Fencing the Yard

Since we moved in 5 months ago, I have been desperately wanting a fence. I look at all the neighbouring houses with nice secured yards, flower beds growing through the pickets, and dogs happily jumping within them. Our yard has been varying shades of terrible.

When we moved in, the yard hadn't been mowed in months. There were bright yellow weeds a foot tall (still can't get rid of them!). Then we had to redig the drain tile, so we had a giant muddy ditch. Now I've moved the stone pathway so that it is centred on the lot, put some new turf down, and added garden beds. I missed the fall bulb planting because we were too preoccupied with reno's, so when there was a mild week last month I put them in - hundreds of irises, crocus, daffodil and parrot tulips. It should be quite the display in a few months. Hope they made it through the frost a few days after being planted.

Next week we will be putting in the fence posts around our front yard. So I've found a few inspiration pics to consider:

Pros: beautiful, nice Craftsman look. Cons: labour intensive, may not let enough light in the garden. From: http://bungalowrenovation.blogspot.com/

Pros: lets in light, simpler design (take away the keyholes at top). Cons: may not suit the style of our house, lots of little spindles=more work. From: http://sequoiacraftsman.com/

Pros: very charming, lets in lots of light, varied pickets add interest, cost effective. Cons: hmmm, not many. From: http://gardenopolis.wordpress.com/

Pros: suits style of house, charming gate. Cons: garden would not "seep" through in that haphazard English style I am going for. From: http://decks-fences.blogspot.com/

Pros: quick to build, cost effective, this look is very popular in Vancouver right now. Cons: may be too modern. From: http://strathconahome.com/

Pros: charming and unique looking. Cons: a little too fussy. From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/exteriorencounters/











Which one is your favourite? I'm favouring #1 for the back lane and #3 for the front.

Starting A Garden

A week before Christmas, I saw some veggie garden kits for $2 each. Having a yard for the first time has me so excited that I started the seeds right away in the sunny south facing mud room window. There is now a little collection of dubiously timed seedlings growing on the ledge: pumpkin, cucumber, watermelon and onion.

Today I stopped by Figaro's Garden and felt the lure of the seed stands. My 2011 purchases have just arrived via mail from West Coast Seeds, and Salt Spring Seeds (eagerly awaiting tomato, pea, and herb seeds from Two Wings Farm). Anyways, Figaro's... flowers seeds! Thus far all the garden purchases have been fruits and vegetables. There were so many flower seeds to choose from - I decided on Bells of Ireland, Giganthemum Poppies (giant ombre pink to white) and a mix called Hummingbird Haven that for $3.99 suggests I will have swarms of little tiny birds to observe come summer. The mix contains nasturtium, lupine, zinnia, hollyhock, phlox, larkspur, bee balm and several others. I plan on scattering it in the front yard beds and putting a feeder up nearby to lock in a hummingbird sighting.

I also bought some peat starter pots, and planted garlic chives and genovese basil. There are quite a few seeds, and I will hopefully have lots of extra plants that I can give to friends and my sister for their gardens too.

What I am most excited about are the mignonnette strawberries, which are a small alpine variety that needs to be started early if you want fruit the first year. The seeds are tiny, and I used a teaspoon to get them into the little holes I made with a makeup brush handle. I read that 8-12 plants should be enough for two people so of course I planted 24. The plan for these is to put them in window boxes at the back of the house which is directly south facing.

With the peat pots all ready, I thought I would hack a mini-greenhouse out of an egg carton. The base holds the pots quite nicely along with some extra water, and the top should hold some heat from the radiator below. I'm going to use natural light to germinate the seeds, avoiding having to set up grow lights. It gets quite toasty back there so the trick will be to keep watering morning and night.