We have a few things to take care of first, but my hope is to get a small greenhouse with shelves for Dragonfly Den and do a bit of redesigning and planting back there, to make the area more relaxing.

I also want to work on Hummingbird Hill some more this year. Maybe get some new, light weight and low maintenance, furniture for up there. Changing up the soil in the planters for some light weight soil would be good too.  And I’d also Love to add some more bird feeders to that area so we can see the birds feeding while we are upstairs too.

I want to do some things up front in Greengrass Grotto, but I’m undecided as to what just yet, so that will be on the back burner until inspiration hits.

First things first though. Because of the weather we’ve had, yard clean up will be the initial task at hand. Raking up all the branches and debris that litters the area and possibly repairing any damage to the fencing, or what not, that got damaged during the storms .

Just an experiment to see how they would do down in the planter boxes, since the ones on the deck were not doing so great.

Here they are July 14th..

And again on August 3rd..

And the, holy crap, on August 7th they had a growth spurt ..

Sadly.. I hadn’t taken into account that Deer think baby tomato plants are a tasty tidbit..

September 1st, new growth and the hopes that a scrap of chicken wire I found will protect the plant this time….

And here we have today, Sept. 19th.. the deer have again chomped down the plants while I was in San Francisco.. but they keep growing back again with a relish *lol* ..

Does any one local know about backyard poultry? More specifically, does any one know if having chickens in your back yard in Colwood BC is allowed? Or know of any sites that might give information on the subject?

I found an site that mentions Bylaw_92-189, 2 & 37 for Victoria , but not sure if that includes Colwood, Langford, etc.. ?

All a broader online search for raising backyard poultry finds sites for Saanich, BC.. but nothing for Colwood yet.

I may check with our local feed stores to see if they know.

Thanks in advancefor any insight you can offer on the subject.

(added)

So, If I am understanding the by-law right, we would have to live on an acre to have poultry of any kind. *boo*

So, probably no chickies for us, but I ‘can’ have pigeons though *eyeroll*

KEEPING OF PIGEONS

a) No person shall keep more than 25 pairs of pigeons, or a total of 50 pigeons

on any parcel of land within the Municipality.

b) No person shall use any building or enclosure for the keeping, housing or

feeding of any pigeons unless the building or enclosure is located at least 7.5

m from any highway and 4.5 m from any other parcel boundary.

c) No person shall suffer or permit any pigeons owned or kept by him or under

his control:

i) to stray, feed or roost on any highway or public place; or

ii) to trespass on any private property.

22B – KEEPING OF FARM ANIMALS AND POULTRY:

a) No person shall keep or harbour any farm animal on any parcel of land:

i) within a multiple family, commercial, comprehensive development,

industrial or institutional zone;

ii) within a residential zone, unless the parcel has an area greater than

4,000m

2

.

b) No person shall keep or harbor any poultry on any parcel of land:;

i) within a multiple family, commercial, comprehensive development,

industrial or institutional zone;

ii) within a residential zone, unless the parcel has an area greater than

4,000m

2

.

I decided that I didn’t want the swing on the bare ground, so I scavenged our scrap pile and started to work piecing together a platform for it to sit on. It’s old cedar lumber so it should hold up nicely outside anyhow. I worked on it upside down initially..

And then I flipped it over to finish attaching center slats. After that was all done I went to work on the area I wanted to use. The ground was far from level and needed to be raked and smoothed out a bit so that it would sit right. That took a good half hour of raking and shoveling, but I got it about right finally.  Then came the fun part..

I had to flip it end over end, as it was pretty darn heavy all put together. It took three solid flips, but I got it in place and was able to wiggle it around a bit to seat it in the dirt. I know it’s not the prettiest thing to look at. But it will do the job nicely, and that’s what counts.

Once I got done placing in the dirt I took a break and started playing with the canopy top for the swing. Too many wind storms had shredded the top, and the make shift one was not fairing any better, so I stretched chicken wire across it. It worked pretty well, although I was 1/2 foot off in my measurements and had to add a bit near the end. Bummed me out, as I had thought I’d taken into account how much it would need to stretch out, but miss judged apparently.

A few scratches and grumbles later though and I got the wire strung nicely on the frame and got it re mounted on top of the swing base. With that done I scooted the whole unit on to the platform I built and got it adjusted so it sat about right.

To help prevent it from sliding around on windy days I made some blocks that go around each foot. That should keep it in one place, unless it blows over of course.  

And here it is all set up. TaaaDaaaa..

The area is still a bit gicky on the eyes, but I plan on cleaning things up more and putting flower pots around it to liven the area up.

Plus, hopefully, we’ll be able to replace the fence and that will look 100% better.

Right now it’s a patched mess as we try to keep it from falling over.

Oh, our nearby neighbour, Ida, stopped by to chat too while I was outside.  She’s a lovely older woman than live a few houses down. She’ll be 90 next year if you can believe that. *wow* She’s such a spirited and nice woman (and a bit mischievous, so you have to watch her for silly fibs *lol*).  She is really pleased with everything I have done to the house so far.
I guess the previous owners were not big on upkeep. If you had seen the inside initially you would have seen a dark ’70′s themed bar set up downstairs. And I mean an actual bar area, and a billiards room off of that. Oh, and a 70′s style bar bathroom too.  The prior owners just worked around all of that instead of remodelling.

Anyhoo, after Ida and I chatted for a while I gave her a mini tour of our place so she could see my babies.  2 guinea piggiess and a dwarf bunny. (Our kitties were out wandering the neighborhood, but she had met them before)

She oooohhh’d ahhhh’d and was completely smittem with them of course. (Who wouldn’t be, they are freakin’ cute *lol*)

After our visit ended she headed back to continue her yard playing, as did I.

I worked on pruning the pampas grass out front… and I kinda shredded my arms like a dope initially. It’d been a while and I forgot about the whole Evil Grass Blades of Pain™ thing. I wore glove, but had a short sleeved shirt on… once the plant reminded me of how evil it can be,  by giving me several good scrapes, I ran and put on a sweatshirt and all was better again. =)

It’s funny, I love when I can be accomplishing things, even if it’s little things. It makes me feel more ‘there’ if you know what I mean.

This past year I had spent priming and painting our upstairs level. It felt good, and the colors are so cheerful.

Off and on since the snow went away this year I have been sneaking out and continuing my out door projects. Initially, after a lot of stone removal, I had created flower bed outlines and planted a lawn area out front.  I’m working more on that this year.

Here’s the yard area out front before we bought the house (the second shot was as I was getting the stones and black plastic out and initially creating the flower bed structures…..)

And this is where I was with the front area before the weather went all wonky and I had to put away my garden tools for a while …

And last, but never least, this spring I’ve added a few recycled rubber stepping stones and have been working like crazy to pretty things up more…

They’re here!  After the initial introductions, and a walk through to show them the area’s I was interested in have pruned, they got right to it.

Trimming the trees along the drive way to help control the moss a bit more.

The huge cedar in the back yard by our deck/carport was a bit trickier, as quite a few of the lower branches drooped into the neighbors yard. It took some climbing and creative cutting for the guy working on it. But he did a great job.

Back yard branch pile start.. *wow*

The shredder/chipper. They left it detached from the truck when they returned so they could use the trucks bucket lift on the front tree’s as much as they could.

The corner tree got a lovely trim. =) As well as all the shrubs that draped at least five feet over the neighbors drive way.

Almost done.. they had to go and dump the first load of chipped tree bits so I went out and took a shot of the house.

And… here is how it all looks after they cleaned up and left. =)

And the back cedar tree no longer droops =)

♥ Davey Tree Service in Victoria, BC ((250) 477-8733) is Awesome, for any locals looking for a good Arborist.

several Velvet Boxwood and a Heather (after a lovely chat with a nice woman I have decided I want to get a few more of these some time. At the time I hadn’t been sure of their hardiness)..

Dianthus “Pinks”, Sea Thrift, Moss Phlox..

and an Elephant Ear plant (another that I found out is actually quite hardy around here, while in the check out line. *yay*)

Ice Plants. They are very neat looking plants. I am thinking of getting more of these to do on the outer slop near the ditch once I’ve seen how these do.

And finally here’s the flower bed after planting. I know it’s not a great photo, as the plants are not even established yet, but if all goes well it’ll fill in nicely in a season or two and look very nice.

The velvet boxwood are near the back with the african daisies I had transplanted a few days back. The heather and elephant ear are near the pampas grass and the rest is near the solar light. =)

The flower beds are filling in nicely. I may need to spot plant some more bulbs this fall just to fill it in a bit more next year. But so far so pretty.

It is blooming!

The other Camellia tree, at the other end of the yard, has not yet graced me with blossoms.  I may consider moving it next season. I’ll give it a little more time though, as it gets different exposure to the elements though.

All in all I think the stepping stones are awesome. They look really nice and feel good on bare feet even *lol*

So, today I spent a good part of this afternoon rearranging the brick and soil until I came up with a shape that is pass-able as a sitting area.

I have my home made bench sitting on top of the garden cloth to hold it down for now. It’s not going to be there when I am finished.I ran out of the cloth so I’ve cleaned up for the day and am having some lunch now.

It’s taking shape this year at least. *yay* I know it’s not the fanciest thing ever. But it will suit it’s purpose once I am done I think. =)

It’s going to be smooth stone on top of the garden cloth all the way to the house when I am finished. We had considered concrete and stone, but until I have every thing just right we’ll forgo the concrete portion. *lol*

Oh, and finally,  here’s the ring flower bed I am working on just past the sitting area.  I’m not sure of the placement just yet.. but you get the idea.

Back yard. In dire need of a mowing, which I am heading out to do after I post this.. You can also kind of see one of the planter boxes I started to dismantle, along the fence line.. I have hopes of doing a long planter along the fence, once we are able to get it replaced that it.

The front ‘lawn’. Still a work in progress, but as Aaron reminded me, it took several years for the back lawn to look as it does now. So I need to be patient. The grass is trying to grow, so that is a positive I suppose.

Some of my shasta daisy transplants all nestled in the front flower bed.

Some of the Crocosmia planted among the Daffy’s I planted in the fall…

And the Hyacinth I planted in the fall starting to get flower stalks.

Still a LOT of clean up and prettying needed. I am not a happy camper about how messy everything looks after the winter. So Garden frenzy will happen.

I swept off the patio and planted the shamrocks and begonia in a container up there before starting on the yards.

I am dismantling the three planter boxes I built a few years back and so I am transplanting their contents and moving the soil to another area.
I need move my Shasta daisies , Purple clematis and some surprise Crocosmia.

The Clematis came with the place. The Daisies I had planted a few years back, but the Crocosmia were a surprise that came along with the soil we purchased years back.

Dozens and dozens of the bulbs started to sprout up in the planter box. I am thinking that ‘perhaps’ the seeds had been in the soil? Regardless I love ‘em and am happy to move them to a nicer location.

I got about half of the plants moved before it started getting too chilly for comfort again. =)
No where near what I want to get accomplished around here, but it’s a good spring start

I was out getting essentials the other day at the shops. As I headed into the store I walked by the plant display like I always do.

Except, this time, I stopped and poked around. *gasp* They have a lot of lovely plants displayed all the time.

First I came across sunshine in a flower pot. Actually it was a bold orange begonia looking all bright and cheery. But to me it was sunshine in a flower pot.

Of course, me being me, I did my normal hemming and hawing before plopping it into the cart. I am thinking of keeping this pretty plant inside if I can keep it alive that is. =)

I was intending to move on from the plant display then, really I was. But then I saw these cuties (look how cute they are) ..

A purple and a green Shamrock plant (Oxalis regnellii atropurpurea & Oxalis regnellii).  Just like what my mom has growing in her flower beds back home.  Perfect for my home here in Canada too. The past three years I have passed them up for one reason or the other. But, this year I decided to go for it. They were plopped into the cart next to the sunshine and then I toodled on my way into the shop to get groceries.  Being strong as I passed on the Hibiscus plant that was giving me the eye.  But I may not be as strong next time. *lol*

And so there you have it.   I admit defeat. I submit to Spring fever.

Let it come, I am ready. *hehehe*

I noticed they were sprouting last week and was very excited …

alas this week, as they began to get their flower, it looks like our squirrel friends dug them up as a tasty buffet treat. *whaaaa*

They got them All it looks like. There are tiny shallow graves along both sides of the side walk where once a crocus lay.

There were only little bits of leaf and flower left around each hole. The critters really did a good job of eating all of the bulbs.

I’ve did some researching and the most I can do is to ‘cage’ the bulbs next time so that the squirrels can’t get to the bulbs at all. They also suggest spreading cayenne pepper to prevent digging, but it’s too wet when the bulbs are first coming up, so the pepper wouldn’t work as well.

At least my Narcissus, Iris, Allium and hyacinth are safe. They are toxic to squirrels so they shouldn’t bug them.

I have this glorious idea. I’ll make our upper patio space into a lovely planter garden  filled with flowers and veggies galore.

I have been planning on creating a patio garden for some time now, but other bigger home projects took precedence over it so it never seemed to get a start on it.

This year though I did manage to set a side some time here and there and start collecting things for a basic garden.  Nothing too fancy for a first time.  Some random containers, recycled and not, soil and some basic garden tools.  I am drastically out of sync with my gardening muse, it’s been over 5 years time since I was a serious garden diva.

Simple and easy is the idea until I get the hang of everything.  I say that, but I have also created a bunch of raised plant beds this summer at ground level, so I am not going to be lacking in planting space next spring that’s for sure.

Will I feel overwhelmed next spring when I start to plant? Probably. But it’ll be worth the learning experience I’ll draw from this project.

After the initial filling and setting out of the planters I stopped and took some time to pay attention to the rain coverage in  area’s of our patio.  We have several large cedar trees along our yard borders and some of the branches umbrella a portion of the patio from most weather. Great for our patio swing and seating area, not so great for plants in need of rain water.

Once I had a good idea of location I started to organize the planters and containers the best I could.  I think it looks pretty good for a melange of mish-mashed containers. =)

Even though I was a bit late on the growing season this year I did have a few plants growing. I picked up a container of onion chives and roses.  I also transplanted a bunch of our strawberry plants that the deer were unmercifully munching and I planted a couple pumpkin seeds that are slowly growing.

I also have a small hanging basket with a cherry tomato plant in it. It’s hung along the roof over hang of the patio.  I have plans to add more hanging planters there next year, as well as a few along the carport wall below. But with the harsh winds we get I will wait before hanging any more up right now.

I found the size boards I needed in the scrap pile and started to assemble boxes. I worked on them in a span of a few days due to weather (It was sizzle hot outside and I was melting).   After building a box I would attach garden fabric to the base, place it and adjust ’til I was happy before filling with soil and moving on to the next box.

I’ve built six seven so far and have room for at least one two more, soil permitting. But I want to finish filling the patio containers and top dressing flower beds first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking out towards the right, from the front door.  I finally had finished removing the stones and plastic.  Aaron ordered a load of soil, and I spent quite a while wheelbarrowing soil to fill in the area.

Once it was all filled in nicely with the soil, I broadcast this new grass seed I had picked up called ecoTurf.  Supposed to be a low maintenance, environmentally friendly,  less mowing, less water, less fertilizer type seed.

I broadcast seed almost everywhere, just leaving a path way clear for the mailman to use while the grass is growing. I plan on putting in stepping stones and more seed next spring.

Just recently I used some more of the left over bricks to line the beginning and end of the path area to pretty it up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was standing at the driveway looking towards the front door for this shot again.  I built another step and added the bricks.

Last week I added more accent bricks to the path entry way and touched up the soil that had settled.  Ideally I’d like to maybe put up an arbor or something at the entry point. But that’s a task for next spring.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And finally the view from the driveway/road again. I finished building the two flower beds, added more soil to them and sparted to do a buit of minor planting.  Separated and planted some pot bound chrysanthemums  On the right side of the side walk the path has a deco fence. (It’s hard to see in this shot, but it’s there)

I picked up a bunch of bulbs recently too, so I planted them all over the flower beds and borders. (It was after the photo was taken, but the view didn’t change much so I don’t think you’ll mind.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking out towards the right, from the front door.  I had gotten most of the stones out the summer before, and had started pulling out that awful black plastic.  The photo was taken around the time a large tree branch had blown down, so there’s a big pile of the bits from the cut up/raked up mess in the photo.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was standing at the driveway looking towards the front door this time. Since there was a massive root growing right at the entrance by the driveway I built it up with board, reflectors, soil and stones for traction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And finally a view from the driveway/road. I was working on two flower bed creations at the time of the photo.  One flower bed on either side of the driveway.

I used left over bricks and larger stones to line the new flower bed areas, and then laid down layers of newspaper to prepare the road side flower bed for future planting.

I  did do a bunch of outside projects in between adventures in visit land recently, but I have not stopped long enough from life’s ups and downs to get my thoughts together and post anything yet.

I will say that there was a lot of raised bed building, and I did some transplanting … and the pile of soil we had delivered is almost nothing now. =)

I will be back to posting once the thoughts have settled enough in my brain and I can re-size all of the photo’s. =)

Cheers ’til then

Christina

We’ve been having a lovely visits this summer with family.

As you have probably noticed, that means that posting has been on a short hiatus here.
Have no fear, projects have been done through out the summer, and new ideas and plans have been cropping up right and left. =)

I’ll be posting the progress I’ve made on the front yard and other area’s once summer break has wound to an end and I’ve gotten all of the photo’s re-sized and ready..

Hope everyone has been having a lovely summer

Cheers!
Christina

I’ve set up some dividing flower beds and have been trying to rake and clean up the area nearest the house.

It’s still in the infant stages as I re-arranging and re-adjust ideas.. but I think I am headed into the right direction with it.

The bricks are just a temporary thing so far, I put them there as I change design shapes in the rest of the front yard. *lol*

I may find a way to integrate them later on, but for now they aren’t part of the plan.

(For those of you who don’t know or remember, the front area was a stone haven when we first moved in….)

I have been clearing out stones and redesigning things since we moved in a few years ago, and just last year started working on a flower bed design at the end of the walkway.

Once it was cleaned up enough Aaron started moving over wheelbarrow loads of the ew soil for me to rake into place.

Digging into our lovely 10 yards of soil at the end of our drive way *grins*

This afternoon, after we got the rock wall raised bed all together and filled, we finished filling the right flower bed area in the front yard.

I re-tidied the surrounding bricks afterwards, as they got knocked around as we unloaded soil.

Starting to getting things cleaned up in the space beyond the flowerbed as well.

(We’ll be filling in that whole area with soil, just need to finish getting out those stones and black plastic scattered through out still.)

Took a photo from the driveway. =)

The flower bed towards the road needs to have landscaping cloth on it and then top dressed with soil, but I’m  waiting’til we’ve gotten the yard taken care of first.

I used bolts to attach the ties together and a stake to keep the corners in place. Once the load of dirt arrived we started to work on getting the bed set up.

We dug out the grassy area and got it all ready, then we flipped the raised bed form over and I stapled landscape cloth to the bottom , and bolted bracer strips to three area’s so that the weight of the soil will keep the unit nice and tight against the rock wall.

Once the area was all prepped and the frame was back in place Aaron started to load wheel barrow loads of soil into the trough. It’s all nice and full. We’ll have to top it off once it has settled a bit of course.

I was tired of all the garden tools we have getting blown around in the nasty weather. So I decided to noodle around and make some sort of thing to prop them all in.

The first thing I did was ripped 2″‘x4″ scrap bits into 2″x2″ pieces. Just ’cause I wanted to use smaller bits.

I built a basic frame out of the pieces I ripped, and started playing with bits trying to make some thing that would keep the tools propped up while in the stand.

Again, I got preoccupied with the actual process.. and so I don’t have progression photo to show as I decided on bracer bits.

Below are the finished caddy pictures, filled with tools and everything.

Immediately after the guy brought it to us we started to put it together . *grins*

Look at all those sharp bits *wibble*  It was pretty intimidating at first glance.

I figuredout their system and lined everything up before I got all the lower pieces laid out.

As soon as Aaron was done with work he helped on the rest. =)

As you can tell, we got distracted with building for quite a while. When I finally remembered to snap some pictures we were already putting up the door frame bits.

A busy few moments later and the gables, support frames and roof pieces were in place and we were working on the final bits.

The doors took a little while to finally get attached as they were pretty awkward, but here she is all together  and slid into position.

I anchored her to the back wall for support and started to fill her with the tools and odds and ends.

It is awesome! I have the garden tools all neatly put away in the shed now as well as the pressure washer, lawnmower and other outdoor gadgets.

The final thing I did was to spray the heck out of the shed, and area around it, with spider stuff to keep them at bay for a while.

Seeds that is.

I have started my annual seed packet squee frenzy for this year.

I’ve done it for years and years now. Ever since my early 20′s (maybe even longer than that) I have searched out and purchased the bargain seeds.

I love to get them when they are cheap. *lol* I don’t feel as bad if I can’t keep them alive, and do a happy dance when I can. =)

Once the summer has gone by a bit more I should be able to snag seed packets from various locations at 10 for $1 even.

The selection get’s a bit more wee by then, but hey I don’t mind, it just means that I’ll try some things that I may not have normally tried. *lol*

I’ve been playing with the deco fence bits I picked up.  I lined the beginning part of our walkway with them, ending when the flower bed ended.

One thing that really stands out more now that I have the deco fence pieces in place.. I need some bushy plants in there. *lol*

(Ignore the other side of the side walk. I am still de-rocking in there so that we can fill it all with soil later.)

The two rhody’s are still teeny so you can’t even see them yet. Guess I’ll be tacking this bed first. *grins*

So blustery that a cedar branch broke off the tree and fell into the front yard.

It was a pretty good size branch. I had to drag it a bunch so it wasn’t blocking the side walk path. It spanned almost all the way across the yard. Not as big ’round as some that fell in the back yard last year.. but still pretty spooky long.

We have a branch saw luckily, so I went to work on it this afternoon. Sawing it into little chunks.

This is all that’s left of the long branch now. Two little piles of bits. =)

And only one injury while I cleaned up the branch mess.

I went to lean the saw against a tree to adjust a branch and it slid and whacked my ankle.

Just a scratch thank goodness, but you’d think I’d partially amputated my leg for the scolding I got from hubby over it. *lol*

Hubby nixed the use of the cedar boards for this specific raised bed, we’ll be using stacked garden ties here. But the boxes I have planned for along the drive way will be made with my salvaged cedar boards. *grins*

This is just an example of the raised bed boarders.

The garden ties will be here in a day or two and then we’ll piece together the actual raised bed here.

But, now I have lovely hose reels of goodness. For the back area anyhow.

I’ve already got them mounted and in use *squee*

I used weatherized caulking around all the screws/holes I had to make, but other than that it’s a simple install. *grins*

The back yard one..

And, the patio mounted one.. *squee*

I am sooo thrilled. If I had one complaint it would be that the connectors are all plastic instead of metal on them, but it looks like I could modify it easily IF the connectors broke, split or what not. So it’s all good. =)

I picked up 3 the other day, but I plan on snagging more once these are safely tucked into the ground.

You can’t go wrong givin’ me ferns. *lol*

I also found some deco fence bits that I have started to line the side walk with.

As well as a bag of peat moss, and perlite, for when I start mixing soil-less mixes* for the patio gardens.

Oh, and landscape fabric stakes ( I already have the fabric)

*Simple Soil-less Potting Mix Recipe: 4-6 parts sphagnum peat moss, 1 part perlite, 1 part vermiculite.

You can add 2 parts compost to the above as well.

This little gal poked us both with thorns while I was oogling it. A plant with attitude like that, how could I not bring it home. *grins*

My feisty new friend will be setting up camp on our patio.

I have yet to keep the deer at bay long term in our yard, so I will be opting for the patio when it comes to any plants a deer may find tasty. The two roses I had planted in the front last year didn’t survive,  they are but mere twigs of waxy death now, and my strawberry plants look like little green twigs with the random grouping of flowers right now. *sigh*

Ah well. It’s all a learning process, and I am willing to compromise with my little woodland friends. =)

The money I earned at my job went towards home and garden treats *squee*

A cherry tomato in a hanging basket. OmG they are sooo sweet and tasty! *nom*