Green beans continue an almost magical journey up the trellis. More tomatoes appear on the vine each day, and I’ve become fascinated with the red pepper blossoms in anticipation of my first crop of the vegetable.
The rhubarb will soon be ready for a pie (and I’ve been tinkering in my head with the recipe for a side dish). Already I’ve tasted some of the results from our herb patch.
The Rudbeckia have just begun to flower, the first crop of what I envision being a sizeable patch of Black-eyed Susan providing annual colour to the front yard. One lily appeared this week; there should have been more, but the inner-city deer have been using my front flower bed as a salad bar of sorts. All the hydrangea buds were also nibbled up weeks ago.
A group of shrubs were unexpectedly planted in a kidney-shaped patch on the front lawn I hadn’t intended on establishing until next year. There was a great deal at the garden centre, so my plans were moved up.
Yes, my garden is becoming an obsession. Each morning, even in the rain, I wander around the yard and check up on its progress. Each day reveals something wonderful.
I’ve not gardened in decades. Living in a condo in downtown Toronto these past years, there was only space for select plants on the terrace. Even before that, life left such little time for a garden.
Last spring, as we settled into our new home in Winnipeg (and its not really fitting to call a 125-year-old bungalow “new”) I spent days building raised planters throughout the yard. We also fiound spots for annuals and perennials along the edge. The front flower bed remains a work in progress.
Gardening is still very much a process of trial and error. So far, I’ve got better results with my tomatoes this year after building a secluded space for them to grow. Last year, the wide-open tomato crop was mainly devastated by chipmunks and squirrels who nibbled the bottoms off just about every piece of fruit.
I took a lot more care this year.
A garden requires care.
A garden becomes something to care about.
© 2026 j.g. lewis
