On Saturday I went to a nice man named Sal Caruso’s house to see his garden and purchase some of his advertised plants.  With a name like that, you just know this guy’s gonna be a successful gardener.  And sure enough, when I arrived to his half-acre property I could see he has a mini Garden of Eden there.

He has two giant fig trees which he over-winters by putting a heavy canvas tarp over one, and he has them tucked right against the house and workshop.  I said that might be a project for me down the road, but for now I need something a bit simpler.

Sal has a grove of kiwis, and they’re all lovely and thick, twined up and around a pagoda.  He said they’re relatively easy to grow, as they don’t need any protection over the winter, so I said I’d take two, a male and a female.

I also bought a thornless raspberry and then oregano, arugula and garlic chives, all of which should be in my garden forever.  For now, I see nothing from the arugula, and the oregano looks completely dead, so not sure if they’ll amount to anything at all.

For more challenges, I signed up for a macaron-making workshop at Sandrine Pastry, but they were full until July 26th, so I have to wait until then.  I think that should be tremendous fun, as if I can master them I’ll always have a lovely gift to give to people.  You simply can’t buy them as they’re $1.75 each teensy weensy cookie.

As you know, I’m having the house painted and new railing put around the deck.  A company was in the neighbourhood doing driveways and a guy came to my door trying to sell me a driveway sealing job.  I said no thanks, but pointed out an area where the Ponderesa pines have caused tall heaves in the driveway.

He sent over a special asphalt repair person, and as he was going to e mail me the quote, I gave him my e mail and added, “But I’m not crazy, I just have a fruitcake business.”  I’ve noticed whenever I say to someone I’m not crazy, I usually end up acting it.

Once he sent me the quote of $5,000 I thought I don’t even want more asphalt in my yard, so replied “no thanks, I think I want rocks there and not more pavement.” I guess he wondered why I’d invited him over to give me a quote for new asphalt, but never mind.

The house is definitely a pinking mauve-ish beige, and I’m going to have the front door painted a dark gray/blue for dramatic effect.  Then all the planters will be filled with pink and mauve themed flowers so when people drive up they’ll think they’ve arrived at a little Barbie’s Dream House.

And because I simply can’t keep up to this one-acre property, I bit the bullet and asked a landscape company to give me $200 worth of work per month to help me with overall maintenance.  Otherwise the cute house and yard are all wasted if overgrown like Sleeping Beauty’s castle.