Garden 2026 Update #2 Fruit Trees, Spring Projects & Painting the Garden

My latest garden update for 2026 here in zone 6a in southwestern Ontario Canada.

Year #3 with blossoms but no fruit visible at all for Harry, my Italian Plum Tree. 

Maybe next year is the year everyone's hoping for!

The Honey Crisp apple blossoms look promising. 

I did a pretty hard prune last season with all fruit trees and berry bushes 

so we'll just have to wait & see how well they bounce back this year. 

 Potted Bleeding Hearts at the back garden pond. 

Beautiful pansies that self-seeded and survived the harsh Southern Ontario winter. 

Beautiful Forget Me Nots are all over my yard. In Pink, blue and white. 

Lovely spring strawberry blossoms throughout the strawberry beds. 

Felix & Oscar, the Odd Musical Tin Rooster Duo standing guard over Victoria, the rhubarb that over-wintered in the massive compost bin after I pulled her and tossed her out. Victoria has been re-homed back into the garden between grape vines, and next to the strawberries. 

I've finally repainted my DIY raised metal bed (it's 2 window wells I bought on FB marketplace years ago) with the same paint I re-painted the garden cottage. I think it's called Misty Green. Somehow, the camera at this angle picks up some sort of muted yellow? 😄 In any case, it's a fresh new upgrade from the battleship gray the metal bed used to be. 

This might be the worst "before/after" image ever 😂 but it's only because the camera really didn't capture the HUGE difference in color. On the left the metal bed is classic gray. On the right, it's a soft green.  In real life, it's a 10 million percent improvement in how the garden looks. Also, the bright green and purple pots seen here have been part of a project to "Paint the Garden", to beautify the space, and add a wonderful pop of color to every area of the growing spaces. 

We inherited my father in law's park bench after he passed away in 2020, and it's been in need of some real TLC for a long time. That happened recently, with a quick pressure wash.  

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you've enjoyed what you've read here, and if you have any thoughts or questions please feel welcome to leave a comment. 😊

Touching Grass & Getting Out the Paints!

Several different articles, podcasts, videos & memes have come up lately that have drawn my attention to how so many people are struggling with our "time spent online" in various ways and across various formats. Which, to me, is kind of a red flag that lots of different people are getting the same vibe that something about it just doesn't seem right. Or, porpotionate. Or something.  It seems pretty clear, all sorts of people are noticing it doesn't feel right. 

One example was this from 2024 recently making the rounds again on social media, showing how and where people spend their time from 1930 to 2024.  I can't vouch for it's accuracy but I suspect anyone viewing agrees at how fast things have drastically changed. I don't think of myself as someone who spends a ton of time online but when I see things like that, I'm even more determined to spend way more time outside & offline. 

Where I live in southern Ontario Canada, as long as the weather allows, I'm outside. Generally barefoot, and in the dirt.  It's just what feels right to me. As much as I'm able, I'm outside and today was no exception. I planted out my sweet onions, got rid of a bunch of junk that's been piling up, re-installed a downspout & picked up a cute new garden decor item.

This was completely unplanned, but after I picked this up I absolutely had to re-paint this cute, tin hummingbird wind chime. Nothing like a 4 hour unplanned painting session on the deck to completely de-stress & enjoy the early spring sunshine on the deck.

There's also nothing like picking up your paint pens & paints and brushes and remembering how much you miss it. I should most certainly be doing more of this! 

Thanks for stopping by.  As always, I hope you're encouraged by what you've read here, and if you have any thoughts or suggestions please feel welcome to leave a comment. 😊

Garden 2025 Update #5: Pictorial Garden Tour and a Triple Garden Mystery!

Welcome to my fun pictorial garden tour. 🌿I hope this blesses, inspires and encourages you in some wonderful way. 😊

The best of the garden from April 14th through May 20th.  This is spring in southern Ontario, zone 6a: 

Both of these guys think they're my garden assistants. 

Noobies on the left, and Ed on the right.

Both of them follow me around while I work in the garden.  😍

Early spring solar lighting accents in the very empty garden. 

Ed in complete control of the garlic/pepper bed. 

Hardneck garlic on the edge of the pepper bed. 

Mama Robin moved 3 of these eggs and left the fourth one. 😢

While I began the hardening off process for my tomatoes and peppers, my foyer almost looked like walking into an indoor nursery. 😄

Plsease allow me to introduce you to Thinking Harry. My youngest daughter found him and immediately decided he needed a home in our garden. Harry will live in the blackberry bed for now.

The lovely bloom of the Italian Prune tree.  💖

Beautiful welded dragonflies by my youngest in her last year of high school shop class. 💖

 

Three different colors of Forget Me Nots, all in one lovely bunch. These volunteer all over my back garden just about everywhere you look. 💖

Mr. Possum tried sneaking out early but I saw him & he slowly waddled back under the deck.  

My first strawberry bloom 

Seeing all the new growth on the grapevines just makes me so happy 😍

The chamomile I winter sowed and it's doing just fantastic. 

I find these little metallic stars in random places in my yard. Some gold, some silver. It's wild!

The view from the lawn swing. I love my tiny little garden. 

First sauce tomato of 2025

All the peppers are doing fantastic

The view from the deck May 16th

Help me solve a TRIPLE garden mystery 🌿🔎

What kind of bug is this on the peppermint?

Likewise... what kind of bug is this, on another peppermint plant?

What kind of plant is this? This is a volunteer & I've never seen it before. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you're encouraged by what you've read here, and if you have any thoughts or suggestions please feel welcome to leave a comment. 😊

Garden 2024 Upate #6

Update on the 2024 garden progress. 

Sweet peppers will be used for roasting, freezing & freeze drying for soups & dips. 

Chives & Cherry Tomatoes

Pickling Cucumbers

Volunteer Hibiscus Plant 

The view from the lawn swing after a long day gardening 💖

Sitting alongside a crackling fire at the end of the day is a refreshment I can't recommend enough.

Take a moment. Praise God. Enjoy the fruit of your labor. 

My Urban Homestead 💖 Food Forest

The goal: fresh, organically grown food available in every square foot in the almost 1200 square foot garden space. I'm very close to that goal now so here is what's available in this small area: 

blackberries, strawberries, grapes, sweet potatoes, carrots, peppers, green beans, tomatoes, garlic, potatoes, plums & apples. 

My first ever, 4 leaf clover. 😊

Yukon Gold potatoes

Bloomerang Lilac Bush

Hardneck Garlic in the DIY window well raised bed

I hope you've been blessed and encouraged by what you've seen here. 

Please feel free to leave a comment with any gardening questions you may have!

Garden 2024 Update #5

As usual this time of year, time gets away from me. There's so many things to get ready for another growing season and that keeps me plenty busy.  Here's some fun pics to update on what's been going on in the garden since the last update.

The View From the Deck. I take this same shot all year long in all different seasons to show how quickly things change out there!  You can't see them all yet, but there are multiple things growing here. Sweet potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes, carrots, runner beans, Concord grapes, strawberries, plums, apples, blackberries and garlic.  In just a few short weeks this will all look completely different as I get my seedlings out there and what's already there begins to get bushy. The raised beds here will have a variety of peppers and tomatoes planted very soon. 

Honey Crisp Apple blossoms

Italian Prune blossoms - and the old farmer's tale (sort of like an old wives tale) says: 

when your plum trees blossom (not apple blossoms or peach blossoms, it must be the plum), winter is over and it's safe to plant out your garden.  I don't know how true it is, but the plum tree bloomed and there isn't a single frost in the 14 day forecast.  Looks like the rest of the garden will be going out real soon!

Forget Me Nots

Chives

Rhubarb

Concord Grape bud (first year growing these, I'm so excited to have my own grapes!)

I bought this fire pit for this exact reason. It did not disappoint! 😀

The view from my chair after a long day of work in the garden.  

When I say I have a "wee garden plot" I really do mean it.  It's roughly 1200 square feet of space to work with so I've creatively used every space I can to make it a productive piece of land. In small spaces like this, vertical growing comes in very handy! I use what's commonly called cattle panel trellising, even though they're not officially cattle panels, they're 3.5' x 7' galvanized steel mesh panels commonly used for concrete foundations, cable tied to standard t-posts. All my grapes, beans, blackberries and cucumbers are vertically trellised this way to make the best use of the space. 

Sweet Potatoes bordering the grape trellis

My executive garden assistant, Ed

The curved branch was demanding a lovely decoration

A work in progress!  It'll look a lot different when the Dutch clover is planted and the wildflowers begin to bloom.  All the local wildlife drink from the pond so the goal was to make it even more accessable to them, as well as finally making it a pretty place to sit and enjoy time in the garden.