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Our Garden Plans Summer 2000 is finally upon us after what
seems to have been a long The Pond has experienced it's first winter with most fish and plants doing well, so we must have done something right. We have made a few additions of fish - four more Koi and a couple of Shubunkins, but our largest Koi that over-wintered is now approximately 14". When we got him last summer, he was only 2". The pond seems to have a slightly different look this year as plants have matured and grown and I'm sure will require some dividing this fall, but we seem to have made it through that first algae bloom of the season and it's starting to look like a pond again.
We have been busily dividing, planting and moving plants and shrubs this spring as has every gardener and I don't think we have a square foot of planting space left in the yard. Having said that our plan for this summer is to build a pergola for growing grapes. The only place left to plant is up. I was given some grapevine canes from my neighbour this spring that were brought back from Italy 15 years ago. We have wanted to grow grapes and build a pergola for some time, but with these canes all successfully sprouting in a large barrel planter where I put them in the interim, building of the pergola has taken on more of a sense of urgency. The pergola is going to require some design work as we have very little room left in our overcrowded yard and as everything else, it will have to be custom designed. Where we have space we don't have enough sunlight and where we have the right sun exposure, we don't have enough space. It will be a challenge! 
Some of our other garden projects for this summer include adding some more interesting lighting features for the garden. We frequently sit out in the garden in the evening, and it's nice to have various parts of it highlighted at night. We've introduced some new plants and vines this spring that I hope will give an interesting feel to some areas of the garden including Hops, Siberian Bamboo and a variety of ferns and shade loving plants.
Check back and see how our plans for this gardening season work
out. In the meantime,
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cool
spring here in the Maritimes. Lots of flowers have already bloomed
and have made way for the next succession of blooms. Like every year,
we have made progress in our garden design, but also like every year
we have new projects that have been dreamed up over the long winter
and spring. As usual we will have Bowser our faithful Labrador Retriever
to help with the garden maintenance such as watering and lawn growth
control (see Dog & Garden Page).