Me and my garden

One of the things Grant suggested I do over this weekend without him was to get some stuff for the garden. This is not to imply that he is lazy and doesn't want to help with the garden, but rather that, since we wouldn't be up at the boat this weekend, it would be a good time to put in some new plants.

One of the shrubberies we planted last fall didn't make it through the giant pile of snow that it lived under all winter long, so I had a bit of a hole in my front garden. I considered just digging up one of the hostas I have in the back yard, but I thought I would check the nursery for some inspiration first.

Inspiration did indeed strike, and I bought a rose for the front. It's a pretty floribunda called Little Darling. It is a yellow-peach-pink rose and it looks very healthy. I hope it will get enough sun to bloom well. In addition to the rose, I got a peony bush. It will go in the back. Once again, I hope it will get enough sun to bloom those fabulous fat blooms. I had never seen a peony before coming to Canada, now I love them.

I also picked up some alyssum, impatiens, dianthus and cosmos to fill in some of the gaps that the dying tulips left behind. I also got some herbs: oregano, basil and rosemary. And I bought 4 small tomato plants!!! All are now in pots and I am hopeful that I can keep them alive long enough to be able to eat them all up.

Now, I know enough as a gardening to know that in order for plants to do well, they need good soil. I also know that around my townhouse we have the crappy heavy clay soil on top and the hard-packed-god-only-knows-what's-down-there dirt from the construction. So I bought some good compost/manure to amend the soil in the areas I am planting. Which led to another problem--what exactly am I to do with all the lousy dirt I shovelled out to make room for the good stuff? It's a problem.

I think I will let Grant deal with it when he gets home.