How Does Your Garden Grow?

We've had a run of some unseasonably mild temperatures.  We've had some rain, but as we've been on the edge of the weather systems, we've gotten a reasonable amount rather than the heavy rains just to the north of us.  We've had some sunshine.  I can't tell you how nice it is to see a blue sky, rather than a grey sky.  We've had so many grey skies this winter.

I checked the garden beds the other day.   Because we let the chooks out one day, some of the pots have been dug up from them looking for bugs.  They tend to scatter the soil about.  On the ground it isn't an issue, but in the large planters, they can make a lot of mess, and half empty pots.  I'll just have to get more triple mix and manure to make up the difference.

Last spring I bought a couple of bales of straw.   I had some that I'd used to mulch the large raised beds, but I was hoping that if I left these two out over the summer, they'd start to compost and be a nice addition to dress the raised beds in the fall.   They'd started composting nicely and I dressed the empty bed fairly heavily, with 4in - 6 in of straw.   I'd planted garlic in just under half of the other raised bed, so I only put 2 or 3 inches of straw over the garlic.  I wanted it to have an easier time of sprouting in the spring.  I've had some struggle and start off a little curled up one year when I had a bit too much heavy mulch on my garlic.   Today I checked and we have garlic already sprouting!  Of the 45 cloves I'd planted last fall, 8 are already starting to grow.   It never starts out all at once, so I'm pretty happy.   It's hard neck garlic, and mostly the Music variety.  We're supposed to have rain all week, but the temperatures will be summer like.  I'll pop out to the feed store and pick up some compost to top dress the garlic, over the straw. in hopes of getting slightly bigger bulbs.  There are enough for us to use for a while and to use some as gifts.  I've already had family members suggest that they could be the recipients of our excess!  

I planted some chives in a planter last summer.  Not even one of the large planters, but a medium-ish sized pot on the deck, so that it was easily reached to use over the summer.   It sort of languished and never really got useably large, and I forgot about it as I didn't think it would over winter in that particular pot.  It did though and is growing really, really well!  I'll have chives to use this summer for certain.

The Blue Squill is blooming in full force.   We should have two patches, but one is struggling this year.  I think it may have gotten a bit compacted by the snow, weird winter weather and its proximity to the fire pit and maple syrup production. It's hardy though and the bulbs spread quite readily.

We also have the daffodils, tulips and alliums starting.  The leaves are growing.  We won't have tulip or alliums for a while yet, but a few of the daffs are starting to bud up.   With the warm weather expected this week, they should bud up and maybe start flowering really quickly.

My son in law is generously starting some tomato seedlings for me.   He starts all sorts of interesting plants, but as we have somewhat limited our growing space these days, I'm less adventurous in what I plant.  I mainly just grow the basics that we really like to eat, and some plants to put up for use over the winter.  Sometimes it works out better than others.  One summer we at zucchini almost every other day for several months.   Another, I managed to get enough

tomatoes to can for use over the whole winter.  I haven't been able to find that particular variety - Amish Paste Tomato- since.  Too bad because it produced a lot of fruit, but it didn't all ripen at once, so canning it was super easy.  The tomatoes were really tasty too.

I'm so happy that the garden season is starting.   If I pick up some arugula, spinach and leaf lettuce seeds, hopefully we'll have  salads soon too!   Let's hope that we don't get the fruit trees flowering this early and then having more frosty weather afterwards, which damages the new buds and hurts the fruit harvests.

More Hints of Spring

 

It snowed yesterday, all day.   It snowed 2 days ago as well.  It snowed every day this week  but Tuesday.  So far it's not snowing today either.  The fields and gardens were covered in snow this morning.  Thankfully most of it has melted and there are just a few patches left.  There is snow in our driveway too, which is odd as it is a sheltered nook.

We're supposed to keep our snow tires on until the middle of April and its springs like this which make us appreciate them.  It's supposed to be spring, and the cold weather and snows suggest it's not quite there yet.

I found these crocuses hidden by an old barrel that had been used as a planter eons ago.  Usually it's hidden by lilacs, mallows and an as of yet unidentified fuchsia perennial so I don't really notice it.  There is a lilac growing out of it, so it's going to be difficult to remove the old barrel until it completely falls apart.  Still this little patch of crocuses was a joy to see.

I was also surprised by  this tiny patch of Glory of the Snow blooming.  Two days ago it was just a few green leaves just starting to show.  With yesterday not even getting above freezing in temperatures, I thought it could be next week until they bloomed.

The squill or Scilla is also starting to bloom.  I love the dark blue of the flowers.  There are so few true blue flowers that I find these special.   They are early bloomers for sure.   The planting instructions suggest that they need well drained soil.  They have volunteered themselves, and moved to the bed in front of the barn and chicken coop, which is where all the snow melt and run off drains in a winter and spring like this.  Hardly well drained, yet still they bloom.

 The ground around the whole place is still soft and boggy in places.  I've worn my wellies more this spring than in ages, just because a) I found a new pair that are acceptable and b) the ground has been soft, wet and squidgy for weeks now and not fun to walk on or wade through, depending on the day.

I've spun 100 g of this gorgeous pink yarn.  My friend A gave it to me and I've decided that I'll make a pair of mitten from it.  It's a colour of pink I really like and mittens will mean I get to wear them for months and months next winter.   I've 2 bobbins of it.  I haven't decided if I want to ply them together, or ply it with another colour.  I'd prefer not have barber pole striping on the yarn though, so I guess that suggests what I should do.

I'd like to knit the mittens in pink and grey, but I only have grey Icelandic on hand right now.  Icelandic is a dual coat, so this one has a very soft, pale grey undercoat and a darker grey outer coat which is fairly harsh.   It's a striking fleece, but I'm not sure I want to deal with it right now as it still needs washing and processing, which seems like a lot of work for a pair of mittens.

Nature's Promise Revealed

 

Last Crocuses - such a pretty colour

On the eve of the Winter Solstice, I light a candle to help light the way for longer days.   We've had a rather dramatic winter this year, with the winds, lake effect snows, and variable weather.  It was an abnormal winter for us and after several fairly mild winters, this one really seemed to hit us with a vengeance.   Finally though, with a few glitches in between and weather that the prognosticating rodent (ground hog) said would be an early spring, we finally have evidence that spring may truly be on its way.

The crocuses or croci if you prefer have bloomed.  Yesterday these few were in their prime while the rest have faded.  Only one of the Siberian Irises came up this year and that was during an ice storm, so it didn't last for long.  But the leaves and greenery for many other spring plants have started to push forth from the finally thawed ground and are showing the promise of spring.

The daffodils started just when the crocuses first bloomed.  In the beginning, they were just tiny green sprouts.  Now though there are early flower buds which catch attention and the longing for spring flowers.   I usually try to buy a pot or two of forced bulbs in the spring, but there weren't many in the shops this year, catering to those of us who desperately need that early hit of spring.  Now of course, with daffodil flower buds starting to show, it's worth the wait for them to mature.

My iced over kitchen window

The weather  has not been all favourable this spring.   Areas to the north and east of us were hit with a major ice storm.  We were lucky enough to miss out on the first one but a smaller second one hit us a couple of days later: not even enough time to recover between the two of them.   The area police were issuing warnings to people to please slow down on the high ways.  Hubby's co-worker took 30 minutes to cover what was normally a 10 minute drive.   We had lots of power flickers and a short outage, but quickly resolved, unlike areas in the rest of the province.  Everyone I talked to were thankful for that, and dismayed about the havoc that the storm wreaked elsewhere.  With rain, snow, ice pellets, freezing rain, more snow it was a few days to hunker down.   I can't remember seeing the snow plow go down our road multiple times  in April, plowing the snow on the road, the shoulders and laying down salt to try to keep the roads safe.

Lone Siberian Iris

Today though, the sun is shining and the winds have finally eased off.   I was able to go outside to practice the banjo yesterday as I found a sheltered spot which was warm enough and while I could hear the wind around me roaring through the trees, it didn't hit the spot on the deck where I was sitting.  Today, I let the chooks out and might even bundle up a bit and take my tea out to the deck.

Mother Nature sometimes is delayed with her promise of spring, but she's never failed to produce it yet.  That darned groundhog though, I'm sure spent weeks rolling around in his den, laughing at us all with his faulty predictions this year, that we all so desperately wanted to believe.

A Hint of Summer

 It's not unheard of to have a snow storm in April around here.   It's not common, but it happens.   However this week the weather has been spectacular.  It's been a peek into summer, today especially.  Yesterday started off nicely, with sunshine and mild temperatures, but right about noon the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up.  It was still a cold breeze, which made the day feel cool.  Today though, the breeze is mild, and the sun is shining.  It's 24C out side which is summer weather.   This morning, I hung out the first laundry of the year.   I'll admit that I like hanging laundry outside.  It's one of those little chores which makes me feel very happy.

 

All those really early bulbs have suddenly bloomed.  The Scilla or Squill, whatever you call it, and the Glory of the Snow have started to bloom.   The mini daffodils have started to bloom and the full size ones should be starting to bloom in a day or two.   What is really amazing is the number of bees around these flowers.   So many of them and they are so busy, flitting around.  We get a lot of tiny bees, which are very good pollinators.   This spring though, in addition are a lot of these larger bees.   

 

I'm almost finished the rug!   I just have a couple more flowers to finish up and the binding.   I'm having a hard time finding yarn in the right colour to whip the edges with.   The blue background of the border is a teal based colour and was dyed with who knows what dyes, ages ago.  I picked it up at a guild silent auction.  It's a lovely dark, mottled blue, more cobalt than navy.   I was at a hook in with the guild, at the studio of a very talented hooker and totally forgot to ask her if she had a dye which would work.  I've dyed one skein of yarn, but it's not quite the right blue :(   The only thing I'm not 100% happy with are the mullions on the pink house.  I'm not sure I'm unhappy enough to change them though, and haven't thought about what colour I might change them out with, just in case I decided to pull them out and redo them. hmmm.....

I was at Westfield demonstrating Pysanky or Ukrainian Easter Eggs.   It was a fun time and while there

were a lot of visitors, there weren't so many it was crazy all the time.   The amazing thing was a friend from my childhood showed up and surprised me.  It totally made my day.  I don't have a photo of all the eggs I wrote because I gave a bunch away in the staff room.  I kept enough for a display I'll need them for in the future though, so I don't have to write more of them between now and then.   I forgot to take the wax off one of them, oops!

 

Spring Flowers and the start of gardening

There is a green haze on the bush lots and many of the trees.   I was beginning to wonder if we'd have leaves by Mother's Day.   We usually do have them, but this year everything seems a bit slow.   We've been getting one reasonably nice day and then day after day of cool, grey, wet weather.  The spring bulbs came out en masse.  Usually it's a lovely progression with first the crocuses, then the Siberian Irises and the Scillia.   This spring they all bloomed at once.  Then the Hyacinths come, and then the daffodils with the tulips finally showing.   Again, these all bloomed at once.    Usually I get several days to sit outside with my tea and enjoy the heavily scented hyacinth blooms, but this year, I got a whiff in passing because it's not been warm enough and the stupidly strong breezes just keep happening.

This year, thanks to our very active squirrels I'm guessing, there are daffodils in the ditch, by the neighbours field and hyacinths in our front flower beds.  Both of which are similar to what I've got in my gardens elsewhere.   I don't really mind that they've done that.  I was considering planting a few daffodils out on the edge of our property anyway and the hyacinths up front aren't a bad thing.  Although I do like to be able to drink my tea outside to their scent.  They are one of my favourite spring bulbs.

I've been playing outside the the garden.   The raised beds have been dry enough to weed a couple of times, so I've been pulling out quack grass and something else with long stringy roots but no growth yet at this time of year.    I need to add some compost and manure, but I found some cell packs of started lettuce plants, so picked up a few and planted them already.  

Earlier this spring, near the end of March, I planted some woad seeds.  This seed is at least 10 years old.  It's germinated well in the past but this year I wasn't so lucky.   I had already over planted, with 3 or 4 seeds in a pot, but it was slow to start and then only a few came up.   I soaked some seed over night and planted that at about 5 per pot, in the same pots as the first ones.   I got enough to come up for use and there may be extras to give away.   The one woad plant that came up last year, is getting ready to flower, so I will have fresh seed.  Yay!

  I'm going to be away for the long weekend, and really can't rely on my menfolk to water my seedlings, although they will do it if they remember.   I figured I could get them to water the garden, so I planted out the woad early.  It's cold hardy and I put it under little plastic cloches from the dollar store.   So far it's holding it's own.   It will be much easier to get the garden plants watered than the little tray of
pots inside the house.

There are now 24 green cones protecting the woad. The large clear cloches has Japanese Indigo.   There are more in a second bed.  This is a bit of a risk as the plant is much less tolerant of the cold.  However, I have enough to replant, as well as some extra for a friend, should the cold weather be too much for the Japanese Indigo.  However, if it survives the next week or two, the plant will have an advantage of a couple of extra weeks growing time, when my garden gets full sunlight.  Hopefully it will make a difference to both seed and indigo production.

I've been spinning and plying Merino - both white and natural grey.  I don't have photos yet.  I will say that the grey has an odd texture that almost feels a little dry, that I'm not sure about, but it's a lovely colour and quite soft.   The white is lovely as well, but it's also obviously more processed thatn the grey. 

Rant -   Mainly, other administrative type things have been taking up my time, which has been a little frustrating.  It always gets a little bit frustrating and then poof, it's done and I get to spend a long weekend with friends, hoping all goes well and unwinding. It's never felt too much though until this year.  This year it's been compounded with not only organizing the classes for the event FOOL, but also with teaching a 3 week spinning class and prepping for a historical cooking class.  The cooking class is a non-issue since it's really just reading cookery books and doing an occasional cooking experiement ahead of time, figuring out a time line and documenting it.  I actually found it the most relaxing in the few days that I devoted to it.  The spinning class was where the pressure was, since the dates were sort of shoved at me.  If I'd really had a choice, I'd have waited until after the long weekend, when I had less on my plate.    But it is what it is and it's done.  Now to figure out where I found all the supplies and get them put away again.

Colour outside

I finished the shawl. It was 34 x 108, not including the fringe,  off the loom, having rested overnight before I measured it.   My tape measure wasn't handy while I was weaving and I was sure I knew better than to really need it.  I had really, put only enough warp on for the shawl and the loom waste.  I'd even calculated most of the fringe to come from the loom waste, so shouldn't have finished up with a shawl, quite that long.  It's not a problem as wet finished it's 32 x 101 plus the fringe.  I could run it through the washer again and full it a bit more, as it's quite softly wet finished.   It's drapey though and it's soft.  It wraps around beautifully and feels like a giant hug.  It is definitely pink, no doubt about that one :)

After I set it outside to dry in yesterday's lovely weather,(today is wet, cool and dismally grey), I grabbed my big girl camera with a 50 mm lens and explored the garden.   Not much yet, but enough to think that perhaps spring is here.
 I want to find more of these for the garden.  It's some variety of Scilla, (siberica?).   I'd love them to be strewn throughout the gardens and yard.  They are exquisitely blue and fresh.

These are another variety of Scilla as well.  Pretty, blue and starshaped, they have started to migrate from this little patch.  I'd put in more of these as well, although I don't like them quite as much as the other ones.

I didn't get around to planting more Crocus bulbs last fall, although I had that activity in the plans.  Even less came up this year and most were crushed by a wet, heavy and late snow fall.  These were later blooming and caught me by surprise.  Still pretty though.

The garlic is up!  It's looking strong and healthy, although buried in the snow, it was a sad picture, that I refused to take.  It looks like virtually every clove that I planted has germinated this year, so I'm hopeful that we'll have lots to harvest.

Something has eaten every last strawberry plant and the bunnies got the blueberries, which are showing no signs of recovery yet.  I haven't checked the raspberries but at least a few of the blackberries made it through the harsh winter.  The black current bush has lots of leaf buds, and I'm hopeful that there might be a few berries to harvest this year.   Last year there were 3 currents on the bush, so more would be a good thing.