Well, hi there! Happy Sunday!
We finally have sunshine and some heat. It is also very windy, which I am not a fan of, but the sun is shining! The next few days are all about planting and more planting. Getting everything into the garden beds, baskets, and planters. It is time!
I was hoping to get more of this done before we got our new puppy, but she will just have to be my planting companion. While our first dog was just a wee thing, under 25 lbs, all the others have been English Mastiffs and, of course, our current dog, Berkeley the Saint Bernard. So, this little nugget is the size of a gerbil! We have not yet named her, keep trying out different names to see what sticks.
You all know that we are redoing our front yard this year. The landscaper came yesterday to start the job and will finish it over the next day or tow.
The landscaper is going to do the removal of things, while we do the build up ourselves. They will remove the sod, the shrubs that are 3/4 dead, the overgrown low lying junipers, and sadly, one beautiful dwarf Korean lilac that is pushing up through the dwarf blue spruce.
We will then build it up again with perennials and new shrubs. Building a hedgerow on the side of the alley way, a pathway from the driveway to the backyard gate, and then lots of mulch and perennials. Luckily, our front yard is small so planting it up with perennial flowers and shrubs will be less costly than it would be for a typical town lot.
Garden & Yard Inspo!
So, anyway… here are a bunch of border garden ideas that caught my eye and that you might also find interesting if you are revamping your beds or yard… or planning to. Might help you plan?
- What you need to know to create a stunning border garden.
- 11 tips on how to revamp a border garden from scrappy to sensational.
- How to plan a truly successful flower border.
- The 25 best self seeding plants to save you time and money. Many of these are not for my zone 3 garden so not as helpful for me, but added the article as they might help you! Also, the wild, carefree garden look is not what I am going for in my urban front yard garden. In the back, yes. In the front, no.
- The top 5 perennials you may not have thought of.
How to grow microclover. Have you tried this yet? We are trying it in the sideyard, where my greenhouse is. It is the side of the house that hardly anyone sees. I water the greenhouse plants, give the hostas a splash now and then, but nothing else really happens on that side. So, figured that was as good a place as any to trial this micro-clover/fescue mix. Oh, and we have no neighbours on that side, just the back alley (side alley?), so it won’t annoy anyone either. Will let you know how we make out.
We have been reseeding doggie pee spots in our brand new lawn since spring, with regular lawn seed. As it has been very cool for most of the month, the seeds have been slow to germinate. I am tempted to go with the microclover/fescue seed mix on these spots to see how they hold up to our Berkeley.
How to grow celery. I find Tango and Utah are super easy to grow! Truly. Don’t worry about them, just plant in spring, water a couple times a week really well, they’ll be great!
How to make compost at home. Hey, if you are a local, I have a workshop about this today! Come on over!
How to grow Haskaps. I hear that these have come a long, long way in the past 10 years. I have a story about these guys… of course, I do, eh? ; )
We were one of the very first greenhouses to sell haskaps (aka honeyberries) at Hole’s Greenhouses when I worked out in the nursery, many moons ago. The nursery manager knew the people at DNA Gardens so was able to get his hands on some of the teeny tiny pots these shrubs were being sold in, at the time. All excited about berries that taste like a cross between a blueberry and a Saskatoon, I planted up a hedge of them in my wee ‘orchard’. On the acreage, I only watered trees and shrubs regularly the first year to get them growing, till they were established, as it was a bit of an ordeal to water the orchard (plus, I have always been water saving/conscious). Well, let me tell you… these first Haskaps were so sour that not even the birds ate them!
They needed regular water in order to taste good. So, ever since, I have been put off by these super hardy, zone 2 berries. I have been told that they are much, much improved since those early days.. but if I were to get them, I would try to water them regularly while they were fruiting.
It was World Bee Day the other day (May 20th). Here are 5 ways that you might be harming the bees, with alternative solutions.
30 small garden design ideas. Great ideas in this read. Love this idea above a whole lot! We will be making ‘garden rooms’ after we no longer need the space for a 160 lb St Bernard to zoomie ; )
Front yard landscape ideas guaranteed to boost your home’s curb appeal.
Check out all the beautiful Chelsea Garden Show 2025 winning gardens. Lovely… and you can really see that the rewilding initiative is taking hold in the UK.
These 3 before and after yards. I mean, wow!
A rambling, romantic border garden for early summer, using just 5 plants. I love these ideas!
How to clean a ceramic, glazed birdbath.
I have shared ‘Nana’s Garden’ before. It is the epitome of a potager garden in a small-ish city lot. A homey kitchen garden with the flowers, the vegetables, the potted veggies, it has a little bit of all the things. Such a gorgeous garden.
Home & Life Inspiration
The best books to read this summer. There are so many on this list that I cannot wait to read! If you have not yet read ‘Women’ by Kristin Hannah, it is a must read. Anything by Susan Mallory is great. Those decor books look so good! Especially the French inspired ones. I must see if I can find some at my library.
Discover the sensational details of this Swedish kitchen. I am not sure what makes this one Swedish, but it kinda looks like mine a little bit, eh? See above for mine and then check out the link.
This cute cottage is so adorable. I would love to buy a cottage and fix it up, has been a dream of mine for a long time. The only thing is, I would want it beside a lake… with a great beach. Now to win the lottery ; )
From My Scandinavian Home… A Swedish Flat Filled With Light.
I love the child’s room and those amazing painted wooden floors.
Another Scandinavian flat, but this one is a renovated school and has loads of colour. I love everything about that office space, tiny but perfect.
Bits of Recipe Inspo!
From Martha … What is a smash burger and how to make one.
With salad season coming up, here are 9 pages of salads (eek!) to go through. I have gone through them all and these are my favourites that I want to remember… roasted vegetable, grilled eggplant with peppers, spring vegetable, niçoise, panzanella, beetroot, potato, and shallot, rice salad with radishes, spring onions, and avocados.
Vegan crab cakes! These look amazing, I must say. Cannot wait to try them. She also gives substitution ideas for those of us with allergies. These vegan spring rolls look so good, too!
The best dill pickle potato salad.
Easy strawberry lemonade. Yum! Just in time for strawberry season, too!
And to finish… these batch mocktail recipes. I have a big birthday coming up soon so thinking of making one or two of these as an option for the non-imbibers.
The Marigold Potager - A Zone 3 Prairie Garden 
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