Boulton

Giving your yard a sense of definition takes some planning and a little bit of foresight.

So you want to put in a garden of your own, huh? A from-scratch, off-the-cuff, fit of passion, you’ve wanted-to-do-it-for-years type of move. Here’s what you’ve got to know before your spade sinks and you break a sweat.

I have a crush on Marjorie Harris. There. I said it, and can’t take it back. She’s one of Canada’s leading gardening writers — authoring 15 books and penning a gardening column for the Globe and Mail since 1990.

I’m playing a really interesting game of “musical rooms” since I brought home a tray of periwinkle from the greenhouse last week.

At the farthest reaches of my backyard is erected the grayest cement wall ever. Failing this boundary, I’d have an easy walk past the fingers of birches to the hilltop overlooking Ramsey Lake. But I don’t. I have a cement wall.

Ok, so here’s the plan. On Friday, a big truck is coming to my place. Why? I’m going to shake out all that soil I turned in the front yard to be sterilized. Yep, the ball is in motion; I’ve got a plan and I’m sticking to it.

I saw my first yard sale sign of the season on Saturday. And no doubt, it was the sunniest day we’ve had in at least a week.

I have a confession to make. I don’t have a compost. I know — how awful of me. It’s truly a character flaw that I’m prepared to remedy. It’s not that I’m against it; I rather love compost.

Spring officially made its entrance this week, at precisely 1:14 a.m. on Tuesday. A fitting time for arrival, too, since the weather was stunning, well into the morning hours.

I’m always surprised when the spring weather finally arrives. Week after week of grinning and bearing it, my jaw becomes slack with the first week of above-zero weather.