Wrapping Up the 2021 Work Season with a Fall Cleanup in Little Portugal

Tidying Up Before the Snow Arrived

Another successful work season is finally over and my reward is now having the time to read, rest and recover.  Every year it gets a little harder to work outside but that's just part of getting older. From April to November I get to see all sorts of gardens, good and bad, and all sorts of clients (all good, well...). Working in a cubicle performing the same tasks daily is definitely something I don't miss.

The fall cleanups went on right until the end of November since we didn't have a significant snowfall until a few days ago. I managed to see some new clients who approached me quite late but luckily, the bad weather held out until after I was able to work for them.

This post covers a very small weeding and pruning project in the Little Portugal section of Toronto. The lots in this neighbourhood tend to be narrow and shallow so the actual garden areas are on the small side. Still, if a garden has not been weeded all season, it tends to look like this by late autumn, regardless the size:

Little Portugal Toronto Fall Cleanup Before 

Little Portugal Toronto Fall Cleanup Before

Toronto Little Portugal Fall Cleanup Before

Toronto Little Portugal Fall Cleanup Before 

Working in the cold (just a few degrees above zero) is always hard but fortunately the front garden wasn't large so after a few hours of weeding and pruning, it looked much tidier.

Little Portugal Toronto Fall Cleanup After 

Little Portugal Toronto Fall Cleanup After 

Toronto Little Portugal Fall Cleanup After

Toronto Little Portugal Fall Cleanup After 

The backyard garden is typically (for this area) also small but similarly ignored all season:

Toronto Little Portugal Fall Cleanup Before

Little Portugal Toronto Fall Cleanup Before

I usually suggest that ornamental grasses be left alone for the winter to give the homeowners something to look at for five plus months but as per the clients' request, I cut them down. I also assumed that snow will be piled on to the bed anyway in order to access the garage so it will be easier to do this without the tall grasses getting in the way.

Toronto Little Portugal Fall Cleanup After

Little Portugal Toronto Fall Cleanup After 

A Backyard Garden Cleanup in Sherwood Park

A Season's Worth (At Least) of Weeds

October's weather here in Toronto has been unusually warm and dry, making working outside for a person like me very enjoyable. Even weeding two large garden beds, as shown in this post, was almost enjoyable.

It was a straightforward project: The clients who live in the mid-town Toronto area called Sherwood Park hired me to tidy up the two backyard garden beds they inherited by having them weeded and mulched. Being tenants, they have no interest in buying new plants but instead the directive was to make things look respectable (I paraphrase but that was the underlying message.)

And who can blame them? If you were looking at the beds as shown in these "before" pictures all summer, you'd likely feel the same:

Sherwood Park Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup Before

Sherwood Park Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup Before 

Sherwood Park Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup Before

Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup in Sherwood Park Before

Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup in Sherwood Park Before 

Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup in Sherwood Park Before

Afterwards...

The clients chose the black-dyed shredded wood mulch that's commonly seen in many neighbourhoods. It is a relatively inexpensive product found in most home improvement stores and like any mulch, by spreading a 3 inch layer on the bare soil surface, it should suppress weed seeds from germinating.  This is an important function as these clients lead very busy lives.

So if you're ready to see a lot (a sea?) of black mulch, here you go...

Sherwood Park Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup After

Sherwood Park Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup After

Sherwood Park Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup After
 

Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup in Sherwood Park After

Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup in Sherwood Park After 

Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup in Sherwood Park After

Not a spectacular garden makeover, I agree, but this post shows you what I usually do throughout the working season.

From Weedy to Wonderful?

A Front Garden Renovation in East York

Performing garden makeovers (miracles?) seem to be my specialty as I've done more than a few this season. Although the actual weeding can be tiring, it's very gratifying to see order emerging out of the chaos due to my two hands (and strong back, for now.) 

I recently was invited to renovate a small front garden in the Toronto neighbourhood of East York.  Take a look at this "before" picture of the main central bed in front of the house, looking down from the porch:

East York Toronto Front Garden Renovation Before 

As the saying goes, the space has "a lot of potential" which is a euphemism for "a lot of physical work is involved"  in getting the garden back to a clean slate. Given the amount of weeds which have grown unimpeded all season, this means methodical hand digging in order to remove all the weeds by their roots. (I don't use herbicides so weeding for me involves a long handled shovel.)

Our immediate goals (after discussing with the client) were to make the main front street bed presentable by removing the weeds, planting a few dozen daffodil, grape hyacinth and allium bulbs for next spring and laying down some cedar mulch.

After a long day, both beds next to the path leading to the front door were weed-free and ready to accept the new bulbs and future perennials. Lastly, I spread a layer of mulch in order to reduce weeding and watering requirements. 

Here are more before and after pictures of the small project from various angles around the sidewalk and front porch:

East York Toronto Front Garden Renovation After 

By the way, I left the bulb packaging on the beds so that the client can take some pictures or notes and have an idea what bulbs will emerge in what locations next April.

 Toronto Front Garden Makeover in East York Before 

 Toronto Front Garden Makeover in East York After

 Toronto Front Garden Renovation East York Before 

 Toronto Front Garden Renovation East York After 

 Toronto Front Garden Renovation East York Before 

 Toronto Front Garden Renovation East York After 

East York Toronto Front Garden Renovation Before 

East York Toronto Front Garden Renovation After

East York Toronto Front Garden Makeover Before 

East York Toronto Front Garden Makeover After 

I'll provide the homeowner a plant shopping list so that during next spring, she can get the perennials and fill up this prominently visible garden with lots of colour and form. So, yes, I'm hopeful that we can go from weedy to wonderful in a few seasons, now that the mundane but necessary task of clearing out the gardens of mature weeds is out of the way.

A Front Garden Rescue in the Allenby Neighbourhood of Toronto

I Can Hear the Neighbours Breathe a Sigh of Relief!

Once or twice every work season, I'm asked to weed or clean up a garden that "has gone to seed", that is, the weeds have taken over the beds or the existing shrubs haven't been pruned in over a decade. If things are too extreme and/or the gardens are too large, I often won't accept the project (I work by myself after all.) 

So when I was given the client's address, walked up to the house and saw this, I thought "well, here we go again!"

Allenby Toronto Front Yard Cleanup Before 

Here are some other views from various angles. They don't get any better.

Allenby Toronto Front Yard Cleanup Rescue Before

Toronto Allenby Front Yard Cleanup Before 

Toronto Allenby Front Yard Cleanup Before 

Allenby Toronto Front Yard Cleanup Before

My heart sank a little (well, a lot) lower when I saw the river rocks protruding between the weeds as the odds were very high that the original installer used the classic "river rock on top of landscape fabric" technique. For those who have to weed these areas, you know my pain. Weeds will grow up and through the thin fabric from below or in between the rock crevices. 

This was certainly the case here as the rocks are partially hidden by weeds.

I knew the weeding had to occur over several visits and wasn't looking forward to dealing with the river rocks.

The upper tier had no rocks but infested, for lack of a better word, with grass and creeping bellflower:

Toronto Allenby Front Yard Weeding Before 

Toronto Front Yard Cleanup Before in the Allenby neighbourhood 

Being Sisyphus Again

Remember the Greek legend of Sisyphus? You can research as to why he was punished but his eternal fate was to roll a huge boulder up a hill in the netherworld, seeing it fall back down and forced to roll it back up over and over. In other words, he was destined to repeat a futile, frustrating and backbreaking task.

Sounds familiar?

Just like me and river rocks!

For this cleanup, I had to place all the river rocks on the street (lucky they were near the road), uncover the old and tattered landscape fabric underneath, discard it, remove the weeds growing underneath, roll a new piece of fabric and place the rocks back on top.

Unlike poor Sisyphus though, this is not an eternal punishment for me at this client's front yard in dealing with the rocks but rest assured, I will be doing the same thing at another client's place sooner or later.

Here are some "after" pictures showing the garden being rescued. The clients were thrilled with the "new" area and I'm sure their neighbours were too.

Allenby Toronto Front Yard Cleanup After

Allenby Toronto Front Yard Cleanup After 

Toronto Allenby Front Yard Cleanup After 

Toronto Allenby Front Yard Cleanup After 

Allenby Toronto Front Yard Cleanup Rescue After 

Toronto Allenby Front Yard Weeding After 

Toronto Front Yard Cleanup After in the Allenby neighbourhood 

I guarantee weeds will reappear within a few years in between the river rocks but someone else can be Sisyphus for a day then.

A Summer Garden Cleanup in High Park

Weeding Under a Majestic Oak

It's mid-July and the new garden installations are all done but the weeding is incessant. That's a good thing, though, from a cash flow perspective!

I'll go over a small front garden cleanup in Toronto's High Park neighbourhood in this post. 

The area is under a huge oak so I raked many leaves that weren't collected last autumn. 

And, yes, the weeding...

Here are some before and after pictures, which feature a very beautiful Japanese maple!

High Park Toronto Summer Garden Cleanup Before

High Park Toronto Summer Garden Cleanup After 

I didn't intend to make the fire hydrant a design focal point but there's no way to screen or hide it!

High Park Toronto Summer Garden Cleanup Before 

High Park Toronto Summer Garden Cleanup After 

Toronto High Park Summer Garden Cleanup Before

Toronto High Park Summer Garden Cleanup After

Toronto High Park Summer Garden Cleanup Before 

Toronto High Park Summer Garden Cleanup After

Toronto High Park Summer Garden Cleanup Before 

Toronto High Park Summer Garden Cleanup After

Gardening Under a Maple Tree: A Sisyphean Task?

Installing a New No Lawn Front Garden in the Fairbank/Belgravia Neighbourhood of Toronto

Gardening under a big maple tree is often an uphill battle. Much like Sisyphus being condemned by Zeus to push the same boulder up a hill, seeing it fall back down and repeating this task for the rest of eternity, a gardener who is foolishly optimistic and plants a new garden under a thirsty maple often sees the new plants die due to the dense shade and losing the competition to the tree for nutrients and water and feels the need to replace them. The process is repeated often until the gardener runs out of patience or funds. 

I suppose it's a little better than what Sisyphus is currently dealing with, according to the myth.

But it's also a myth that establishing a garden in dry shade cannot be done. I've seen many gardens under mature trees which seem to thrive in seemingly inhospitable conditions. (Although, to be fair, I'm not privy to the homeowner's water bill if irrigation is constantly needed).

With this foolish optimism, I created this new garden in less than favourable conditions. 

Here's a picture showing the client's small front garden in Toronto's west end, under and around a maple tree before I "renovated" ("resurrected"?) it:

Fairbank Toronto No Lawn Front Garden Installation Before

This space was a small patch of lawn until last year when the homeowner decided to remove it. She was tired of watering and mowing such a small patch of grass and the lawn was probably patchy anyway, being in the shade of the maple.

As you can see, weeds have taken advantage of the bare soil before I arrived!

The soil itself was very compacted due to construction (house renovation) so digging holes for the new transplants was a challenge. The maple's extensive surface root system didn't help with the transplanting process either, especially near the base of the trunk.

But I managed to find pockets of soil to place the small starter perennials. 

Here are more before and after pictures of the no lawn garden makeover:

Fairbank Toronto No Lawn Front Garden Installation After 

Belgravia Toronto No Lawn Front Garden Installation Before

Belgravia Toronto No Lawn Front Garden Installation After 

Belgravia Toronto No Lawn Front Garden Installation Before

Fairbank Toronto No Lawn Front Garden Installation After

Toronto Belgravia No Lawn Front Garden Installation Before 

Toronto Belgravia No Lawn Front Garden Installation After

Toronto Fairbank No Lawn Front Garden Installation Before

Toronto Fairbank No Lawn Front Garden Installation After 

Toronto Fairbank No Lawn Front Garden Installation Before 

Toronto Fairbank No Lawn Front Garden Installation After 

With regular watering by the homeowner, the new perennials should overcome the typical challenges of living under a maple. But then again, I'm a half full glass kind of gardener!