My Way of Living + Time

Concert under the tree tops
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We sit on the edge of the deck and gently sway to the music coming from next door, it’s a collection of show tunes, and Lawrence Welk era music, but it sounds so much better when it’s live. We were serenaded by our elderly neighbour with a impromptu concert under the tree tops today as he sat outdoors on his deck. My body aches to the beat of the keyboarded music, but it’s a good ache. A pain that says, job well done. So, here’s my little confession, I have been making garden beds all month, and I told you that I wouldn’t be doing that until next spring.

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The arrival of the plants from the coast kind of moved things along a lot faster then I had anticipated. But the realization that we couldn’t leave them in their containers all summer because of the over heated temperatures we will endure made us move forward.

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It all started with 9 paving blocks, rectangle shaped, flat grey cement, off kilter, and layered directly into the grass just off of our back deck. Kind leftovers from the previous owners, that drove me nuts all winter. I watched the snow slowly recede from them inch by inch, and I planned, and schemed how to make them go further with less dollars. Priced at $10.00 each, the amount I needed to make a decent sized patio would take more then it’s fair share from my garden budget.

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And where to put the plants that we had brought up? Mostly shade plants, ferns, bleeding hearts, hosta galore the area next to the deck was fairly shaded. So we built a simple bed, and one thing led to another, and the next thing we knew we were pulling up the paving blocks and laying them properly. It was a lot of work, they were extremely heavy, the ground was uneven, it was so cold some mornings when we started, the ground had frost on it, other afternoons it was so hot, we fried. The blocks were spaced out evenly, and fine gravel fills the spaces in between them, it’s economical, and looks wonderful.

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After we finished the shade bed, and re-laid the paving blocks we needed to find a place to plant my Gingko, and maple trees. So we edged the ground level patio we had just made with another garden bed, and planted the trees in that. There are plans in the works for some screening to grow vines on, and create a little more privacy. I don’t have any really good pics, the beds are still a work in progress, and as you can see many of the plants have barely broken the surface of the soil. But as soon as there is something to show, I will share.

confessions, Day, and more:

Concert under the tree tops + Time