Going through my backyard, I found these tiny heads poking up from beneath the dried leaves and old mulch from last year. These were the ferns I planted in this corner of my garden that I didn’t think survived because I underwatered them. But it looks like they want to live. Now I have to decide if I want to keep them or plant a bush there instead. I also found baby hostas and a Japanese ferns. The woodruff I planted last year is also coming in nicely… a bit messy, but it’s growing. Russian sage that I thought had just dried out is budding again and little leaves have sprouted around the base. It also looks like echinacea, lavendar and the crazy daisies have survived too.

The lawn renovation is coming along. Because i’m too cheap to rent proper power equipment, I’m doing this on my own, bit by bit. The boyfriend was in town with me this weekend, so he helped me with a Home Depot trip to buy soil and various seeds. I’m a little determined to grow myself a small vegetable patch this year, starting with herbs, lettuce and tomatoes. We’ll see how that works out. This could end in tears… or pasta sauce.

They seem sweet and pretty and innocent. Actually, right now they’re my enemy. At least one of them. These wild violets are one of the new unwanted invaders to my back yard. They crept in over the years and this spring it looks like they’ve taken almost half the yard.

I could pay some lawn care company hundreds of dollars to take care of this. But as most know, I’ve already spent hundreds of dollars on a new bike (which I still love!). So I have to do this as economically as possible. I have garden tools, organic non-selective herbicide (key ingredient being acetic acid, aka vinegar) and time. Every day, I’m going to conquer the violets patch by patch by getting on my knees and clawing those fuckers out of the ground, pulling them up as much as I could by their veiny little roots. After that, I will liberally use the herbicide to kill any stragglers and possibly new growth. I’m also going to ruthlessly dig up dandelions and knotweed. I’ll wait a week or so, then till in new soil which I will then seed with grass. I will water the seeded areas methodically, twice a day every day until they are established. Even if I don’t have the prettiest wildflower garden, at least I’ll have a lawn again.

Maybe I’ll even like gardening again.

My favourite pics from the Toronto Interior Design Show 2008.
The full set can be viewed on my flickr page.

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Playing with my camera while I wait for paint to dry. :p

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I love that there are practically hundreds of variations of “off-white’, all with it’s own unique-as-snowflake names. I’m not sure where i got this last gust of homemaker energy, but I decided it was about time that I finish painting my stairs. For months, they were bare bones, paint stripped and untreated wood. This morning, I got up at 7, didn’t go to the gym, but primed the stairs instead. I’m currently laying down the first coat of paint on the walls of my foyer. It’s looking brighter and prettier already. I guess anything was an improvement over the gross dark green that was in there before. Hopefully by the weekend, it will be a nice “Navajo White”.

Ok, I’ve come to the conclusion that I suck at gardening. I like the idea of designing landscapes. I like pretty flowers. I’ve done so much internet and magazine research that I can tell you if an Echinacea Purpurea is a perennial, when it blooms and when to seed it. I even know how to patch grass. However, all that knowledge fails me at the actual implementation level. I just can’t get it together.

I just do not have the patience. I hardly have the patience to roll up the water hose anymore after I spend 10 minutes watering the above mentioned plant after i’ve nearly dehydrated it. The weeds in my backyard lawn are rampant. There are still wild violets and knotweeds everywhere. There are different varieties of weird plants that have taken root under my deck, and creeping through my newly laid brick. I could easily just snip them all down, but I don’t bother giving myself the time. I don’t like killing bugs, I dislike spider webs, I don’t like plant sap on my hands and I don’t like digging in dirt. Having the perfect outdoor space would be really nice, but i just can’t be bothered with the work involved.

What more, I have something in the my backyard that enjoys digging up or around my baby ostrich ferns. I have to monitor them every morning to make sure none of them are dug up. And to top it all off, something (or someone) stole my best Sunflower. I planted these sunflowers from seed over a month ago and have been happily anticipating them bloom. Several of the seedlings seemed to have died, from what, I’m not sure. I may have overfertilized them. Last week, my mother came by and weed-whacked some more seedlings, thinking they were weeds…. So I have 3 sunflower plants which are in bloom. These type of sunflowers don’t grow too high. The primary flower was a beautiful, big flower, streaked with orange and red. I planned to take pictures when more of the blooms were ready, but when I checked this morning, that flower was totally gone. Not the plant, just that one big flower. I couldn’t find it anywhere.

I’ve just about given up. The next place I live in will not have a yard. I will grow cherry tomatoes in pots on a balconey but no more of this lawn and garden crap.

In other exciting domestic news, I’m almost finished painting my bedroom. Hopefully I’ll have new pics by next week. :p

I’ve returned, victorious from the battle, and I’ve brought back a sammich.

I took these pics just an hour ago. My hands need serious moisturizing, and though I have not totally reorganized the kitchen, at the least things aren’t being stored on the floor any longer.

Hello folks. I’m about to post to my journal something few people are permitted to see. And if they do see it, it’s followed by profused apologizing, prostrating and excuse giving.

This is my kitchen.