Pond Rocks

 

I definitely need some rock management.   I have many rocks from our old pond to find homes for. The pond was raised at the back to allow us to have waterfalls and lined from bottom to top with large rocks and boulders and surrounded by more boulders.  (Is there a difference?) That wondrous pond had to go when the great-grandchildren arrived next door.  We pulled as many rocks and the liner as we could near the pump to make a reservoir and turned the pond into a stream lined with rocks and with two waterfalls.  The children were safer and the birds loved it.

Last year we decided to demolish the stream when Michael was unable to tend to the intricacies of a pump and the ubiquitous leaks. We were left with many big rocks and some river rocks.  Many of the rocks are in that reservoir area and the wall section we made to raise the garden level high enough for a waterfall.  I advertised last year that I was giving away some rocks with pond experience and got rid of quite a few especially those rocks surrounding the stream and leftover wall from the old pond,  but there are still some hidden deep in the bed of the old pond.  Where to put them is a problem. Some of them will just have to stay there.  I’ll use a crowbar to punch holes into the old lining to allow some drainage and let that be it.

Living with Wildlife

Now I sympathize with my friends who look for help in discouraging deer.  Those are my lucky friends who live outside the city.   I'm a city person

At one time, I was enamored of wildlife in the city:  squirrels, chipmunks, skunks, rabbits, but now that I am trying to grow food in my garden, I look at such wildlife visitors as pests rather than guests.  Each year at seed time, the battle is on.  There is no way I can teach my wildlife that what is growing in the boxes is not for them. 

This year I covered the rows of beans with plastic mesh but the mesh was not wide enough for the bed.  Putting two rows of mesh down just left a thin opening and squirrels and chipmunk shimmied between the layers.  The pests found a fun way to get to the beans.  Imagine== a game with as many beans as you can eat as a prize!  A complete planting disappeared overnight. 

When the Gardener Goes

 

I didn’t garden much at all this season.  Life kept me extra busy in spring and early summer.  I managed to do a few pots and plant some seeds and that's about it.  Later in the summer when I did have time, the garden had frankly gotten away from me.  So my garden looked after itself this year.

Some good things happened:  the coneflowers and rudbeckias spread out and made a grand show from July to September, the morning glories growing from seeds from last year's plants were super  from mid August on although the colour reverted to the species purple, the geraniums in the pots outdid themselves, the bit of chasmanthium we left at the front had its best show yet, and the huge hosta ‘Sum and Substance’ is magnificent. 

Some bad things happened:  I didn’t attend to the rascally trumpet vine and am going to have a real fight on my hands next spring.  The squirrels decimated the plants in pots -- especially the sweet potato vines.  Yellow sorrel shot up between the pads of the prickly pear!  Several hostas have overgrown their spots.  And most annoying, Creeping Campanula has invaded the front.

What amazed me the most is how fast nature will take over a patch.  In just one season, my garden looks like I moved away and left it. 

Is that what happens when the gardener dies? 

Water Drips

 

Water drip-drips down ice-free eaves

Telling of melting ice and snow

Seeping slowly through matted leaves

To rouse the garden asleep below.

 

My  garden, frozen,  in Winter’s thrall

Waiting for the warmth of Spring.

Waiting, waiting ‘til warm showers fall,

And migrating birds once more sing

 

Sounds of bicycles in the street,

Children's song of Winter's defeat.