Benchmark Day

I sneaked onto what’s left of my balcony yesterday to repot some plants. The sun was shining so bright and warm that it even penetrated the blue tarp that encases the building. My balcony is one of the last to be torn off and is part of the construction zone. I won’t have a new deck til September, so this was my last chance to do a little gardening as a kind of farewell to the old. There was just enough room for transplanting. Once I got a whiff of dirt though, I needed more. So off I went to the grand opening of the new David Hunter store, just up the street from me.

The garden centre closed down two years ago at its old location to make way for a new development. It was a sad day for Kitsilano gardeners when they closed, but the reopening was a joyous occasion. I took my time, poking around in the lovely new store. They have everything the old store had, indoor and outdoor plants, trees and shrubs, pots and tools, soil and seeds, helpful staff. I picked up some veggie seeds (they carry West Coast Seeds) and seed potatoes.

I wandered out back to look at the bedding plants, got some onion seedlings and parsley that I could plunk into my community garden plot right away. I ran into old friends and chatted for a while. Then I just sat in that heavenly sunshine on a garden bench. Looks like garden season will come again this year after all.