Today the garden drew me in. With the retaining wall finished and all those plants sitting in their pots atop the soil, I couldn't delay any longer.

I should update you with the hard would db and I put in (especially db) as we spent a good two hours two nights ago carting soil from the driveway up into the back yard. Sounds easy enough right? Wrong. In order to do this we had to load buckets from the driveway, take them up the stairs to the first landing where the wheelbarrow was parked, load the wheelbarrow and then push it up an incline that leads into the back yard. Then we had to shovel the dirt uphill since we're dealing with what I would now call a raised bed that rises just above my waist. I leveled the ground just behind the wall and then the yard slopes up and away from there. It was tough work. We had already laid out the newspaper on top of the old soil, and wet it to keep it in place. Then we lay the new soil on top.

Today I got the reward of all the hard work, the planting. I must have put in about 20 plants in total. I mixed perennials and herbs and I even put in a few annuals too boost the colour. Then I mulched. Yup, me and the mulch have accepted one another. I know it must be put in now to maintain the look of the yard and I also knew that the mulch would be handy in holding some of that soil in place on the slope until the perennials fill in. Guess what? The mulch was piled in the driveway. I by-passed the wheelbarrow and just filled buckets and carried them to the backyard two by two by two etc etc. I have no idea how many trips I made, but I used all of the mulch and there's still an area in the back that needs to be mulched as well. Overall the view from the deck will be much improved now that the garden is planted. I can't believe it's almost completed. Now I can just enjoy it. I may get one or two more plants (i'm obsessed) since the sales are underway now.

I'm spent now. I was going to go to van city to see a friend, but I'll have to call her and postpone until next week. I think I'll just head out for a walk and enjoy what I can of the day before it's gone.