Garlic garden

Three summers here, lots of gardening, trial and learning, moving plants around and I have deduced the best location for a successful vegetable garden is the north side along side the chain link fence. BUT first I had to wait it out, wait it out for the Morning Glories to expire.

That happened a few weeks ago, earlier then I expected, but anxious to follow through with the garlic plot plan. Bittersweet. Frost killed the Blue Morning Glories, morning glorious ALL DAY LONG. A little thing I learned this summer, BLUE flowering Morning Glories remain open All.Day.Long. You can see the purple flowers curling up and tucking in for the day and the blue ones fully open, inhaling all the daylight has to offer.

Quickly and quietly, they died. We were left with brown, wet vines and dead flowers. I chopped and cut the vines, tore and pulled them off of their perches and out of the ground. East of the hydrangea, I dug and turned the soil, readying it for planting.  8" inches apart, and a few cm under, we pushed the little cloves down, 13 in all. Dusting the soil and dead leaves from my hands, but not able to shake off the stench, a cornucopia of Autumn smells, and not the good kind. A mixture of garlic finger tips, composted manure pile palms, and something nasty on the bottom of my shoes. But the garlic bed is planted, grass cut and leaves mulched. An old bag of white tulips found and tucked under the soil.

Yeah, the leaf covering will blow away before the snow falls, but for now, its working. The rest of the garden will be planted in the spring. Tomato's are our long time favourite. And will try a few blueberry bushes.

Garden, new vantage point

I bought a couple hammocks in Costa Rica. Finally. Tied one of them up on two fence poles, under a tree. An entirely new perspective on my yard.

And the Cosmos

Weatherproofing, bean fence and the bridal wreath

A little rain to test out the newly stained and weatherproofed balcony! (completed yesterday, just before the night showers, phew). Looks like the weatherproofing is working. Make that almost completed, I still need a ladder or something to stand on to reach the middles section of the vertical end pieces. Or wait for it to dry, to reach through and around.

Some rain for the bean fence. Apparently the outdoor cats prefer organic soil as a kitty litter,  a few stakes laid horizontally, in hopes of diverting them.

New sunglasses to weatherproof her precious eyes. Sadly our favourite pair fell off in a quarry and were never to be found. These ones seem to work.

 The tulips blew away last week or perhaps a deer ate them, but now my favourite shrub, Bridal Wreath Spirea, has bloomed.

Diversions and balcony maintenance, the speedy sort

Speedy / Lazy persons deck prep & stain:
1) Wait for the treated (or untreated, I forget which one I used) wood to cure (1.5 years should work) (Diversion: life).

2) Ridden with guilt and cracked wood, move the task up the priority list.

3) Buy the stain and waterproofing all in one.

4) Forecast has a week of rain; work with that and fool yourself that the rain will do the prep and washing. (Diversion: weather).

5) Seize a sunny moment, cut some corners and stuff all the balcony contents to one end, including dog.

6) Balk at the colour.  Think you have made a mistake and then remember you are not that invested in the balcony colour. The quick persons way is to get the  "off the shelf" kind, rather then mixing a stain (Diversion: time).

7) Start to slap it on.

7) Stick brush directly in soapy water (as guided by the home depot fellow) and wait for north side to dry so you can move all the stuff over and do the other side.

8) Diverted: Assistant becomes aware, perks up and snatches the brush and wants to help. (Diversion: give her brush and soapy water. Shes happy).

9) After some fun and I notice the brush getting destroyed, divert her inside, lock doors and wait until another moment to do the other side.

A recap: This task was long over due (year and a half curing yikes!) and the cracked wood was beckoning.  I finally succumb and buy the stuff and rain comes in for a week. Yesterday the clouds disperse and a few sunny days in forecast.

Decided to try the quick stain and waterproofing in one. (Pros: Good for the speedy deck maintenance kind of person; con: Forgetting that stain is involved and leaving drips & blotches of stain on wood). For the record I do like to stain, with a rag and little distractions, but was a bit thrown off by this all in one product. But the wood looks happy and not so dry.

And the biggest sort of diversion during my partially unemployed-waiting to hear about contract, tending to house was/is a good diversion. Running was/is a good diversion. Spending solid time with my kids, definitely a good diversion. But then my focus waned.  I needed another diversion from wondering about my future and waiting to find out how much I would have to exert myself -pack up an entire house and move back to homeland? I have a lot more then the few bags I arrived with 15  years ago. Waiting to see if contract comes through versus packing up and moving back to Canada. So I bought some tickets to Central America and have been thoroughly diverted...

More on that later...

Hey ho, lets go! (fence gone!)

Lucy, donning the Ramones t-shirt and our motto, Hey Ho, Lets Go! (She was playing peek a boo, so hard to capture)

Last week I finally decided I could handle taking the fence down. The delay for leaving the old, rusty 6 ft tall chain link up was that it had some use by way of keeping the dog in. And a boundary for little toddler, although she's three now.  And my son, he liked kicking the soccer ball against the fence. And me, I just wasn't sure what to replace it with. The 6ft tall fence was like a prison and cut off a portion of the yard so there was no doubt it would come down, but without a plan, I delayed. Until last week. The only dilemma, still no plan for keeping dog in. A natural and short post and rail fence would homey, but I have a rock retaining wall ledge a few feet beyond fence, so its kind of weird. But put on a temporary lay off,  taking the fence down seemed like a good thing to do.

After I rolled the fence back 15 feet, I realized how heavy this was going to get and that it was way beyond a one person task. Having no use for the fence, I listed it on craigslist, for Free.  (Thanks to this other, somewhat popular blog, Young House Love. Maybe you have heard of them? wink, wink. I say in jest! Their enthusiasm is infectious). A few years ago, when I first discovered their blog, I remember reading about their plant removal system, listing free plants on craigslist. Bring your own shovel. Marvelous!

My ad went more like "Bring your own metal cutters" - I use craigslist once in a while, with some success. I was floored with the response for the fence though. I figured I had a few days to cut the grass away from fence and make it easier for someone to take.

Dug out, rolled up and stuffed in the trunk of his sedan ... that may have been the trickiest part. Gone with in three hours of the listing going up. 3 hours and my week long task was done. The free fence giveaway was definitely worth the labour. And he was a very pleasant guy on disability in need of a back boundary fence. I helped of course, in between fielding all the other calls and reorganizing pick up for my kids.

Since it came out, I've been pulling out the bad grass and long roots, mixing in some organic soil and compost and readying this 10 foot section for our natural fence line / beans. (Did you know 10 feet is the typical distance between chain link poles - I didn't and had advertised 33 feet with my 3ft step measuring.  He actually got 50 feet of fence.)

The poles, I kept for the time being. They are cemented in and easy enough to dig out later on, after I live with this new open space I now have.  The first pole, closest to the house will go, opening up the entrance. But I need a metal saw to cut the horizontal bar.  Ill plant the morning glories beside the two outer poles, to hide them. And each 10ft section has a purpose too... beans will fill in one section, a soccer net will go in the next, the flower garden will fill in between section #3 and the tire swing and hopefully a gate arbor in the last section.  Another motive for getting rid of the fence was to open up the back of the yard in order to have easy access for the lawn mower. The past three+ years I have had to haul the lawn mower up three stone steps. A pain. Tried out my new entrance today and so much easier.

Other exciting things around the garden; this little Hyacinth stuck in the middle of a Hosta. And Pear Tree blooms! I planted the tree two years ago, and this year we are gifted with blooms!

The tire swing up (although I have to switch out the rope with some nylon rope, that I ended up using for the beans). And the day lilies are coming up.

Little pots, little seeds, soon to be our bean fence.

Breakfast anyone? On the weekend, we enjoyed breakfast, al fresco, in  our evolving back yard. I see many more of these in the future.

And the fence, came rolling down

One day you get a letter of company downsizing and the next day you find yourself taking down a fence.

It all started with my newly found time (guilt free free-time that is) and a list of no cost things that need to be done around the house.

1) clean windows- windex in truck (truck contains items from office clean out last Dec. Left in truck due to lack of other storage options. re-Discovered it the other day.) Windows never get washed in my house and I never buy window cleaner so this could be fun.
2) paint rest of trim (upstairs, vestibule, dining room)  - paint already in house
3) paint kitchen -that would be the one, very small overhang thing that I painted around.
4) cut grass
5) post ebay listing.

Nothing on the list about taking down fence.

When I went to the truck to get windex, I had the wrong keys. SO I started to pull vines off the garage instead. While pulling the vines away I envisioned how I could possibly turn this area into something from Home and Garden. Perhaps extend the pea gravel path, pile rocks along side garage to protect it. Build a rack to store kayak and canoe. Buy kayak and canoe. Gulp ... back to no-cost dreaming.

And then I drifted over to the fence and decided it was time

Pliers and wrench in pocket, I nervously plied off the ties, and unscrewed the hinges. The excitement grew. The anticipation kept my momentum. 

When I questioned my sanity, I took some pictures of the long grass that grows up the side which causes me great grass mowing disdain. And the rusty fence. The old, rusty 6 foot tall chain link fence. Things cannot be any less friendly then that.  If for no other reason, this thing HAS to come down.

I thought it would go easier then it did, but the easier things, I thought may have been harder. If that makes sense. 

After I untied all the metal ties (with the bright sun burning through my eyes) and unscrewed the end pieces and rolled back the first section, I was dreaming of BBQ'ing and drinking a beer at my new (free) table. Except it was only 1:30pm and  I still have to pick my kids up at school....

The cost of this project should be nothing more then a long dog leash to keep old deaf Luc from wondering too far.  And some red paint for the table.

I have ideas of leaving the horizontal poles and hanging a swing from one, laundry from another and a chin up bar on another.  These three ideas were the final push I needed to take down the chain link.  Plants and wooden garden fence will fill in the space in between the poles, for the time being.

The fence dismantling will keep me busy until I hear of a recall. And it was much more exhilarating then polishing windows. As it rolled back and opened up the back yard I could feel freedom; the 6 foot tall fence that had always made the backyard feel more like a prison.