It rained over the past week.  What a transformation.  It’s truly fall now.

Woo hoo!  Wishes granted.

Because I’d already committed to helping out in the garden at Jenecce Place, I was especially grateful for the wet.   The West Coast might be damp & chilly in the fall, but weeds are a whole lot easier to dig if the ground isn’t concrete dry.

There were 2 challenges presented to the volunteers from the View Royal Garden Club on Sunday afternoon.

The first was to create space for a veggie garden near the kitchen area of the house.  The chosen site was previously planted with native  kinnickinnick  for ground-cover & a blue fescue grass for architectural interest.

The second challenge was the slope running along the entrance sidewalk.  There were Yarrow, Oregon Grape, and the occasional grouping of  blue fescue tufts planted close to the walkway, but nothing further up the slope. The staff’s concern was the upcoming rainy season would bring erosion problems.

What complimentary challenges!  One site needed plantings removed – – the other needed plantings added.  Kismet!

We set about weeding & preparing planting holes.  The effort kept us warm.

When gardening in a team a fair amount of visiting can be accomplished while still continuing the task at hand.  I like that  🙂

I also found it interesting to see the different tools each seasoned gardener chose for her/his tasks.  Perhaps I’ll try some new tricks next time I’m in my own garden.

Dark clouds gathered, but happily the rain stayed away.  We progressed to moving plants from one bed directly into the other.

I’m always amazed at how proportions & space gets mixed up in my head.  I figured the plants to be moved wouldn’t come close to filling up the space available on the slope.  I was mistaken.  Near the end of the afternoon we squeezed in extra holes between new transplants just to finish clearing out the kitchen garden bed.

With a sense of satisfaction we sat down to muffins & tea knowing that the job was done.  it’s so nice when a project starts & finishes in one gathering.

A bit more visiting was a lovely wrap to the afternoon before I headed home to a warm shower.

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