Sea of purple

It is hard to get me out of my yard this year.  I have a leave for school, so I have time to be in the garden during the day at watch everything start to bloom.  It has been such a luxury.  I write for a couple of hours, hang out in the yard for an hour, write more, then go out more.

The tulips, which were lovely shades of purple and pink in the back, and the daffodils from Mom, leading the yellow in the front, are mostly done now. The iris and anemone have taken over.  Three iris types in different shades of purple iris are my beloved colours, but I also have lots of yellows and yellow/purples.   My double white has been transplanted this year and isn't doing much.  I did a count in the yard, and including bushes, I have over fifty different things currently blooming.  Not a good sign of personal restraint.  Predictably Mike's current favourites are in the front, his thyme path and his bright orange poppy. His rose will be the big hit right away. Everyone else keeps commenting on the lilacs on the left in the back, and Mike loves the white bleeding heart.

We put our garden in at the usual time, and most things are doing well despite early drought.  I start many things inside now including unusual things like beets and carrots, so things tend to take well when we plant.  I have tried carrots three ways with year, from seed, from transplants with just the starter leaves, and ones two weeks older.  I'll let you know what I find.  We get so little rain that carrots don't always germinate well in the garden, and thinning hurts my heart, leaving me with small, thin carrots who are overcrowded.

We have just finished eating asparagus and made a batch of stewed rhubarb and some fresh crisp this weekend.  All the spices are ready and Mike is using the March basil seedlings for pizza.  Strangely, the winter was so mild that both my oregano and my sage made it through, which has never happened. The sage is even about to bloom. I am trying a new curry rosemary that Jodi bought me - I will let you know what I like it in. My lettuce is also ready to eat, and I put in my final planting of lettuce and beans this weekend, nearly a month after my first seeds.  I usually plant for nearly a month in addition to all the seedlings I start, as it gives a variety of ripe veggies at different times. I'd far rather eat beans and peas fresh all summer than can them or freeze them in large batches because I planted all at once.

I put in two new beds at the end of last year.  The one above is in the front, and I will keep expanding it.  I has the two new honeyberries and Mom's daffodils. The one in the back has a new trellis and is designed to keep basketballs in the court. Luckily for me it is full sun, so I get to grow some new things.  You can view progress in all the beds for this week and last week.

Mike has taken some new video of the yard, which is great for those of you who aren't here right now.  It is from last weekend, so it is already outdated in terms of blooming, but it gives the idea.

Backyard video 1
Backyard video 2
Front yard video

Spring Sprang, Away

It has been an unusually warm winter, nearly 3 degrees warmer than Saskatoon typically is.  As a result, we've been enjoying early edibles.  The picture on the left is the garlic, which is providing early greens. You can eat the everything about garlic if you get the time right. Garlic greens are good in anything you'd use the bulb for, and when they are too tough, we'll eat the scapes.  Like the garlic, the chive greens are also great. We had fresh chives in our biscuits tonight, and I have onions up that I can steal greens from too.

Like my edible bulbs, my floral bulbs also got excited early.  I had flowers last weekend, and was out enjoying Jodi's crocuses yesterday.  I think all the plants were excited about the high teens and low 20s on the thermometer. Of course, that was last week.  This week we have had highs of plus ten and lows of minus five, so everything that sprung early is now sitting tight waiting for the risk of frost to go away.  Mike and I had been speculating everything was five to ten days ahead (a big difference in spring) but it now looks just like any other spring.

This time of year, much of my leisure time is spent looking at the yard, prodding various small plants, and cleaning up the beds.  Since it was a very dry winter, I have been in the garden beds early checking for winter-kill. I have my chair out, and sit in it with my hot chocolate, contemplating where various things should be planted. It has been so nice until this week that Anwyn is up reading on the roof and Leo has been out in the hammock.

Now that spring has sprung away and left April weather cold without any showers, everyone is complaining. When Mike and I went for our walk today, an older lady stopped to complain I shouldn't need my toque. I wish I didn't, but have been consoling myself with my grow table. My basil and peppers have been going for almost a month, and my tomatoes, melons and kohlrabi/beets are all up. I plant everything early either because it need to extended season or I like to stagger when the crop comes in.  We are about one month from our last frost date.  This week I will start the corn and peas in the greenhouse so I can put them in the garden early with floating row covers. I'll also need many items from my seed trays. The upside of my early seed starting is I have lots to occupy my time with until spring decides to come back.

Belated Mother's Day x2

It has been a yucky spring.  Most days in April and May have been unseasonably cold, and then there is the wind and rain.  My crocuses haven't even bloomed yet (read last year's blog about the late snows waiting my crocuses until the first week of May). Two years ago at this time, I had my typical long list of flowers and vegetables - I am usually eating asparagus right now. Anyway, when the weather man said it would be nice yesterday, and cold, wet and windy for the rest of the long weekend when local gardeners always plan, I believed him. Unfortunately, that meant yesterday was crazy.

Mike had done the tilling and we'd bought bedding plants Friday night and the Saturday before. Since it frozen 3 times last week and nearly froze two more, everything has been living in the greenhouse with only a few days hardening off. Usually we plant a couple hours each day over the three day weekend, but we did all 6 hours yesterday.  Mike didn't complain once. My teenage assistants were less restrained, but everyone worked hard and was very tired.

Anwyn transplants

We started the day be creating the mixture we use for potting our plants. Mike laid a tarp out and we combined compost, peat and soil.  Then
we started transplanting strawberries, which is hard work.  It took us nearly two hours just to complete that and some general potting, and then we started in the garden.

Moving strawberries

This year one third of what we planted we grew ourselves or it came from seed we saved. It is always really exciting to put seeds from Leo's work back into the ground or go from bare dirt to corn, tomatoes and squashes that are already up.  Because I use a staggered planting system, not everything went in this weekend. I will plant additional beans, chard etc. over the next three weeks. We pre-started kohlrabi and beets as well, so I am looking forward to seeing how those do.

I still have a few more things to do today, like cleaning the fountain and installing floating row covers, but they are all things that can handle the rain that's coming. So far the week ahead after the long weekend looks finally sunny, so my plants should really get growing. I am the most excited about two new iris I picked out for myself and first food (likely greens, asparagus and strawberries). View Mike's other spring pictures.

Today is fake Mother's Day at our house. Anwyn was at National's last weekend placing 13th when she could have been home loving up her mom.  Since I don't care much about the formal date, we just moved things. The Diakuw family celebration also moved, so I am doing that at 11 and looking forward to a great breakfast from Leora.  While Anwyn was gone she sent me a little writing about my habit of petting her hair (which she tolerates in private and hates in public).  I think it made me as happy as my exhausting/triumphant day of planting yesterday.  Here it is with her permission.

One of Two Anwyn Mother's Day Compositions:

I just lay there. Her warm hand stroking my hair. Even though I hadn't brushed it, or washed it. That happy feeling you get when you hug someone you love pulsed through my veins. I looked up at her and she smiled down at me, with eyes that could never hate, never cause pain.

"Now you just have to let me do this in public." she sighed longingly, yet jokingly. I laugh. As if.

"Stroking my ponytail in a public setting is very different from in a private one." She sighed mockingly. 

"I can't help myself," she said feigning innocence. "its just there, and its so pretty. Its subconscious." I smiled to myself, what was it about my hair that she loved so much?

"Well," I mused. "if your not careful I might withhold the privilege all together." I jested. She looked at me with puppy dog eyes. Even though thats the daughters card to play. The she discarded the act and chuckled as I lay my head back down on her lap.

"Sure you will sweetie." She said, and resumed petting my hair. 

Resident dancer,

Debate extraordinaire,

None of it matters,

As long as your there. 

You see me at my best,

You see me at my worst,

Your beautiful and numerous sweaters,

Are stained by my tears, and you know me to the letter.

Your better than my best, 

And I'm constantly impressed,

I've known you all my life

 and know you to the core,

I have always loved you 

and you I will adore. 

Happy Mother's Day mom, I love you 

Seeds of Sping

I am about two months away from planting my garden and there has been some serious melting in Saskatoon. It was also -27C with windchill when I woke up yesterday, so it must be spring.

Last year at this time I was blogging about planning a good garden, crop rotation etc. This year I am going to start with seeds. Because I like to grow my own plans from seed whenever I can -  I'll actually start planting next weekend in my grow table. I start with the things that need the longest time to be ready to plant like tomatoes, flowers and basil. I go shopping for the seeds the weekend before so I have time to hunt around the city for varieties I want, but cannot find.

When I figure out what I need to buy, I consider four things.

• What seed did I grow last year that I can plant?  I am at the early end of the seed saving journey, but this year I have already replanted my garlic in the fall.  And I have seeds to plant for sunflower, climbing beans. basil, dill, cilantro, and corn.
• What seeds did I buy last year that I can still use?  I don't usually hold seed beyond a year, because the germination rate drops too sharply. However, a seed package can range from $1.59 to $7.00 depending on the type of seed or how much there is in the package, and I buy a lot a seed. I try to save what I can. I have small peppers left (Cayenne, Jalapeño, Hungarian Wax, and Habanero) so I only need to buy Bell peppers. I also have some tomatoes (Lemon Boy, Tiny Tim and Yellow Pear), two colours of zucchini, basil, red beets and carrots.
• What do I want so little of that it is more economical to buy seedlings?  This is a small list, usually varieties I am testing or things I don't want much of, like eggplant and pumpkin.
• How much do I need of the seeds I am buying? I am headed out to my closest supplier (Early's) later today, so I need to do a quick calculation of what to buy. My shopping list will include: 2 medium bags of peas (sugar snap and shell), one type of climbing bean (not the type I already have), a medium package of green bush beans, small squash packages of two or three varieties, larger tomatoes like Early Girl, usually two or three different types I want to try that are zone 2 hardy and a variety of small packages I don't have left over. This year that will be Bell peppers, spinach, lettuce, chard, cabbage, kohlrabi and two types of cucumbers. I calculate the amount based on a map I build with number of seedlings per foot. It is based on a square foot intensive gardening technique.

My only exception to the obsessive planning are flower seeds. They are always spontaneous selections that compliment what I have now.

This will be all the seeds I have for the year, except onion sets (bought in May before planting) and maybe seed potatoes. I am considering not growing potatoes this year, as they are still a very cheap food and I'd like to give them a rest because we had potato bugs last year.

One other change this year is looking for plants with a smaller rootball. I got a book on straw bale gardening from Brad and want to give that a try.

Looks like dirt

When you first plant your garden in the spring, it mostly looks like dirt. We gardeners like to call it soil, and describe its properties at length, but when you sit in it a lot, you still get dirty.  This long weekend I planted as I always do, despite a substantial sinus cold.  Bending over is no good when you have a sinus cold, and planting late is equally painful, so sitting in the dirt was the best option.

Fortunately for me, Mike did a bit of the heavy work before he left for Anwyn's basketball tournament in Regina.  He was pleased with her silver medal; I was pleased that the potatoes, carrots and most of the peas were planted before he departed.  Because I plant in stages, I didn't have to do everything, but there was still a lot to do.

I started by transplanting my bedding plants.  Those are herbs, tomatoes (6 varieties), peppers (5 varieties)

and various members of the squash family. I did not plant pumpkins this year as I still have lots from last year, but I had two types of cucumbers, experimental cantaloup (unlikely to bear fruit in this zone), 2 varieties of zucchini, and butternut squash. I also put in corn, peas, green onions and kohlrabi that I planted early in the greenhouse last week. Many of the bedding plants go in various raised beds throughout the yard, but I still put some in the garden proper.

Once the bedding plants are done, I start with seeds. I plant flowers (like sweetpeas) and vegetables I grow from seed including beets, various greens, beans, parsnips, radishes etc. This year Leo and Anwyn both helped a bit with planting, which was great, because my planting speed was about one tenth normal Wendy. It is pretty hard to use your Kleenex with muddy hands, so I wore gloves and took them off all the time to blow my nose. I think it was a huge part of the slow down - it definitely had nothing to do with low energy due to sickness.

Now that the garden is all planted and so many of the flowers are blooming, it is a real pleasure to be out,

even when you are sitting in the dirt blowing your nose. I admired my flowers all weekend long and listened to my fountain. I planted a little sedum planter and felt like I did some great craft a la Martha Stewart. I enjoyed fresh asparagus, put basil on our burgers and had chives in my egg salad.  After 7 long months of winter, it is great to be dirty.

For those who'd like to see some pictures, you can see the album of what is blooming and take a look at the mulch Mike and Leo put in the front.

First Flowers

A week ago we were getting our last snow.  I still have some ice around the base of the house, but it was 27 degrees yesterday, and I had my first flower bloom. Predictably it was white, a good bridge between winter and summer.  That's fitting since we seem to have skipped spring, although crocus are usually a spring flower. . . . I was so excited to be out this weekend, and there was so much to see and do.

The girls, Mike and I spent a couple of hours raking all the leaves off beds and pruning dead foliage. I leave it until the danger of a bad frost is gone, usually the third week of April.  You can see the post from April 10th last year to see what my yard looks like this year. We also set up the fountain, cleaned all the desk and patio space and set up all the lawn furniture. I brought the plants out to the greenhouse and Mike fixed the fence.  I had visions of laying in my hammock, but so far I haven't sat down long enough. Anwyn enjoyed it, though.

One of my plagues this year is the mice who moved into the greenhouse.  We've had the problem before, but mostly

in a minor way. This year the winter was a month longer, and the mice decided to eat all plants I was growing in the beds on the ground except for the onions. Apparently they like spinach, lettuce, beet greens and virtually all other greens, but even mice don't want raw onion.  Pip, who usually eats all mice, spent time trapped on the outside of the greenhouse (no cat door) while the mice cavorted inside. As a result, I spent the weekend paving over the places where there were tunnels in and Mike laid edging around the outside. Then we turned the compost and watched the mice try to break in to hide. Our defenses held against the first sortie. Pip chased three around the yard and Merry watched them confused. I was just delighted that I could fill the greenhouse with plants again and proud of Pip until she threw them up on the white carpet in the basement this morning.

Whatever is new is always main excitement in the spring. This year, it is garlic I got from my mother. I had it all labelled and planted, but the massive snow storms and bizarre thaw were destructive here too.  Fortunately, it was to the labels. The garlic, which my mother declared very hearty, survived without issue. It is all up, and growing much more quickly that the stuff of my own from last year. It is hard to see in this picture, but it has two days of growth in a loose bed against a fence and it is doing really well. Many stems are already about 8 cm high.


My plants are doing pretty well, but I am worried about how much harvest I'll get this year given the late spring. I have already planted spinach, beet greens and lettuces in a raised bed on my drive way, because I need to replace the mouse harvest. I think I may also buy some larger bedding plants to augment what I have in the greenhouse and give my garden a fighting chance.

There must be hope somewhere

It is still winter in Saskatchewan. Not a day goes by when the radio, my work and everyone I meet comments.  This week on CBC, the host complained that the -10 we woke up to should have been a high of +10.  My husband, Mike, waits for spring each year like it is the second coming.  This year he decided we are already in hell, or at least purgatory. The hope everyone felt at 6 months of winter has turned into a litany of complaints from everyone I know at 7 months of cold and grey.  I don't feel so hopeless, but I have only met one other person this month who is as perky as I am, and we have one thing in common.  We are growing.

My friend is growing personally.  She is currently working on twins, and just started her maternity leave to wait for their birth. When I met her for lunch, I was struck by how happy she was.  I have never seen her smile so much, and it was such a contrast with everyone around me.  I am not quite so happy, but I am pleased and hopeful, and it is all about the sprouts in the basement.

Everyday, I go in and see what had grown and smell the fresh green smell.  Last weekend, I planted all my melons, gourds and my first beets and kohlrabi. They are all up and looking great. My peppers, tomatoes and basil are going strong.

Yesterday on the news, Mike and I woke up to a story about how much money golf courses and greenhouses are loosing. No one is buying seeds, seed potatoes, bedding plants and other goodies.  Sometimes I wish that people would.  I think most people I know would be much happier if they had something, anything, that was growing hope for them.

There is no grass visible in my back yard.  Some parts of it still have over 3 ft of snow on April 18th.  But there is a bit of grass in the front by rocks that hold the heat, and there are many plants in the basement.

I have hope (and science) to tell me that even when the spring is late, you get all the same plants eventually.

6 months of snow and planting

Well, it has been a crazy winter and people all over Saskatchewan have had enough. Last week, immediately following the first day of spring, 3 days of 50 km/hr winds and snow stranded cars and even a passenger train for a day. While highways were closed all over the province, Anwyn and I shovelled out our yard. We've had so much snow this year, that the pile the length of our driveway is well over Mike's head.  Anwyn and I had to move all our snow to the backyard, where drifts are only chest high. Instead of complaining more, we said 6 months of winter and counting as we pushed snow yesterday.  Today, it is 6 months of winter and planting as I am setting up my grow table.

Now you may be asking how I am planting in many feet of snow and so early.  Actually, I am planting a little late. My nephew has been staying in the guest room for the last 3 weeks, and this delayed my planting, because I usually plant in there using my grow table. After finishing my shovelling yesterday, I came in and started planting seeds.  Nothing like a little dirt to help you feel better about snow.

At this stage in the game, I am planting the longest season items and a few early treats. That means I did  one tray with peppers and basil, and another tray with tomatoes and greens.

Tray one peppers:

• Jalepeno
• Cayenne
• Habernero
• Hungarian wax
• lots of Yellow Bell
• Green Bell

Tomatoes:

• Yellow Pear (yellow cherry tomato)
• Chocolate Drop
• Cherokee Purple (a beef steak)
• Lemon Boy (Yellow medium size)
• Early Girl 

Last year I lost seedlings to dampening off, so I am worried about it this year, but still excited to be planting. I also put in some cilantro, spinach and lettuce just for the fun of it.

I decide how much to seed based on a garden plan I do in February. I expect keep most but not all of what I plant, so I over seed slightly.  Since I keep seed for more than one year, I also need to do that because some seeds do not germinate. 

Planting and flowers

After complaining last week about nothing blooming, my yard is already full of flowers.  Mike took a few pictures for me early in the week, and we'll lake more this weekend as we plant. This album gives a good sense of the start of the week, though.

In the last couple nights I have been planting a variety of annuals and veggies throughout the front yard.  I co-plant my veggies and fruit there, and love to disguise my vegetables with flowering items. I put in 4 types of tomatoes, 6 types of peppers, a variety of squashes and some onions. Mike seeded spinach for me, and it is already up. We are also eating rhubarb and asparagus (Mike made a great risotto with the asparagus Wednesday).

Currently blooming perennials and vegetables:

• 7 types of tulips
• Crocus 
• Grape hyacinths
• Poppies (yellow)
• Apple tree
• Cherry tree (2)
• Daffodils
• Flox (pink and purple)
• Johnny jump ups (think wild violets)
• Strawberries
• Elephant Ears
• Snowcrop
• Columbine

All this planting and blooming is very heartening. It is supposed to rain tomorrow, but should be dry by Sunday, when the main garden in planted. Luckily Mike got all the tilling done yesterday, so we'll be ready despite the rain.

Finally Out

After my return from Montreal I was feeling pretty down. It rained the entire time until yesterday and my bedding plants were destroyed while I was in Kitchner-Waterloo visiting Greta, Gus and their kids. My whole gardening habit seemed dead, or at least washed up. To the left is my basil as it as starting to die. Looks okay but a little limp right? It was dead in under a week.

On Friday, my thoughtful husband took me to Dutch Growers, where I had a gift certificate from Teela is spend. I actually laughed out loud with pleasure when I saw all the plants. We spent too much money replacing heirloom tomatoes and peppers that dies, and we could not afford to replace Mike's basil habit. All if it reminded me how much money it saves us to start our own things in the grow table and greenhouse. This would be an expensive pastime without them.

Today and yesterday I came home from work and spent a least a 1/2 hour in my yard having a zen moment. I examined all the plants that seem to leaping forward, and found my first flower, a Johnny Jump-Up (technically a weed). Last year at this time my first flower was a strawberry, and I had all types of things up, like asparagus.  Not even a tip so far this year with the unseasonable cold and rain in the last two weeks. If it were like last year, I'd have at least 5 types of flowers by next week.

The little bit of green I have up and the growth in the last few days has been really encouraging. Even if it is not all is great, I can see the hope in my yard now that I am finally out.

Let out

I have a cat, Pippin, who would really like to go outside. She sits by the door, bursts outside on a sunny day if you aren't careful, and will suffer the indignity of a harness just to be be able to go out. This week, I felt a lot like Pip.

I have been contenting myself with my grow table. A weekend ago I planted the rest of my various squashes, which have now mostly come up, and thinned my tomatoes. I am always excited as as the new plants start coming up, because I can just feel the potential of each plant (view grow table album).  But nothing comes anywhere close to when the weather lets me out for the first time.

Last Saturday was a sunny and warm by late March in Saskatchewan standards. Mike was at work, the girls were off helping at Greta and Gus' and I had the sunny day all to myself. I racked the front yard, cleaned some of my leaves off my beds and examined everything.

I found bulbs peeking up, ground covers greening, trees budding - well, just about everything a happy Wendy needs.  I literally bounced about the yard picking up sticks.  The weather was so warm (about 14 degrees C) that I dried 4 loads of laundry on the lines. I also ate lunch outside, read a novel in the sunshine and dug through all my pots.  In short, I was finally let out after a long winter inside.

Squashed

Life has been pretty busy this spring, and like last year at this time, provincials just finished. I feel like I have spent too little time with my seedlings, and as I thinned my tomatoes this evening, they looked like it. They have gotten a bit leggy. Luckily, I have turned them and Mike now has the fan on them.  With the addition of the fertilizer I just brought in, they should be happy soon.

This evening I planted all my squashes. I have yellow and green zucchini, some butternut squash and some buttercup squash. I also put in some early kohlrabi and some delphiniums (flowers not food). Each of the types of seeds is so interesting as you put them in.  A number of the seeds I planted tonight are from last year, so I am not really sure what will germinate.

The last thing I planted are cucumbers, which did really well last year once they got going. I am down to my last jar of pickles and have only a few jars of salsa left, so I did more cucumbers and tomatoes this year than last. The snow is all melted this year already and the weather has been fairly warm, but it is hard to look at those seeds and really know the good food they will be in  matter of months. My spring has been a little squashed by recent stresses, but I am hoping the germination of a few edible squash will inflate my mood.

What will be

It is February break, and I just planted my first bedding plants of the year 4 days ago. My planning process starts in late January when I determine where I will place things in crop rotation in my various beds (read this post for a detailed description of the planning process). We start all our plants in a grow table Mike picked up for us, then transfer them to our green house when it is warm enough. This year it is so warm that the greenhouse is already hitting double digits in the middle of the day sometimes, but it isn't heated and is not warm enough for sprouting.

We have been eating sprouts for a while, and I just planted pea shoots, which are always a treat. The weather has been so nice, I feel less desperate for something fresh to eat, but I am still excited. Pea shoots are great because you can plant and eat them, then cut again and eat them a couple of times until they are too tired to start over.

I have also started the most southern crops we grow, peppers and basil. This year I planted 30 basil plants and 25  peppers. The peppers are mostly bell and mini bell peppers, but I also planted some chili peppers. I will buy a jalapeno bedding plant in the spring to round out our pepper planting.  My timing and plant numbers are similar to last year when we had a good crop of peppers.

The last thing I planted was some spinach and lettuce. Most people don't realize how easy it is to grow your own greens indoor in the winter. Spinach is so hardy that I was cutting my own in my front yard in October last year and will be able to plant it first in the spring in the floor of the greenhouse (built in 2008 by Mike and my dad). We will be eating these greens in March, and they will never be planted in the open garden.

The start of the planting year is always exciting for me. Because I live in a 2B Zone, I have a long, cold winter with a short summer. I really have to make the most of the growing time I have.  Last week we finished the last of our potatoes and we roasted our last pumpkin yesterday. Our last fresh storage vegetable is squash, and once it is gone this week, we'll only be eating frozen, canned and dried things from our 2011 crop. I will spend the next several months planting, dreaming and preparing for my new garden season, then by April, I will be out in the yard again celebrating spring. I spent a happy half an hour on my deck two days ago just anticipating. Mike laughs because I find a small snow-free patch, wrap myself in a blanket and drink hot chocolate just to stay out there.  But like the grow table full of soil, I don't really care about what is.  I can see through that to what will be.

Greening

My mouth is sore from a braces tightening today and I didn't get to talk to Jodi very long tonight.  I am turning that negative into a positive by using the time to write a blog post.

I was gone last weekend at debate in Estevan at got home Sunday about 12:30 with the girls. It was Leora's Junior Nationals, and they fed us "kid food." By the time I got home, I was really craving green food and burning to see my yard.  So much is blooming, and it makes me feel a little giddy. I picked my first asparagus of the season and cut some chives, spinach and rocket.  Then I alternated between working in the yard and making a delicious salad for supper to go with the potato soup (made from our potatoes and basil) that Mike brought up from the freezer.

Mike had sent me a picture of crocus blooming in the front and something else I don't remember the name of blooming in the back.  I zoomed around the yard inspecting each bud. Today I have grape hyacinths blooming in 5 beds and white tulip blooming in one. My daffodils, tulips and  phlox will all be blooming soon. All my leaves are in bud and I can see growth each sunny day.

The help from the girls on Sunday was grudging, but nothing could hamper my green rejoicing. I nagged them to do and hang their laundry then looked on happily at the second line and thought I was glad Mike hung it, or all the laundry would not have fit. I felt the same way as I gleefully watered everything in the yard for an hour and a half, and emptied my three rain barrels. I was even happy weeding as I watched my daughters do a decidedly mediocre job of mowing with the push mower.

At the end of my green afternoon, my salad was delicious and marred only slightly by the sunburn on my chest. I guess there is such a thing as too delighted. . .

So Much Fun

Mike and I are so exhausted but happy after a busy weekend in the yard.  It has been cold and windy all week long, but this weekend we got some sun and only 20km winds, so we enjoyed the time in the yard as much as we possibly could.

I was wrong that my first flower would be a chive.  The buds are almost ready to flower, but the first flower was actually on my strawberries. I found it yesterday when transplanting some that had crept into the garden from the berry patch. My asparagus are up (two tips so far) and about 5 cm tall. I also have buds on my grape hyacinths, which did not bloom last year. My violets are also blooming.

I spent a happy afternoon Saturday transplanting in the greenhouse, expanding the front flower bed by lifting grass and doing spring transplants.  Mike got 4 van loads of rocks from James, so I also spent time re-building the dry steam bed and placing new rocks around the yard.  Mike expanded his rock paths and built me two stone benches, one in the front and one in the back. Leora and Anwyn both helped lift the turf, and Leora also removed some bricks and replaced them with rocks. Anwyn trimmed the four clematis and they both mowed the backyard. I mowed the front (around the rocks Mike was storing on the lawn) and my elderly neighbor's yard.

This evening as I was bringing in laundry off the line, I was so happy I actually stopped and gazed at the yard.  Mike and I are both sore but happy - nothing like a workout that actually accomplishes something.  I'll post pictures next time when the main path is done and things are starting to bloom.

Spring in my yard

It has been a cold spring, but things are finally humming along. Mike and I moved the plants out to the greenhouse and I have dug the mulch out all the beds. I am really excited about a number of the bulbs I have found coming up.

My asparagus came up yesterday (two stalks so far), and more and more garlic keeps coming up. In addition, all the fall bulbs I put in last year are humming along. I have tulips about an inch up in most beds and my Mom's daffodils are up, although they did not bloom last year. A number of grape hyacinths are up, although they are not budding.

Most of my seedlings are continuing to do well. We have a huge crop of garlic and I started some beans, beets and kohlrabi for my first square foot bed. I will start some corn tomorrow and then all my seeding is done.  I did almost no flowers this year except morning glory and nasturtium, but the veggies are great.

It is hard to believe we have about three weeks left until planting in the garden because I have so many projects in mind. I have tried to convince Mike we should put some things into the side bed early, but he seems doubtful. I want to dig out more of the front yard so that I can move one of the rhubarbs up there, and Mike has plans to get some rocks from James. It should be a busy, fun spring. I predict my first flowers will be chives, which are already budding.

This week Mike put up a second clothesline and I started drying things outside. It was great to dry to loads at once, and I have enough room now that I can do 4 loads totally in a day. I am so excited about all the possibilities in my yard.

Double digits

Saskatoon hit double digits today - 14 degrees.  There was a hefty wind, but it was still glorious. My deck has been clear of snow for 4 days, so I got out my patio furniture, set up my hammock on a snow-free patch of lawn and  spent the day in the yard. So many of my spring things started this week. I've started hanging my laundry outside, where it drys in a third of the time it takes in the basement. I am biking to work and walking at lunch in the sun.

Today I cleaned out some of my beds and left some others covered in leaves. Most of my beds look like the one on the left - all brown. I have a heavy mulch of leaves and there is no sign of growth. However, the snow has been off them for less than a week and it is still freezing at night.  There is a potential for snow in a couple of days.  I know I should leave those beds alone, but I want to see if anything is up.

When I clean out a bed, I can see some of the green coming up. In this bed there are even a few little green buds!  That makes me so happy. I only cleaned the ones that have south exposure, as they have the most reflected heat off of the walls and can handle a little bit of cold (or so I tell myself).

I spent a lot of my day in the greenhouse. I have rocket and peas transplanted out there and I seeded spinach, cilantro and green onions last week. Anwyn cleaned all the windows for me today, and Mike hung the bubble wrap last Monday.  That means it isn't frosting in there at night, although it still gets below zero. In another couple of weeks it will get warm enough to move my bedding plants out, which is a good thing.  Jodi and Brad are coming to visit and might struggle to sleep with the grow light.

 Today I transplanted the the last of my seed plugs into pots, and I now have the grow table completely full. There isn't room for even one more pot. My tomatoes have been starting to dry out a lot, so they really needed to be transplanted. I am growing sub-arctic maxi, yellow pear and a red cherry, all of which were ready for larger pots, and will outgrow them in another month.

Thinning and transfer

This weekend we were gone to debate provincials in Regina and drove home late Saturday night. This morning we are all a little groggy after our 1am bedtime, and the girls and I sat by our sunny patio door when we woke up. We chatted lazily about Leora going to Nationals, games we like to play, things to read and, oh happiness, what would happen with the yard this year.  Less than an hour later the sun was gone and the 30 km an our wind was very cold. March continues to feel too much like February, but my little dreams of green sustain me.

Today I spent a half an hour working with my baby plants.  I cut lettuces for supper, potted my squash and peppers and did the last of my thinning. As my trays fill out and my flowers start to vine, I can picture exactly what each one will do and how much I will enjoy it. One tray of seedlings looks like salsa, pizza and bruchetta. Another is a wall of climbing flowers and edible blossoms.

I have started some of the square foot items I will eat early when the rest of the seeds germinate in the garden.  My early spinach, chard, beets and kohlrabi are all up and doing well.  Some of my pumpkins seem quite late and I may need to replant using this year's seeds instead of a package from 2 years ago. It doesn't really matter as I still have the promise of a good gardening year and lots of time before my plants can be out and growing.

Seeds are up

The tomato seeds I planted last Sunday are up.  At this point they have the two little false leaves plants get when they are starting, but I have a germinated seed in each plug, and often more than one.  I am excited about them. The squashes, of course, came up huge. They are already 7 cm tall, and will need to be put into pots part way through the week. Only the green onions are slow, but that is to be expected. I planted kohlrabi, beets and oregano today. They can all be started from seed here, but I start some early so that I spread out when I get to eat them.

The basil I transplanted has survived well and is growing sluggishly as basil does Saskatoon. Most of the plants have 4 leaves, even thought they were planted in February. That's the reason I plant a lot, as Mike could eat 2 cups of leaves a week without much effort.

Last summer when we were visiting Greta, Gus and Max in Ontario, we got to meet a family what also tries to do a little farming in the city. Their blog says they are already eating things growing in their greenhouse. We aren't there yet, but I was out in my greenhouse today and started unearthing pots for transplanting. The greenhouse was warm enough when the sun was on it that I was comfortable in a long sleeve shirt, but it is still freezing hard and night and there is 2 feet of snow on the ground around it.  Our cat, Pip, was out in the greenhouse with me sniffing for mice and loving up the hidden spots behind pots. Even though I could see winter out every window, I could feel spring inside. It's hard to believe I am only a month away from when my first plants were up last year, but I know it is coming.

Some more seeding

I spent the morning chatting with my sister Greta and planting the remainder of my early plants.  I did an entire flat of tomatoes (sub arctic maxi, yellow pear and cherry), and some green onions yesterday.  Today I did the bulk of my other planting.

I start by looking as my planting plan and estimating the number of plants I will need. In each cell, I put one or two seeds depending on the type of plant (see full method).  I plant a few more seeds in each category than I want to have plants.  That means if some don't come up, I still have enough plants to complete my garden plan.

Today I planted squashes and pumpkins first.  I planted 6 pumpkins (two large jack o' lantern size, 4 small sugar) which will eventually become 4 plants. I planted a number of types of squash, which I hope to eat for more of the winter next year:

• 3 yellow zucchini (bush)
• 3 green zucchini (bush)
• 3 butternut squash
• 3 buttercup squash
• 6 spaghetti squash

I have a number of odds and ends veggies I start.  I planted 12 pickling cucumbers and 12 slicers. I also planted some Cayenne peppers. They are the fastest of my peppers, so they are fine if started at this time. I even planted some things I hope to eat early - in this case spinach and chard. Both can get started to hear and move into the greenhouse in mid-April, as they will tolerate some frost.

Lastly, I planted some flowers.  I started poppy (my only perennial), nasturtium (great for eating the flowers of) and morning glory.

Later today I will need to thin the peppers I started in February and transplant my basil seedlings. I am also planting a new batch of pea shoots as my old batch is done. We cut them 4 times for large batches in meals. I love it when I get to eat and plan.