Construction in the City has resumed! (Thank you, spring, for FINALLY arriving.) And on the YEG Homestead, as well! (I now think of this as the “where the hell did I get THAT bruise??” season. Well, I’m learning–and bruising–so you don’t have to!)
So, today would’ve been my Mum’s 67th birthday. She died just over a year ago. 6 months before that, one of my best friends (and her brother) also died. I’d planned for this summer to build a memorial garden in the Homestead, and today was the day.
Not gonna lie – it was a gong show. I swore SO much, but. Damn. This shit was SO much more work than I’d anticipated! (Which should be the motto for the Homestead, come to think of it…)
So, let’s learn from my screw-ups, shall we?
To begin, this:
Fig 1.0: The axis of misery
This is chaos. And my starting point. From here, I had to figure out how to get the mulch (brown bags) into the grid (see above right) and configure the planters (red, lower right). But I got this, right? It’s going to go EXACTLY as I’d planned!
Welp, nope.
But before we get into that, I have to give a shout-out to my first-ever whippersnipper experience. I am frightened of blades and things that might chop my toes off if I dare even look at them. But, YEG Homestead, baby, so I bought one. Took me 2 weeks and another engineering mishap before I got it up and running. (Mishap? Yeah, when you put parts 1 and 2 together, apparently there’s twisting. Not strenuous twisting, but I didn’t realize and thought I’d broken it. I figured it out eventually.) But good GAWD. These things are fun as HECK. I actually “chortled” for the first time in my life. What I found terrifying was just something that I’d built up in my own head.
Fig 1.1: Not the devil you might think it is
LESSONS LEARNED:
1. If you’ve never used a whippersnipper, do NOT go old-school, heavy, corded, or gasoline. Get thyself a Ryobi, lightweight, beautiful, cheap beastie. It took me a lot of bravery the first time I hit the “GO” button, but holy shit. I had the power of the GODS.
So, after I screwed up bolting the garden frame together (that’s a post for another time) I started with laying down the weed fabric. And, for the record, I used the “mid-weight” fabric from Home Depot. Sorry, can’t remember the manufacturer (there were only 3 weights from one company to choose from: light, mid, and professional).
LESSONS LEARNED:
1. Use scissors. Good sharp ones. All of the Pinterest geniuses AND the man-splainers in life will bugle about using an exacto knife for this. Nope. I tried, got crooked lines and a small injury. So I got out my (super-nice, sharp, likely for cutting fabric or for crafting) (or for Kindergarteners) scissors from Canadian Tire, and all was well.
2. Whatever you do, do NOT lay weed fabric on a breezy day. I know, I know – I was constrained by the day of the week, too. So, if you HAVE to do it on a breezy day, have a ton of ballast at hand. Chunks of wood, plant pots, jars of moonshine, small napping children…just lay in a supply.
Fig 1.2: Ballast
And here’s where everything went south.
I’d looked at various materials. Bark, rock, mulch, etc…but the Homestead is a humble one. So, rock? (My dream.) Out. Too pricy. So I looked at all kinds of stuff, and decided that cedar mulch would be in the Homestead’s budget and best interest. After all, the one community garden that I absolutely adore has beautiful mulched walking paths, that are now trodden and bleached and gorgeous. Right?
Fig 1.3: The dark night of the soul
Welp, nope. It looked like shit. Worse, was impossible to walk on.
LESSONS LEARNED:
1. Do not purchase an item for what you think is a specific use without seeing it in action. For example, the greenhouse I go to had the spruce chips that they sell in an open tub, so that folks like me can touch them and say “nope!” I was an idiot for buying these in an opaque bag. Learn from my screw-up!
So, I couldn’t walk on it, or put a nice a bench or planter on it. As it happens, I have a gorgeous, old, gnarly apple tree that suffers from ants and, last year, drought. Mulch can help, apparently. So, here you go, old guy:
Fig 1.4: Please love this tree
When Pippin died, I planted a lilac (for some reason, he would always sniff lilac flowers). There was a LOT of mulch left, so I mulched in his lilac (yes, it’s overly ambitious in terms of space, but the lilac will grow!):
Fig 1.5: He’ll grow into it
I DID get the memorial planters in, though – for Mum, nasturtiums, sweet peas, and yellow (her favourite colour) flowers, and for Mark, hops, barley, and pink (it’s not pink, it’s SALMON) (family joke) flowers.
The Mum and Mark Memorial Garden is not yet complete, but stay tuned – updates will be posted!
YEG Homesteader 