Digging Into the Garden

Just checking in ...

I ended up getting a FULL week of work this week. All 4 days ... this is GOOD. It means that I get bumped up to my grid pay. I'm feeling a little more positive about the whole situation again. On the flip side ... Junior didn't get much. Seems to be working like this. Flip-flopping.

We've had some rain this week. The rain barrels are full. Overflowing. I was hoping it would take longer for this to happen but it goes to show that there is A LOT of water that can be collected for your gardens this way. This weekend there is an Earth Day sale at Canadian Tire and lots of good prices to be had. My plan is to head over and purchase our soaker hoses with the additional 20% off that they are offering this weekend. The soaker hoses will be attached to the bottom spigot of the barrels so that when the tap is turned on it can water the garden and empty the barrel. I'm hoping to also find a cheap hose to cut into 4 pieces and attached to the overflow spout so that the extra water can also be diverted to other places in the garden.

I started cleaning up the front garden this week and a lot of 'Easter flowers' are starting to come in. I just call them that because I don't know what they are - much to my Mom's dismay I'm sure. All those little colourful flowers that pop up right at Easter. I cut back our two roses right down to the bottom and to be frank I was glad to clean those up. After Jan and I moved them last September they didn't look so good and now it's just a matter of waiting to see if we killed them :( Jan says they might come back ... Last year when we moved the Clematis she didn't survive the move well either but I noticed she's starting to grow back again :) I'm really excited about her. Clematis was one of my Grandma's favourite. That and Sweat Peas - so for sure we'll have to have some of those.

I think the front garden needs a bit of a boost or shot of some healthy soil. It just seems so dry. Like powder when you're working in it. I don't think that the family that lived here before us got a chance to do much in the garden. It also probably has to do with the dry climate that we are in. I'm hoping that some compost and some mulch will help get in back into a more productive garden again. The base layer of the garden is good. Other than the June bugs and larvae I keep finding there are not many worms or critters which is not such a good sign. June bug larvae is a major killer of the garden and eats all the baby roots from the plants and the lawn. Plus not to mention that they are HUGE and totally gross. Jan and I are waging a war on them ... we now throw them on the road for the cars to run over or the birds to take. It kind of makes me feel a little better knowing that they are dying a death by bird. We don't have many birds in our yard at all. We don't have many trees or shrubs so that's why. Birds and worms = a healthy garden ... this much I know ... so I'll let you know when they start to arrive :)

On a totally unrelated note Kona has caught some kind of cold. She has an ear infection and congestion in her little nose. She must have picked in up in Van when we were out there. It started around Wednesday night and so yesterday we took her in to see Tyson. She was a very good girl for him. Long of the short is that she's on some ear drops and we are just going to ride out the snotty nose to see if it goes away. She seems really energetic and still her lovely and charming personality so I think she's okay. We also had THE CHAT with Tyson about getting Maximus fixed. Since Kona has been around he's much more protective and he's still a very healthy dog. Tyson said it might be a good time being that he's not old and he hasn't had much trouble back there with Cancer type things. It will also prolong his life in terms of Cancer-related problems and with the scare earlier in the year ... it might be a good thing. We are still chatting about the final outcome of this. Tyson did say he was THE MOST laid back full-boyed rottie he's ever seen. I think he even called him a Teddy Bear :) We had thought that at some point we would breed him ... you know ... to carry on his legacy when he's gone - but this might still be an option but we have to do a little more research. Ultimately and healthy Maximus is more important to us and if he doesn't get to play with other dogs (other than Kona) ... then that's not so healthy.