When we built our house in 2013, I had told Yim that I wanted to grow our own little forest. It’s something I’ve set out to do in each of the homes we have lived in but in Collingwood, we’ve settled in and I’ve had ten years now to plant and learn.
This year the property seems to have taken on the feel of a small forested area, at least to me. As I walk through it, it feels private even though I know there are neighbours just a few feet away.
Our gardens are the main reason why I want to be home on Georgian Bay from any travelling we are doing by May 1st, because by that time, they are ready for us to pay attention to them and that is what I hoped life in retirement would be like.
That has meant I’ve had to learn on how to properly care for the plants we have growing and where they should be planted for optimal growth.
As the gardens are mostly set now, I’ve begun more of a maintenance routine. This year, I’ve been learning more about the fertilizers the different beds require to some success and some failures but I will not make the same mistakes twice so each year I understand the needs better.
One of my goals has been keeping the backyard in almost constant colour during the months of May through September and now it’s starting to show.
This begins with the Snow Glories in mid-April, closely followed by the Hyacinths and Crocuses, then the Daffodils, Phlox, Iris and Candytuft. I missed photographing those this year as we were in Italy for a little too long but next year I will catalogue them.
Then my favourite flowers of the spring open – our purple Alliums and the variegated Foxgloves and they add exceptional colour to the beds for most of the summer. Plus, bumblebees love them.. Then, by the second week of June, the yellow Day Lillies start to open. That’s followed by the Shasta Daisies in late June, then the Hollyhock, Echinacea, Hydrangeas and Black Eyed Susans and the Croscosmia, Coreopsis and the hardy Hibiscus in July.
And because of my daily care, the Hostas are starting to fill in the outer edges of each garden bed. I’ve separated all of them several times now and enjoy seeing their growth each year while filling in the spaces along the outer edges of each of the garden beds.
How much fun is all that?
But it’s what we grow in the three raised garden beds that we really enjoy.
Arugula, Kale, Bok Choy, Swiss Chard, Eggplant, Zucchini, Cherry Tomatoes, Green and Yellow Beans, Purple Basil, Cilantro, several types of lettuce and this year, a new Concorde grapevine, for which I have built a series of turnbuckle runners for them to climb upon.
We now have 6 blueberry bushes, which just this year have started to grow, mostly because I moved them twice as I expanded or shifted the gardens. We also have a Honeycrisp and Golden Russet Apple tree and a dwarf Yellow Plum tree as well as a nice sized strawberry patch. I’m still learning how to prune the fruit trees but now we have to wait until next spring to see.
The vegetable garden starts producing quickly for us and by June 1st, much of our daily produce needs come directly from them. The kale and arugula is for my daily smoothies and I do enjoy being able to wander out into the back yard and snip what it is I want to add to my lunch.
What I find amazing in this is that I have come to be able to taste which fresh vegetables I am putting into my smoothie. For example, fresh arugula has an amazingly strong peppery flavour, which really pops when mixed with a banana, some blueberries and soy milk.
Our tomatoes rarely start giving us food until mid July and then usually last right through to September.
And this year I’ve finally started to figure out arugula and spinach properly.
Like all gardens, ours has its share of failures – all my fault.
Over the years, I’ve lost three crabapple trees, one of which was my own fault as I tried to transplant it and damaged the roots. I’ve also dug up many of the wild grasses I had planted because they didn’t fit into my evolving plan.
We lost two of our variegated Japanese Willows due to the tornado that blew through a couple of years ago. Even though I propped them up and secured them, last year one died and this spring the second died. When I dug up the root balls, you could tell that major damage had been done by being blown over so last year we bought an 8 foot Emerald Cedar, three Skybound cedars and this year a 7 foot Black Cedar to start filling in that area.
Now we wait again as that space grows but this time, we’ve planted evergreens so we will have privacy year round in a few years.
I also built a strawberry bed with a well protected cover late this summer and since then have enjoyed every single strawberry that ripens. Yum.
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