[edmonton life]

It has been 10 months of first-time home ownership and 11 months since we moved from England to Edmonton. Gosh, lots has happened in that time (new jobs, travels, friends, marriage, a baby on the way...) but what we've been really enjoying is settling into our new ( 6 year old) home. Not only have we now been excited about organising a nursery for the little one on the way, but over the last ten months, just doing the routine house maintenance hasn't been a chore but a pleasure. At last we're no longer renters and keeping someone else's abode in tip-top condition; it's our own.

Last summer (mid June), as soon as we took possession of the house, I set about planting some trees and bushes. I couldn't believe that the previous owners had lived here 6 years and hadn't planted one thing...not a flower, not a seed! I quickly found out what plants could withstand an Albertan winter and am so pleased to see that our trees have survived. I was warned that our delicate lilacs wouldn't make it (though I did pick ones that were grown in Alberta and hardy for our climate).

So far, our cherry tree, maple tree, red ash tree, lilac bushes and willow are doing well. I'm hoping the apple tree will show more signs of life soon but it is in the shadiest bit of the garden.

This summer (hopefully this weekend!) I plan to start my raised bed in which I'll grow veggies.

Besides gardening, we also wanted to get our back garden fully fenced in. For some reason the previous owners didn't bother bringing the side fences all the way to the back of the house to enclose the garden. Yesterday, a brilliant retired carpenter came and not only built us our fence, but added on two gates. I didn't want just one gate...then you're stuck in the garden on one side. This is how it looks now. We'll be able to stain the new addition in a week or so once the wood has dried out a bit more.

As you can see, there are four hinges on each gate. These are extra wide gates and the additional hinges offer that much-needed support. Also, a few of those beams on top of the gates will come off, they're there also to offer support while the cement (for the posts) dries.

And this is the view from the bottom of the garden:

And yes, there are a few patches of slow-growing grass...I have reseeded but this dry Alberta weather is not the best for grass. I'm actually looking forward to it raining!