Progress

I wrote this post last week only to have it swallowed up by the Friday the 13th blackhole. Now we have cool temps and rain again but at least I had one week to get few things begun.


At long last, the weather is cooperating, the Election is over (hideous as the results maybe) and I've finally been able to get going on my gardens. It's been a rough start this year; poor germination, lousy weather and a spider mite invasion have left me light years behind where I was this time last year. I'm not sure what's causing the issues with germination but less than half of my seeds took this year. I do find it odd that this is the first year I've ever purchased proper seed starting mix- normally I use whatever soil I have on hand with some compost or worm castings thrown in and everything seeds just fine. Based on the rate of germination I'll not waste money on seed starting mix again.

The real disaster however was the spider mites. By the time I realized I had them it was a full on infestation. I had to discard the two tomatoes I overwintered and the accidental tomatillos; they were less than peak from growing in unsupplimented light and they didn't stand a chance. The new seedlings were also hit but I appear to have caught them in time that an intense regime of homemade insecticide using neem among other things seems to have done the trick. They still look rather pathetic tho. I have most of them potted up and outside now and they appear to be thriving. Fortunately I still had a large number of seedlings in the mini greenhouse and the mites didn't make it that far.

Things in the garden are coming along- I've only just planted my peas and beans but the composters are emptied and the gardens are prepped to go. I think I missed the window for rapini and other greens. I'll save them for a fall crop now which should make them last longer next winter.

My wish list is as usual bigger than the space I have to grow in but I've mapped out my veggie plot and think it will make the best use of my small space.

I've also started my potatoes in a pail again- this year I'm just using potatoes that sprouted on their own in the worm bin so I'm already seeing some action. I remembered to drill some drainage hole in the garbage can this time!


At the Hort sale last week I picked up a few things to add to my tiny flower gardens. For the Sun garden I purchased some Siberian Iris.


For the Shade garden, I got Virginia Bluebells:


And for the Woodland garden, I added a tiny Solomon's Seal to the trillums and foxglove.



Best of all, my bee nesting box finally arrived! It's rather industrial looking and we decided to mount it to the fence that ends in the middle of the veggie plot so the pollinatorswill have ample options to choose from . It's also tucked in beside one of the composters and less noticible this way; hopefully it will be left alone by passersby.













Not having a fenced-in yard is often a drawback. I've already had issue with off leash dogs doing damage to some of my gardens- my columbine, magenta violet and a swatch of ditch lilies all have been mangled in the past week but thankfully, they are bouncing back.

So things are slowly getting there. Now if only we get some sun!

Hints of Things to Come

The expression April is a cruelest month has never seemed more fitting than this year; not only has the weather been a major tease but this prolonged cold has everything growing slowly as well. Even Easter is late this year although I can't really blame that on the weather! (I'm looking at you, moon)

There's nothing so cruel as longing for the tastes of spring and knowing that local asparagus is still weeks if not months away from hitting the markets. Of course the stores are full of not-so-local asparagus and rhubarb and it's difficult not to succumb; those of you further south of here who post gloating photos of your spring harvests are rubbing salt in my wounds! My rhubarb is barely up, my herbs declined to return this year and aside from a few spring onions I won't be nibbling on anything freshly grown for a long while yet.


My gardens are still looking bleak and mostly barren but a few things are peeping up including this pleasant surprise I know I didn't plant - they just appeared in the grass thicket!

Even my seedling trays are decidely retarded this year and who can blame them? Every time the weather's warmed up enough to consider putting them outside for a bit, Mother Nature goes and sends something dramatic like thunderstorms or snow. Today it's only slightly above freezing, raining and gusting winds, with a chance of snow tonight. Fantastic, thanks for that.


On a more promising note I do have some fun stuff to share! These lovely eggplant seeds arrived in my mailbox last week and are about to be seeded.

They are a gift from the Ottawa Gardener at The Veggie Patch Reimagined and I'm excited to see if they handle my somewhat shady garden.

My bee nesting box is due to arrive next week and I am excited to know I'll be creating a habitat to encourage more pollinators to my gardens this year. Now if only we can convince Shadow not to eat them!

The Canning season is gearing up again and the folks at the West End Food Coop have put together a guide on how to set up a community cannery, similar to the one I taught at last year. It includes details of budgeting, planning, using local produce and a whole lot of recipes that we taught last year. It's available free of charge to non profits and community organizations by emailing katie@westendfood.coop

And here's the highlight of my week- remember the tomato plants that accidently sprouted from worm compost and have been growing indoors all winter? I ended up with two distinct varieties- one is a small detirminate - I'm hoping it's a ditmarsher which gave such lovely early cherries last year. The other is obviously NOT a detirminate as it is currently about 5 ft long and wound around a lamp among other things. Against all odds it's thriving indoors and just recently these appeared!

I suspect there's not much of a chance that they will pollinate and even if they do the stem isn't strong enough to support much weight in it's current state. If and when I can get it outside I will have to stake it well and hope for the best

So all is not lost, just delayed. Which is probably a good thing since I haven't had much time to think about gardens recently. As all of my fellow Canucks are aware, we are heading for a federal election in May. As an occasional Elections Canada employee, I'm currently working long hours on the voter's list, making sure everyone who's eligible and wishes to has the opportunity to cast their vote. Recent world events have made it very clear how blessed we are to live in a democracy and I encourage you all to take advantage of that and vote!