Who Needs Water?

It's been two weeks since my last blog, and by gosh, things are moving along!
The hedge is planted. The dry creek now flows from the stone wall Falls through to the steps, and is pushing toward the Green Belt. My Japanese ferns have found a shady space to tuck in (finally), but the poor Hostas have had another visit from the local deer. They're looking rather ratty. They'll recover, but I really must find something to deter those nibblers. Perhaps some hot red pepper flakes, sprayed onto the leaves of those poor Hostas.
Deer are not the only visitors to my garden, but they are the most destructive. Two days ago, just as we were sitting down to supper, we hard a loud crunching in the back yard. Thinking something had fallen, I rushed out and found a juvenile (about 1-2 years) black bear tearing up a fallen log at the back of the yard. Guess he was looking for his dinner-he had that log apart in minutes, and then silently walked back in the bush. Bob got a quick, but blurry picture (it was getting dark in that corner). Our first bear this year!

My How Time Flies!

Dog and I gave been busy in the Back Forty, starting that garden reno.
I hadn't realized how long it's been since I posted, but checking back, it's been 6 weeks.
Goodness!
Six weeks of very good weather has allowed us to make major changes to the North Garden.
First, the patio got built. This was the easy part-hired a neat contractor-got it done in
one afternoon. Very glad we did, too.
After much measuring, pricing, and research, we realized that we didn't have the tools,
or the backs to move and install that stone.
Next, the hedge. After poking around along the property line, the numerous stones and
Alder roots convinced us that we wouldn't be able to dig down to plant cedars, so we decided
to dig "up". Those bright green hedging cedars got planted in chimney flue tiles, lined up along the edge of the garden. The neighbours kept peeking around the corner ("what are those crazy people up to now?").
It was heavy work-hauling each tile (~ 30 pounds) and each cedar (5-6 feet tall) around from the front drive to the back of the yard, balanced on a dolly. There were 16 of each in all, but they all made it.
The best part- this narrow strip of land, 8 feet wide and 40 feet long, suddenly had real space.
Now- time to order the rocks.