Driven to distraction....

As you might guess, it was a difficult week for us. The first couple of days, we were completely unsettled. Not happy being home where everything we touched brought up a memory of our beloved Rookie, we would often grab a coffee and take a drive. We would mindlessly and aimlessly drive around checking out neighbourhoods we haven't yet seen and avoid returning home at all costs. Pulling back into the driveway and entering the house was the worst because Rookie wasn't there to greet us. As days passed, it got a bit easier but waves of grief would hit either one of us unexpectedly. Once we made it through the initial days, we both returned to some projects and started others that would occupy our thoughts and steer our pain into something more positive.

Gardening! Seems funny I'm going to talk about gardening when we are in the middle of a blizzard here. Over the past 6 hours, we have accumulated at least 6 inches of snow. It was so deep that when I opened the door to let Ernie out this morning, he couldn't even get out the door. I had to carry him out and shovel a little "poo patch" for him. I digress. We have been dreaming about our garden since we arrived. Heck, I've been dreaming about a garden since we left BC in July 2006. We have some lofty plans but are trying to take on only a few projects each year. This years projects:

1. Compost (completed Fall/09)
2. Vegetable Garden & Perennial Starter Garden
3. Lasagna Garden Trial
4. Front Flower Beds
5. New Front Flower Bed
6. Planter Boxes for Deck
7. Trellis'
8. Cold Frames
9. Start Seeds

Would you agree now? Lofty? We started composting the instant we arrived in PEI. The island is huge into composting. We actually have two garbage cans provided by the city - one for garbage and one for compost - each is picked up on alternate weeks. Rather than give away all of our good compost, we wanted to create our own but because we arrived so late in the year, we couldn't find a composter to purchase so we created our own. We have a small compost disposal that we keep under the kitchen sink. When that's full we transfer it out to a garbage can, out by the garage, that we drilled a bunch of holes through to allow air to it to speed up the composting process. When that bucket gets full, we transfer it to a composter that we bought/altered. It is an old damaged wooden bin that we bought from a farmer for $10. We made a lid, out of the old plywood sides of our utility trailer. We are hoping to buy another bin in the Spring to put grass clippings and leaves into.

Next, and slightly more exciting, the Vegetable and Perennial Garden. The hubby is tackling the vegetable garden. We are going to build a bed about 25' x 25' and divide it into four sections. Three will be his vegetables and the last will be my perennial starting garden. For Christmas, I gave him a couple of books on vegetable gardening so he could make a plan. He's been researching "companion gardening". Who knew that vegetables liked to be planted beside certain plants and weren't so impressed to be planted beside others. I didn't know vegetables were discriminating. Did you? We've made several trips out to Vesey's, a local place that has a huge mail order business, where he purchased the majority of his seeds. I had to order a few more online because we weren't able to find the hot peppers locally. Next was organizing them by planting date. Some of them have to be started inside in the winter...right about now actually. So he has a little cardboard box that he has them all stowed away in and I gave him a copy of my spreadsheet that I am using to organize himself (like he needs my help?). I'll have to get his list to tell you all that he has planned to plant. His plan for the architecture of the garden, besides the 4 plots, is to build a fence or lean to that he can plant some raspberries plants up against. The fence is also being made from some reclaimed wood that he obtained from a local kitchen cabinet company that was disposing of it. He's also now going to plant some blackberries, in honour of Rookie, and it will now become Rookie's garden.

Why? When we were living in North Van, the three of us used to walk to a local tennis court. While Ev and I played tennis, Rookie would run around the outside of the court, digging through the heavy bushes hunting out lost tennis balls. On our way home we would stop at the blackberry bushes that surrounded the park for a feast. While Ev & I feasted at the top of the bushes, Rookie would help himself to the berries on the lower half of the bushes. He loved him some blackberries. We'd have to pull him away to avoid tummy aches....or worse. So now, we are going to have a patch of our own.

Ev advised me the other day that he is now considering making raised beds, which only makes sense, about him. It plays to his strong sense of organization. That's a nice way of saying, he's a little obsessive-compulsive. I'm going to leave that decision to him and will keep you posted.

As for my perennial garden, I figured since perennials generally take two years to establish and flower, I decided to have a starter garden. This year I'll plant most of my perennials from seed inside, transfer them out to the starter garden and next year I will transfer them into flower beds. This will avoid having little straggly plants in my main flower beds and also helps to save a lot of money. You can spend a bundle on just a single plant yet buy a packet of perennial seeds for a couple of dollars and have a couple of dozen plants from it. Makes sense, right? I'm all about saving a buck and gaining the satisfaction of knowing I started my plants from seed.

To be continued.....