Garden Muses: A Small Toronto Gardening Services Company Blog: July 2020

23.7.20

A Koreatown Front Garden Cleanup and Installation

A New Front Garden on a Slope

Gardening on a slope can be difficult if retaining walls and tiers are not constructed but not impossible. In this post, I'm returning back to a sloped "garden" in the Toronto neighbourhood of Koreatown.

My first visit in September 2019, profiled in a post titled "A Front Garden Cleanup in Koreatown: Labouring on Labour Day" , involved heavy duty weeding. It became apparent quickly during my second and most recent visit that no maintenance occurred between visits, as the "before" photos show:

Koreatown Toronto Front Slope Weeding and New Installation After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Gardening Services Company

Koreatown Toronto Front Slope
Weeding and New Installation Before

Koreatown Toronto New Front
Garden Installation Before

Toronto Koreatown Front
Garden Installation Before

Toronto Koreatown Front Garden
Weeding and New Installation Before

Toronto Koreatown Front Slope
Weeding and New Installation Before

The client requested a new garden with some sort of groundcover, with the aims of filling in the exposed slope surface (and reduce future weeding), retaining the soil that naturally wants to spill to the bottom with every heavy rainstorm, and creating some curb appeal. Simply throwing a layer of mulch on top of the slope just means a nice big mound at the bottom over time.

The slope has no retaining elements (e.g., boulders) and the client does not wish to pay for the construction of tiered beds. The area faces west so receives full sun all afternoon.

After removing the wonderful thistle and other large weeds, my plan was to create a rock garden look, without the rocks. Unfortunately, she couldn't find my suggested plants like moss phlox and rock cress but was able to purchase other "alpine" type of perennials.

And afterwards....

Koreatown Toronto Front Slope
Weeding and New Installation After

Admittedly, new "baby" perennial transplants seem puny (they are) but with regular watering during the first season, they should fill in over time.

Koreatown Toronto New Front
Garden Installation After

Toronto Koreatown Front
Garden Installation After

Toronto Koreatown Front Garden
Weeding and New Installation After

The new garden is prone to heavy weed infestation with all the freshly exposed soil so I advised the client to keep on top of the weeding and watering. It will be interesting to see if these maintenance tasks were actually done!

11.7.20

A Riverdale 2020 Spring Cleanup

There's a Patio and Garden Somewhere Under All these Leaves!

We all lead busy lives and for many homeowners (lucky for me), cleaning up the various garden areas isn't a priority. I just think of it as job security!

This post goes over a recent spring cleanup in Toronto's Riverdale neighbourhood. Or, rather, a delayed fall 2019 tidy up since the bulk of the work involved raking up last autumn's leaves.

Here are some pictures from the backyard: As you can see, nothing intricate, most of the job involved scraping up the wet and matted maple leaves which were becoming nice leaf compost.

Riverdale Back Garden Spring Cleanup Before

Toronto 2020 Back Garden Spring
Cleanup Before in Riverdale

Toronto Back Garden Spring
Cleanup Before in Riverdale

Toronto Riverdale Back Garden
Spring Cleanup Before

This back raised garden area was full of weed tree saplings which germinated from nearby Tree of Heaven and maple trees.

Toronto Riverdale Back Garden Spring Cleanup Before

The front area shown below had a few weeds but pruning the overgrown spirea and yew shrubs near the front steps was the priority:

Toronto Riverdale Front Garden
Spring Cleanup Before

Riverdale Front Garden
Spring Cleanup Before

Afterwards...

Riverdale Back Garden Spring Cleanup After

My cordless electric leaf blower came in very handy in cleaning up the newly exposed flagstone.

Toronto 2020 Garden Spring
Cleanup After in Riverdale

Toronto 2020 Back Garden Spring
Cleanup After in Riverdale

Toronto Back Garden Spring
Cleanup After in Riverdale

Toronto Riverdale Back Garden
Spring Cleanup After

And, again, in the front afterwards. Clear access of the paths and front steps ensured.

Toronto Riverdale Front Garden
Spring Cleanup After

7.7.20

A Shade Garden Makeover in North High Park

Under An Ancient Oak, A New Garden Emerges

Surprised to hear from me? I haven't posted anything in a while so I'll apologize now and get that out of the way.

It's been a very strange 2020 so far due to COVID-19: I wasn't allowed to work by the provincial government until early May and my clients had a very difficult time finding plants in general at the garden centres. Still, after all of this, one of my iron laws of garden maintenance is in effect: weeds continue to grow and my clients would prefer going to the dentist than being in their gardens weeding. Job security, I guess.

Today's post goes over one of my early May garden makeovers in the High Park North area of Toronto. The clients, a busy young couple with children, requested a new front garden under a very large and mature oak tree. They didn't want to spend too much on plants so I suggested about 15 shade tolerant perennials under the oak's high canopy.

Here are some "before" and "after" pictures of the shade garden around the oak: