Spring Color and Composting Service

This robin was checking out the strawberry patch. I transplanted about a dozen new little plants last Spring. They might produce this year, but I should keep the fruit production to a minimum while the plants get established.
The colors and simplicity as well as the shadow and light of this photo intrigued me. If it was not a bug, I might print it and hang it in my new yellow kitchen. :-))

The fruit trees are coming into bloom, as well as all the camillias, azalyeas, rhodos, forsythias, winter jasmine and so many others. The streets of the city are beautiful and fragrant. The Spring blooming bulbs are livening up gardens and boulevards. The hum of lawn mowers and the screech of trimmers is much in evidence.

Yesterday was another sunny glorious day. We got a deli sandwich lunch and drove out to the Songhees area to have our picnic. After that I walked, shooting for this months Victoria Grid Project photo group on Flickr. .. more on this later.

Last August I signed up for a composting service that has made my gardening much easier. They drop off a big green compost bin. I add all clippings and tree trimmings to the bin. They pick up all the compostable material and leave me a 20L bag of compost, monthly for a fee of $20.00. During the first few months my bin was full to overflowing, as I loaded all the piles of shrub clippings and tree trimmings that were lying around the garden. The last few months I have had very little in the bin, except for the kitchen compost. I have six bags of compost to use in the reseeding of bits of lawn in my garden, in the vegetable garden and the flower beds. My old compost bin at the back will need to be emptied someday, also.

Daffodils

The crocuses are about finished their show. Now the daffodils are beginning to open. A cheery sight when the sky is overcast and gray. The little blue anemones are in bloom also. I must make a bed somewhere with the blue as the carpet and the daffodils higher in the sea of blue. The bed along beside the gargage would be a good place to pop in a few daffodils. The tulips from that area seem to need rejuvenation anyway. The tulips do not bloom the same time as the anemones, so I shall add a few daffs there. And perhaps get a few anemones for along the driveway where the daffs are currently.

Himself cut up the trees for firewood. I swept up the patio area and we put the twigs,l sawdust etc. onto the rhodos. I then washed down the patio area. By the time I finished it was beginning to rain so that was the end of the gardening for the day. This area looks good, now. The moss is still growing but I kinda like this moss rather than the plain of textured concrete. The moss also extends up the path that goes around the garage. It adds a patina to the garden, making it look established and old... which it is. This part of the garden was started in 1988, so 20 years old.

The water garden looks good filled up. It is not losing any water and there were 3 fish visible in a quick look at it.