Front of Deck Garden

In 2022 we had new siding put on the house, and as a result of the construction zone, this garden area was neglected for a couple of years. (Yes, I know. The siding and windows were completed in the summer of 2022, so what was our excuse for 2023? I don’t have one, we just didn’t get around to it….)

The restoration began shortly after Christmas. It was a rare Green Christmas. I don’t know of anyone who remembers a Green Christmas in Nelson. So around the end of December, while there was no snow, and the temperatures were around a balmy 4 or 5 degrees C, I decided there was work to be done, and there was an opportunity to do it. The picture below was taken on Dec 31. It was the perfect conditions to dig up the old garden bed and remove the layers of decomposed bark mulch. 

Around the end of December and beginning of January, I was able to work for several days before the snow returned. Sometime around February, there was another warm stretch and I was able to continue the work. I scraped the old layers of bark mulch down to a layer of fabric that was put in place in 2015 when we redid the entire sump system for the house. (A story for another posting….maybe).

A few more hours of work…

A few, maybe more, hours of work…

I was able to make significant progress during those warm stretches in the middle of winter, and by the time spring rolled around, it was not too difficult to put on the finishing touches. In this next photo you can see how I have scraped down to the layer of garden fabric. (Most of the lower right hand quadrant of the garden.) You can also see the new garden fabric that I placed along the side of the house.

This garden area is a little more than 1/3 of the side of the house, including the deck. There is another small area where there is some infrastructure relating to the septic system. I haven’t quite figured out what to do with that section. There is also larger area towards the back of the house which I hope to turn into lawn. I will be able to mow that.

There is still a bit of work to do on the watering system, hence the piece of tubing seen at the front, but it’s pretty close to completion. The flowers were recently planted and by mid summer they should be well grown in, (except for the plants the deer eat….grrrr)