Into the Wild – Weekly Musings on our Yard’s Transformation | April 28th – May 4th

Yardwork:

• We’ve bagged up the foliage and leaves into seventeen bags, and they will be ready for pickup at the end of May. Fortunately there is a pickup service that comes a few times a year so we won’t have to stuff it all in the back of my Jeep to drop it off. 
• I removed the Dead Nettle from one of the front flower beds and tidied up the area to prepare for grading and installing a proper flower bed. The task took much longer than anticipated, as one project led to another. At one point, I found myself fifty feet down the yard, trying to pull up an extension cord that was buried, with no idea if it was connected to a power source, how long it was, or where it led. After some effort, we eventually found the end of the cord, and fortunately, it wasn’t connected to anything – especially not to a power source!
• I began clearing out the flower bed for our garden, but didn’t make much progress – this is going to take longer than I anticipated! I did discover some gemstones while working which was cool! (An amethyst, aventurine, and possibly tanzanite) Definitely much better than the rusty nails we’ve been finding everywhere.

Gardening:

• I didn’t do any gardening this week, but I did just buy my first set of garden tools from Lee Valley. I have to say, this store has quickly become my new favourite!

Flora:

• We began relocating the thimbleberries, along with various stepping stones and cement blocks from the side yard. I am really hoping the thimbleberries will thrive after their move to the new location, and I am curious to see how they taste. If we don’t end up liking them, at least they’ll provide some food for the birds.
• I began removing the Siberian Squill and a creeping succulent from one of the flower gardens we are getting rid of. I need to clear out all the plants to reuse the soil for the front flower beds. So many projects are dependent on another being finished before one can continue..

Fauna:

• A Hermit Thrush visited my backyard – a new lifer for me! It was neat watching him explore our yard.
• I heard some Greater White-fronted Geese flying overhead.
• White clearing out the flower bed, I came across a young mouse that we unfortunately had to get rid of.

Miscellaneous:

• Every plan that I’ve had for our patio has gone sideways – every single one. It is almost laughable at this point, and honestly, I’m not even surprised anymore. We finally had a calm day to test out our umbrella, knowing it would be too tall for the patio. We thought that we’d use it along the fence line, but it turned out to be even bigger than we expected and would still hit the power line. Assuming it fits in my Jeep, we will be returning it and finding another sunshade solution, if any. While I love living in an older neighbourhood, those above-ground power lines are incredibly frustrating – why couldn’t they follow the fence line or be placed higher up?
• Another setback has been the archway into the patio. As previously mentioned, we discovered cement slabs that prevent planting directly in the ground, so I bought 16-inch square planters that should have worked, but they ended up being too small. We returned them to the hardware store, intending to buy the next size up, but the few they had in stock were poor quality. On Sunday, we went to another location that supposedly had plenty, but they hadn’t been put on the floor yet. These are the only wood planters that I can find in-store. Maybe I should just build some myself and be done with it…
• Ugh. It snowed again on Tuesday… 
• I cleaned and somewhat organized the garage, created a tool corral with cinder blocks, and set up a makeshift/temporary workbench using an old dresser propped up on cement blocks. It is a bit janky and wobbly – the dresser is older than I am, and has been through at least seven moves, but the garage now has some semblance of order, and I finally have a workspace to make things, which I am so stoked about!
• For my first project in the workspace, I built a soil and compost sifter using wood and hardware cloth. It’s not perfect, but it will get the job done. 
• Saturday marked the start of my intermission from work – after five years, we get four paid weeks off. I’ve been with the company for just over six years. I plan to use this time to tackle the yard transformation and hopefully some other tasks around the house.
• We tested out the new firepit, and had our first hot dog roast in the backyard.
• I have decided that I will build the planters myself. When I saw that Windsor Plywood had the exact boards that I wanted on sale, I wasted no time heading over to pick up some cedar fence boards. The scent of these boards is absolutely intoxicating! 

Thanks for reading! Until next time,
Tracey

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