The O'Shea Gardens ...

I can't believe it's only the 2nd of May, and I'm almost done all my garden chores ... I thought I'd share some pictures I took this afternoon....

I don't know what happened here... there are no red tulips around ...

view from our patio down the slope

the garbage fence that we built last year ... we need space on the patio and lots of wasted space out front but we didn't want it visible to the street ...

the lattice Barry installed last weekend ...

 a regular sized columbine

a baby columbine ... if it's 4 inches tall, I'd be surprised

my pink rhododendrum ... isn't she pretty ?????

the trellis backed by the lattice ... both with honeysuckles growing up them ... love honeysuckles ....

hope you enjoyed the tour :)

I'm almost done ...

I can't believe it.  It's April 21st and I'm almost done prepping the gardens.  I believe this is a first.  I started working on the gardens 8 years ago.  Slowly I've increased the gardens every year.  2008 was the deck.  That was one HUGE undertaking.  It took all freaking summer with  all the rains we had.

We only have a few small projects.  And then it's watch the plants grow, have friends over, partake of some cold beverages on the deck on a hot summer afternoon.

Here's some pics of this week's projects .... here.

Happy gardening!

I'm back!

It's finally Spring and I've completed most of my clean up/preparation for the upcoming garden season.  It's mid-April here in the Toronto area and the weather the past 6 weeks has been amazing!  We've been up over 20C (70F) a couple of times, had no snow since February (unheard of btw) and generally had a fairly dry Spring.  Which is great for getting time to go outside and do stuff ... not so great for the flowers and the lawns.  I kinda feel like my front lawn is an ugly duckling.  I've kinda neglected it since I only have a small lawn in the front ... I won't pay for someone to do the fertilizing etc ... and yet I haven't taken care of it either.  But we're off to Home Depot tomorrow morning and I'll get my act together then.  I just wish they sold smaller amounts ... I don't need a huge bag for small lawn.  Yeesh.

I've been re-reading through a ton of gardening magazines and scheming and planning and thinking about what needs to be done this year.  It's bright and sunny (although probably still a little cool this morning) and I can't wait to get outside.  Fertilizing, weeding, put some seeds out for the birds, making lists ... all kinds of good stuff.

I love this time of year ... it makes me feel so alive and so happy.  And I'm on vacation (staycation actually) this week so lots of time to spend outside.  I think I still have a couple of indoor things to do too.  We're going to be building another trellis wall similar to this one but only 3 panels wide ...

It's going to replace this ...

Can't wait ... I've somehow managed to kill these clematis but it gives me the opportunity to buy new ones and change the look.

Well, gotta run and get to it.  See you soon!

Rain ... YAY!

Never thought I'd say this, this year, but rain! YAY! and it's the perfect kind of rain ... steady, but fairly light. Will do the grasses and gardens a world of good.

Me, not so much. But the grass will green up again and I'll be able to ... you guessed it ... WEED! And I'm NOT talking about the stuff you smoke.

Later ...

and the work continues ....

today was kinda funny. I had a really tough time getting myself outside. Even when I was outside I wasn't really into working but I knew there was a ton of stuff to do so, gut it up and get to work. Oddly enough it was our neighbours (who are also friends) who were working outside (they had the fun stuff though ... BIG machines....) who inspired me to get to work. I started digging up my violets. I've got more violets (2 kinds) than I know what to do with. Same with Lady's Mantle. I didn't think I'd get my shovel in, but it seemed to work so I'm happy. Another 8 bags of yard waste.

Oh yeah, I decided to give my forsythia a haircut. Still seems a little unbalanced. Kinda like me LOL.

So it's back to paid work tomorrow and I really hope it rains. We ned it .

BTW S.C., thanks for enjoying the fall for me. I do enjoy certain aspects of it. It's just a little sad sometimes. But it's also a time to clean up, see things a little tidier and I do love snuggling under a blanket with a cup of tea and a good book. Gotta make the most of life....

time to start cleaning up

I hate September. October's even worse. It used to be because somebody in my family either died or had some type of health issue. Now that I'm addicted to gardening, it's because it's the time of year when you start tidying up the garden, the flowers are finished, the first frost hits and takes out a lot of annuals and some perennials.

I spent several hours this afternoon watering .... watering ... and more watering. Did some weeding and cutting back plants. And removing sumachs. Thanks to my next door neighbour. Oh the joy ....

Anyway, I removed the hanging baskets that are under the carport eaves. I'm slowly removing the window box plants as they die. It's a very sad time of year for me. For a lot of people I guess.

I had originally planned on dividing some blue fescue and replanting them elsewhere. I might get that done but I'm not holding my breath. It depends on how the next couple of weekends go. We're going away for Thanksgiving which we don't usually do. I'm usually around, working outside, closing up the gardens. But I have a couple of days off in October ... one for my mammogram follow up and one with my hubby.

But it was a beautiful day today and tomorrow should be even better. So I'll be back outside and weeding, watering and cutting back. Enjoy the great day!

Yes, I'm still here ...

I know, I haven't posted in almost a month. I can't believe it. Not that there hasn't been much going on in the garden but I haven't been doing much in the garden.

I kinda made up for it this past weekend. 9 bags of yard waste and probably another 4 or 5 to go this weekend before they pick up. The weeds got WAY ahead of me and a lot of my plants have finished flowering and need to be cut back.

I discovered that Japanese Blood Grass, which is supposed to only grow to about 18 inches, develops 5 foot high shoots with seed heads. Not a good look for a suburban front yard. So I cut the seed shoots,, we're back to about 18 inches and it looks great.

Lots of planning, moving, sharing, etc. to do. Word of caution. DO NOT PLANT CATMINT UNLESS YOU HAVE LOTS OF ROOM! OMG! I started with 3 little plants for a few years ago. I could probably have covered about an acre by now if I hadn't dug most of it up, and I still have WAY more than what I want or need. Yeesh. I know, the word "mint" is part of the name. But I love how long it blooms, it's a mid-sized plant, hardy as all get out.... After the first good rain, I will start digging out the catmint ... and the anemones. I have this amazing ability to pick the invasive plants that just won't die. Oh yeah, yuccas ... there's a reason they're called yucca.....

We had a perfect weekend, 25 degrees celcius (sp??), light breeze, full on sun ... and a beautiful day today too.

Got lots to do before SYTYCDC starts in 90 minutes. Woo hoo!