A Pip's Pot of Dirt: Springtime in my garden :)

Well, after long days and nights of waiting and wishing, Spring has finally decided to grace us with her presence - and hopefully for good this time! I managed to shrug off the snow a couple times throughout April, if it happens in May, I'm moving South. :(

Anyway, so I was puttering around a bit in the backyard today, just having a look at what's appearing, and was pleasantly surprised to find that my herbs that were wintered outside survived and seem to be growing much better this year (they were transplanted to their new 'home' here last summer). The sad part is that I will want to take all or a portion of them with me when we move in July and I'm not sure how well they'll handle it... I have to say, I love my current yard. It's small and dark and woodsy - surrounded by ever-green hedges that have largely been left uncared for (I try to prune the spots I can reach). It gives it a sort of 'woodland garden' feel, that I hope I can at least partly recreate at our new home in Aylmer.

So far my old fashioned roses are doing better where I moved them (which is a relief), the orange lillies are insane (I tried thinning them but I can barely keep up!). One great thing about them is you really can't kill them - I had pulled a huge pile of them out of the ground and left them at the side of the house in a heap on top of the ground. About three weeks later, Luc put up the last section of fence, and I thought it needed something, so I rescued them from the 'heap' and planted them and they're all doing fine (just a bit smaller than their 'cousins' that didn't get ripped out by the black thumb of death ;) ). Anyway, I planted day lillies in the back yard, recommended (and purchased) by a friend, but I don't seem to be having the same luck with them. Maybe I left it too long to plant them, or maybe I planted them upside down (I think I did for at least a few of them). So we'll see what happens with that. If they do come up, I want to take them with me to the new place - they cost a whopping $60!

So other investigating revealed that my mint has escaped its underground container (rascally mint) and is slowly taking up a spot in the side garden but that's fine. Not much else is growing there yet anyway. I planted two hostas in the fall and haven't seen either of them at all. I read somewhere that the earth worms may be to blame - I think I am overrun with them - every time I pull out a weed, or turn a shovel of earth there are like four or five of them crawling around.

I also have an evergreen ground cover (that I keep forgetting the name of) that produces little purple flowers in Spring and early Summer. I'll want to bring a sprig or two of it with me to the new place because it stays green and I love using it in my wreaths.

I also transplanted some ferns from the side of the house over to the shady side garden again this year - last year I did it in the middle of summer (learned my lesson as they all died). This time they're taking to their new spot very well, so that should help fill in some of the baldness over there too. Also I was excited (I have a very uneventful life) to find my wild thyme has really spread itself out! Running my fingers over the tops of the leaves produced a beautiful smell, I love it.

So what else? My lavendar, (pictured here),

isn't looking too hot, but it hates where I planted it, which was the sunniest spot I have and only gets a few hours of morning sun. I will be moving it to a sandier, sunnier location at the new place. My herbs, despite having about four inches of sand and gravel dumped on them from the contractors doing work next door, are flourishing, again much better than last year. My lovage is huge, I have a nice patch of oregano starting, chives, and a bit of thyme and tarrigon too. No sign of the dill but maybe it wasn't perrenial - I know nothing about it, just put it in the ground (and way too late) last year. Now that I'll have room for a proper garden, I plan to have a much bigger patch, I LOVE dill.

This is my oregano: