Come on Spring....

So today started rather dismally. A nice inch or so of snow blanketed everything and... well really I'm just glad it didn't happen next week after things started sprouting.

I found this pretty but soon to be dead planter as well as some rabbit prints on the way to work.

After a rather average day at work I stopped off at the post office to get the modem that was shipped. 

I picked up the package and sent of a birthday surprise for my lil sister. I know she reads this... but it's not like I said what the surprise is. :)

Weekend Transformation

This weekend it was time to tackle the front yard. 

Perfect for gardening.

Obligatory Before Shot

Last fall we got London Landscape Inc. to tear up the overgrown lawn, put down some proper topsoil, and cover it all with landscape cloth to keep weed seeds out. It was completed on time and on budget and I was very pleased. Unfortunately the snowplough decided to tear a strip off the yard near the side-walk. Yay.

Friday on the way home I grabbed some Growers Cider cause I knew after a long day of gardening I was gonna want something sweet and cool to drink. Saturday I spent the morning poking around the house and after brunch around noon I got to work.

First thing to do was go out back to the shed for some tools. as I was opening the shed I heard something behind me and managed to take this pic over my shoulder without startling the lil robin.

So Cute!

The yard was going to need edging and stepping stones in order to look tidy and be functional. I started with the heavy stuff first(thank goodness). I lifted the landscape cloth I found a few surprise grass sprouts, then started digging a trench for the edging stones. Around the edge the new topsoil wasn't nearly as deep so I quickly hit what was out original soil. I packed the gaps with dirt and rocks to prevent run-off. 

Clay and sand are not the best soils.

Four done, plenty to go.

Grass has got to be my most disliked weed.

Last fall when London Landscape Inc was coming I dug out the rosebush meaning to keep it in the basement over winter.... It over wintered in the carport. I'm not 100% certain that it'll grow again but roses are insanely resilient (I had a bush trying to grow from a 1" clipping last year) so there's no harm trying. I burred it deep and watered it well.

This is all that can be seen of the poor rosebush I dug up in the fall and left in the carport.

At this point it was almost supper, rain was threatening and I was tired so I figured it was time to call it a day.

Borders complete, stepping stones placed, rose bush re-situated.

I put up my feet for a bit and enjoyed a cider before dinner. After Dinner, Meg and I cuddled on the couch and watched some TV. The cats slept nearby keeping us company.   :)

A well earned drink to relax with.

They're so cute when they're not fighting.

- - - - - ~ - - - - -

It rained Saturday night and I slept fairly well but woke up sore all over. I am SO glad that all I left was the planting. I settled the stepping stones a little lower in the soil for stability, made and anchored a trellis, and made a little... entry arch? near the porch to show the intent of the stepping stones and that they're not there just for some weird artistic reason.

I bought a nice blend of perennials and self-seeding annuals for the base/filler from West Coast Seeds. I bought a bunch of bulbs from the dollar store, and I still have a variety of various seeds from previous excursions into gardening. I wanted it to be a nice low to no maintenance garden. Other than watering I think the only work involved might be taking the dead nasturtium vines off the trellis in the fall. I didn't plant anything to... obviously food... in the front yard but there's some useful plants in with the just-for-decoration flowers.

I planted some helpful flowers like lavender, chamomile, and calendula. To most they'll just be pretty flowers but if the new renters know their herbs, they'll be happy to have them. I also planted the whole length of the neighbour's driveway with garlic and onions. If they're recognised they'll be tasty, if not, they'll be basic greenery with the occasional round flower ball. :)

Sunday morning from inside before I started.

All Done.

Now I know garden folk love progress pics and I will let you know when everything starts sprouting, but I'm moving in two weeks so I won't be back to take pics regularly... just occasionally. :)

SproutBot

I found an interesting website that tells you when to start your seeds but they only do American zipcodes.

To get around that issue I looked up an american map for hardiness zones and found a city nearby with the same zone. Ann Arbor Michigan has the same zone and is in a similar latitude as us so I put in Zip 48104 and got this.

Turns out for one thing, our broccoli was going out way too soon. This will be an interesting site to look over when I have some time.... and it's not almost midnight. Good night folks.  

Sheilds are Holding Cap'n

Made of nothing but a layer of newspaper and a few sticks to keep it from blowing away, the squirrel shield seems to be holding! It's been at least 18 hours now and no signs of trouble. Knock on wood but I think this just might work!

What do you use for critter protection?

GARLIC!

Got the garlic planted today. Good thing too because the ground is bound to start freezing soon. I planted twelve blocks of nine so 108 all together.

Sorting/Counting on the table.

Each set had some old(sprouted) and some new.

Newspaper and sticks laid over the bed to discourage scavengers.

Hopefully my plan to cover the bed for a week or so with newspapers(and sticks so they don't blow away) will keep the squirrels from digging it up. I know they're not digging by smell or they'd know they don't want to eat the garlic before they dig it up. If this doesn't work... I don't know what we'll do next year... chicken wire?

A Pillar and Boxes of Pee

I decided we needed some greenery indoors other than the aloe this winter, so I took the two containers the hot pepper plants were in and stacked them so the smaller top one drains into the bigger one. I figured that some fresh herbs would be welcome in the kitchen and the flowers will make awesome tea and salves.

Top: Basil surrounded by Chamomile;  Lower ring: Calendula, Sage, and Chives

I also got to the garden center today to pick up the nitrogen for the garden. Because we had plenty of everything else I wanted to find a high-nitrogen, low to zero phosphorus, low to zero potassium solution that was naturally sourced and slow release. I was considering poultry manure but the size and weight of the required amount(not to mention cost) was a bit uncomfortable... especially since I don't drive and I'd have to take it all home on the bus. What I found instead was this:

Urea is the chief solid component of mammalian urine; synthesized from ammonia and carbon dioxide. It is filtered out of the body through the kidneys, and is one of the components of urine.

Five boxes should do the whole garden plus some left for if the front yard needs a boost. Amazingly potent. :) We'll get it mixed in ASAP and it will age over the winter into very nutritious soil.

Learning from 2012

We learned quite a few things this year:

• I don't actually have the time or desire to keep track of seeding/transplanting/harvesting every week on top of watering and weeding.
• I don't mind drying/freezing/canning our produce and would much rather have a big harvest to store than a continuous trickle that will most likely get wilty and gross before we eat it
• We don't need half as many varieties and would probably be much better off planting more of what we'll definitely eat
• The seedlings were leggy because they didn't get enough light
• The transplants did poorly because they were not properly hardened off
• The garden in general did poorly because the soil's still terrible and we didn't water nearly enough
• The front lawn is a waste of space(even tiny as it is) an no one wants to mow it even if the mower were working

What did you learn this year?

Sharing and Caring

These lovely plants are ready to go to work with me tomorrow.
I had a few too many so I'm giving them to my boss for her garden.

Bell pepper, cucumber, and cherry tomato.

And now that I've finally found a supplier of slips... the last ditch effort that hadn't been thrown out yet,
started sprouting. I suppose we'll have to find a home for it now. :)

Two big ones here and a smaller one just started on the other side.

Speaking of homes, we still haven't found the owner of this new stray in the neighbourhood. If you are in London Ontario and missing a (mostly) black cat, please let me know.

I didn't actually make it out back today before the sun went down but John watered earlier today so it'll hold til tomorrow. Our water barrel is helping greatly but it only has 1/2 usable capacity right now due to being flat on the ground. John's planning on building a platform so we can use that other 25 gallons between rains.

Patchwork Garden

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3

5

7

2

4

6

8

Okay I admit this looks a bit off, but hear me out.

9

John took all these pretty pictures today and I just had to use them to show you how the garden's growing.

Pepper Planting Time!

Tomatoes & peppers sitting in the shady morning air.

Bell Peppers and Beefsteak Tomatoes

Cherry Tomato Vines

Roma (Paste) Tomatoes

Seeds trying really really hard to grow new grass.

Lovely Lilacs and Warm Weather

Mom and lil sis visited town yesterday and we had a great time wandering all over. I took this picture of nice dark, beautifully scented Lilac bush near Talbot on King.

That's my mom's arm holding the branch still in the wind.

This weekend's supposed to be very warm with a bit of rain again.... and John has informed me that the Junebugs are out already. I've decided that since the pepper and tomato plants are getting crowded inside, they will be put outdoors this weekend even though they aren't planned to go out for one to two more weeks. (many pics to follow)

Just Gone, Not Forgotten

Life has been keeping my mind busy with work/school/financial issues and I've been keeping busy(games, videos, reading sci-fi, stumbleupon) trying to avoid that stress load. Unfortunately gardening is new and requires leaving my comfy furniture... those alone put it in the stress category. As such I haven't planted anything new since the last update.

I'm going to work on training myself to see gardening as a distraction instead of a responsibility... but that might take a while.

P.S. I bought an aloe and had to up-pot it as it was already root-bound. This doesn't count as garden stuff because it's not food.

P.P.S. We went to home depot and got the poles for vertical supports but we haven't put them in yet.

P.P.P.S. We priced do-it-yourself and pre-made rain barrels. IT comes out about he same if you don't have access to free supplies for the do-it-yourself model. We're going to get between 1 and 3 rain barrels this summer.

One last thing... I have just updated the calender so it should be accurate now.

First Seeds in the Garden

The lighter spots are vermiculite in the seed holes to maintain a nice moisture level.

It's still technically winter.

Procrastination and Progress

As  you can see from the Garden Planner page... I'm tending to drift. :)

The day's I've been planting the seeds were supposed to be exactly a week apart (every Tuesday) I just got this Tuesday's batch planted today (Friday). I think I'm going to start planting the Sunday before because I'm just to lazy after work.

Even though I've been a bit lax in my discipline, the sprouts seem to be doing mostly well.

The first Seedling pack is doing very well. (Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower)

I've even up-potted some broccoli that were getting too big for those little slots.

In this pack left & center column parsley, right column top to bottom: lavender, echinacea, lavender. I think the top left and bottom right seeds rotted instead of sprouting. :(

And last but not least, This pack has a cabbage sprout and the four seeds from today.

Last weekend, John and I got the wood from the tree cutting out of the garden and all the small stuff cut to bundle length. We forgot to get twine so it's been sitting on the patio all week waiting to get bundled up.(Planning to get that done tomorrow)

From this...

To this!

The beds have been roughly marked out by the carpet paths we lay down last weekend. Each bed will get turned over, sifted and mixed with manure etc this weekend.

Since the ground never really had a chance to freeze deep this winter, the soil's been loose and dig-able every time the temps go up to 10°C so the high of 15° on Sunday should be perfect.

First Planting of the Season

First seeds of the season planted and in the windowsill.

For info on what's being planted when, check out the handy-dandy planner I've set up here.

The trays and vermiculite are from Ontario Growers Supply. The potting soil I mixed with the vermiculite was from an old planter that's been sitting in our carport all fall/winter. (Don't worry, no car exhaust to be absorbed.) I mixed the vermiculite with the old soil about 50/50 to get a nice light seed starting medium... and noticed something:

Seed mix compared to back yard dirt.

Our back yard is going to need a lot more help than I thought. That is one of the buckets I had used to sprout the dollarstore seeds. No wonder the poor things never got established. We won't be fixing it yet because the back yard still looks like this:

Free firewood anyone?

My main thoughts are to box off the beds and dig in topsoil, manure, and vermiculite to give the garden a fighting chance. That may be too expensive and we'll wind up going the topsoil & manure only route with no bed edging. I wouldn't have thought covering the ground with plastic for a few years would result in such anemic dirt... but here's the proof. We won't have our own compost to add til Autumn 2013 so this is going to be interesting.