickly re-filled and at the end of the day, two of the big boys had died as well as two of the tiny new ones.

This morning the survivors are looking active.



I thought my guilt-ridden days would disappear once the kids grew up and left home and here I am, fretting about my negligence to the fish.

Where have All The Critters Gone?

It's been a tense time around here lately. At the pond, the fish and Julius the frog have been out of sight and I worried that a predator had carried them away.

Reading up on similar problems online reassure me that they are there, just hiding out because they have either been frightened or it's too hot for them to come near the surface.

We've had several dramatic thunder and lighning storm recently so I'll bank on that for their disappearance.

I did get a couple of quick-as-a-flash orange sightings yesterday so I have hope.



All the other magnolias in town have bloomed and faded but mine are coming out one at a time and stay a couple of days. The poor tree was moved three times at the last place; I simply couldn't find a spot it liked. I brought it with me on this move and it's now settling in and beginning to thrive. Next year it might even bloom on time, just like its cousins.

The Bluebells are starting to bloom and reflect nicely in the mirror along with the masses of roses in the background.



Meanwhile, Hippo stands guard against any nightime marauders.

Don't Rain On My Garden Parade

7:15 AM. The weather report calls for showers off and on through the day. I jetison my tea mug and race outside to see what can be done in the garden before the damp invasion.

7:22AM. My daughter is coming over at ten to finish enlarging a garden bed. Hah! I think; I'll just continue where she left off yesterday and won't she be surprised.

7:24 AM. I can't believe the shovel didn't bend in two, or that my wrist doesn't require medical intervention. That earth is a mixture of cement and Crazy Glue. Nothing budged. I guess I won't call off the Duchess. Also made a mental note to stay on her good side.

I did get a couple of bags of Cow Poo (yes, that is its name) in place and then it was time to tour the back forty. This can be done in three minutes so I will forego the time checks.

First stop: a good morning to Julius who is trying to blend in with the other critters and he does quite well.Personally I think he's got a crush on one of the phoney folk.
The Hosta was a baby I brought from the old place almost two years ago. It's a happy camper.
One forget-me-not stowed away with other plants brought along on the move and now the entire garden is ablaze with blue. Fortunately I love it since it would take too much energy to send it packing.







Now it's mid afternoon and still not a drop of rain but the garden work is done.