Pickin Rocks

When we moved to this house about 6 years ago, one of the annoying things I wanted to change was the hideous red lava rock in the front 'flower' bed. I don't know why the previous owner bothered to create an island in the middle of the lawn with 'alan block' and then proceed to fill it full of lava rock.
I hate the stuff.
So the last two days I have been picking it out. What a back breaking job. My glutes feel like they are made of rock. Or at least it feels I am sitting on rocks.
I don't know what I am going to do with the stuff now that I have it out but I will ponder its new location and let you know where its going to reside.

On Wednesday a big bag of soil arrives so I needed to have the bed prepared for some of it before I start trucking it down to the back yard. I have been to the nurseries and started my plant collection. I hope to get rid of the layers of weed barrier that has been moldering under the lava rock.
I think there must be something really powerful in the rock...like a lot of iron or something that will be toxic to my poor green babies. I have ordered a soil for them that will be soft and nutritious.

I also plan to put a few vegetables in between the perennials and amongst the annuals. Like herbs; parsley, thyme, dill. I found some funny little round carrots which I hope will pop out like cherries but I fear will be pulled out like threads.
My strawberrries are poking through and so are the bulbs...I see leaves budding on the trees and I think it won't be long before I have apple, hawthorn and cherries blossoms.

It has been a while since I have enjoyed the garden, the first year here we went to Gabriola for July so the garden looked after itself and if I may say so it did a poor job of it.
The next year we struggled with a new plan for the garden and just got to know it before we dove in to make changes.
The following years I spent travelling to Burnaby to help the old folks and that killed my garden maybe I should say Bryan and Ginger killed it with neglect.

Then the year of the deck and the year of the reno and now I am really enjoying my lovely garden. I think I will buy a swing so that I can enjoy the deck as much as we enjoy snoozing in the swimg on the patio below.