Twenty years ago, I worked in a garden nursery, and ever since then I have wanted to garden. But life didn’t extend itself to me being in possession of a home with a garden for a great many years. But in the fall of 2023, my husband and I purchased a house. And it came with a lovely yard and garden.
The home we purchased was built in the 1950s, so it has a lot of mid century charm while being a home that is also modern. Homes in the 50s, 60s, 70s and into the 1980s came with larger lots than the later and new build homes did, and so we have a good size back yard and the previous owners cultivated a garden full of flowering plants and lovely trees.
I am not exactly sure what we have in our garden. I remember being breath taken by it when we viewed the home in July, prior to buying it. I know that in the fall I made a few observations about it and I know a little bit about it from the previous owners told us. But maintaining this garden is going be a learning curve as well as a lot of hard work.
What I Do Know About Our Garden
What I do know is that we have several cedars trees and at least one maple tree in our back yard. We also have another evergreen tree, a pine tree. These trees offer us a lot of shade and privacy and will be cooling to the space in the hot summer months. I love this about our yard as I have never lived in home that had a yard with large trees and I find it so peaceful. My favourite tree is the Japanese maple tree. There are some other deciduous trees in our garden but I am not sure at present what species they are. But because the home is older, all the trees are a nice size and offer a lot of shade.
I also know that the previous owners planted a lot perennials which means I’ll have a lot of plants flowering at different times throughout the spring, summer and fall months. Some of these plants are hostas, which I am not overly fond of, as well as purple cornflowers (again, not ones that excite me) but the others are ones I have not identified as of yet. It seems we may have some tulips, possibly forget-me-nots (I am excited about these), ground cover and that’s about what I know. I am pretty sure we have a lilac bush (tree?) and a hydrangea, but time will tell.
Gardening in April
To be honest, most years in April, it would still be too cold for us to be gardening. We live in Canada, and in the part of the Canada where we live, the spring months are unpredictable. I remember it snowing once in late April. Really, nothing is safe until after the Victoria Day long weekend in Canada, which falls on the third weekend in May.
But this year, we had an extremely mild winter thanks to El Niño. We only had a couple of snowfalls where snow actually accumulated and stayed on the ground, and it didn’t stay for long. The temps were unusually high. And so everything has started to green up very early. Even as I write this, it’s a lovely spring day and I’m really longing to be outside, but I can’t be due to reasons I won’t get into, so instead I’m writing about the garden I wish I was in.
Seeing as things are sprouting and budding, we got out there and cut back all the dead bits that we didn’t have time to cut back in the fall because we had just moved in. My husband cleared out a lot of fallen leaves and now we can see the plants coming through again and see the ground.
Snails and Other Wildlife
Our garden seems to be the cozy home of several bunnies. We have seen as many as three at at time during the fall and winter months, huddled in our garden and hanging out munching on green things. I love this about our garden. We have also noticed that birds seem fond of the garden and have witnessed squirrels vying for territory as well.
Plus, there’s this cute little snail that seems to like our garden as well.
I have to say, I’m dying to set up a bird feeder as I love birds. Soon.
Plans for Our Garden
I am going to follow the rule of thumb here in southern Ontario, and not do any new planting until the Victoria Day long weekend. I don’t even know what I want to plant. I am thinking of plants some veggies in the boxes we have in the yard (our yard slopes and has a little hill) but I am not sure if we will do as I’m also partial to the idea of planting herbs there or even a couple of rose bushes.
I would like to plant some annuals as these flower all summer and are lovely–I especially love snapdragons, pansies and marigolds, which I know can be planted with veggie plants to help keep pests away from your veggies. Though vegetables might not last long in a garden that seems to be home to several rabbits. I’ll have to see!
We do have a bit of a front garden as well. There’s al lovely birch tree, a blue spruce that has been kept rounded and low to the ground as well as some shrubs and a burning bush–which looked glorious in the fall. There is another tree out tree out there we hung our Christmas lights on; I suspect it’s an oak. I am hoping to plant some lily of the valley out in the front and hopefully in the back garden as well. I adore lily of the valley.
Ultimately, I want to maintain the garden that we inherited from the previous owners, enjoy it and add in plants I love as well. We’ll see what this spring and summer brings us in the garden!
Have any gardening tips? Share them below!