New Haskap's star in planting weekend

The May long weekend, the traditional planting time of Saskatchewan gardeners came a week early with year, with lows well below seasonal.  As a result, I held off my planting as long as possible for all my bedding plants, and many annual flowers are still the greenhouse keeping warm.  Mike and I covered things last night and the night before.

On Saturday, Leora and I mapped out the beds and began planting. I usually have a detailed plan with crop rotations built in, but I am getting so used to it that no really writing was necessary for me. Of course, work on a team, it is helpful to record your plan in a way others can access. Leora was very patient, as was Mike, when he and Anwyn got home in time to help with the bedding plants on the Monday.

After a one year hiatus due to potato bugs, potatoes are back.  Mike complained they got too little territory, although his tomatoes currently use 1/2 of the total space and have their own personal hot house. Also on pest control, the brassicas (think kohlrabi, cabbage etc) are well sheltered under fleece.  As soon we had my bedding plants out to put in the ground, the first cabbage moth came by. Arrgg!  Hopefully the shelter is enough.

The beds are looking great, with grape hyacinths, tulips and crocuses heavily featured. We are eating lots of asparagus and chives, and start on mint, rhubarb and basil soon. I am happily puttering about, waiting for the rain of elm seeds that begins my weeding season.

One of the exciting new additions is haskap berries. We haven't grown them before, but James says they are great. The U of S breeding program describes the good ones as a mix between raspberries and blueberries, and the bad ones as tasting like tonic water. Hopefully we have the good ones. This brings the list of fruit grown in the yard up to:

• raspberries
• strawberries
• apples
• cherries
• saskatoons
• haskaps

A historical retrospective of the last 5 years of May long weekend planting indicates this weekend is almost always spent the same way in this family.

2010

2011

2012, after the great die off when Darwyn was born

2013

2014, my most depressing spring of snow

Nippy Long Weekend Saved by Second Greenhouse

We traditionally plant on the May long weekend, but the projected -3 low for Saturday and Sunday looks likely to
deter us.  The greenhouse is chock full of bedding plants, as is the grow table in the basement.  I will likely put in some seeds, because the frost won't be an issue for them.  The other potential is the second greenhouse.

Second greenhouse, you say?  Yup.

Mike's aunt gave us her old plastic and metal green house, and we'll be using it in the garden itself this year for some of our tomatoes.  Mike has been using it to enjoy the early sunshine while it was parked in the sandbox. Parked in the garden, it should warm the tomatoes the way it has warmed Mike. Now, if only we could find a way to warm the bees for our fruit trees...




We use other structures in the garden, too. We have an early row cover to keep our corn warm (I plant half inside the house 2 weeks early so we have about a month long period of ripe corn in August).  We also use a cloth type covering to protect the cabbages and kohlrabi from Cabbage Moths. Neither will provide enough protect for tender seedlings in -3, though.

All in all, I can't complain too much about the cold.  The snow has been off the ground for over a month, unlike last year at this time.  Check out last year's planting day blog to feel the pain. Also, we are eating our first asparagus, so harvest mid-May takes the chill off the night-time lows.