Plums, bulbs and compost

Not huge changes in the garden this week, but spring is proceeding. Both plum trees have flowered (at the same time!) so I am hopeful we might see some fruit this year. The cherry tree is also budding up.

The daffs are just about done for the year but the tulips are starting, which is lovely.

The birds are also back and singing.

I've been doing a lot of grunt work in the yard. I cleaned up the edge of the south raspberry bed, for example, driving back the crab grass and creeping bell flower. I've also been levelling pathways since the soil is moist and easy to work with and I've been removing grass in the pathways.

The city announced their free compost was available so we grabbed about 90 gallons last week and dressed the beds.

It also looks like we're past the risk of frost so I have been planting. Potatoes are in as are the peas and carrots and beets. I am about half way done the beans. Nothing to exciting yet as nothing has germinated, although I did see a carrot up on the weekend.

This week, I am hardening off some seedlings and also thinking about getting some flowers. There was also another sale on local peppers, so I ran another six through the dehydrator.

Greens, peonies and strawberries

I spent a lot of time weeding this week, but we're starting to see results. The first big harvest of greens (spinach and rocket) was a success. Arugula toast was not a big hit

The peonies are in bloom and add a lovely bit of colour to the yard.

We also had the first few strawberries.

We finally replaced the birdbath out back after several years without one.

More peonies.

The rhubarb I moved last fall have really come in and I look forward to a good harvest next year once they are established. 

The potatoes are also doing well, with the second planting coming up.

I expect we'll have garlic scapes to harvest in the next week or two.

I'm hopeful we can also harvest some peas this weekend. The Saskatoons are also looking like they are ready for a bit of picking. Not yet widely ripe but enough to warrant the effort. A bit of sun would really help the garden ut right now--it has rained every day for weeks!

 

Wet June

Based upon the photos, June has been a reasonably wet month, after a smoky end to May. The water helped with the carrots, that have finally come up!

The first of the radishes are ready to harvest and we have been baking with and freezing rhubarb. I plan to get the dehydrator out for the oregano, which has established itself on the south side of the house.

The rest oft he garden is growing pretty much on schedule. The potatoes came up in two groups (blue caribe and red sangre slightly later). The onions are also doing well, with only one cutworm so far.

We had both chickadees and robins nesting in the backyard this year, with both sets of young fledged and off now.

It looks this will be a good year for saskatoons, with both bushes loaded with little berries. The raspberries also came up after a slow start and the bees are busy in there.

Both apple trees had lots of blooms and I see enough tiny apples that we should be good for sauce this year.

We've also launched into iris season. The beds that we thinned out front are a bit sparse, but around the side we will get a nice set of blooms.

Other than one more sowing of lettuce, we're basically done with planting for the year. Hopefully we can start harvesting. It looks like some self-sown lettuce out back is also ready for this afternoon.

The end of spring flowers

We're coming t the end of the spring flower season. The barberry is in bloom as are the lilacs--and the neighbourhood smells wonderful.

Some of the perennials are also starting to put on a show. The phlox is blooming in the shade of the hedge (and everywhere else it has come up).

We had a day of rain this week, which was much needed. Jess and I used the day to make Christmas cake. The yard used the day to sprout dandelions.

It looks like we'll have a good crop of Saskatoons this year. The raspberries have also started to flower, which is promising.

The chickadees in our bird house seem to be fledging their young There are still lots of robins around, using the bird bath and sunning themselves on the window box.

After knocking down the grass and the weeds and putting in a second sowing of peas, I'm kind of pooped out. This weekend I plan to make some more chive vinegar (using what is left of last year's to pickle some eggs).

We also need to rack off the red wine kit we made. This will free up the fermenter to start on some rhubarb wine next weekend. The rhubarb needs another trimming tonight so I'll put some more in the freezer in anticipation. I wonder if any of my neighbours also have some to spare? I also see that the oregano is big enough to pick and start drying. Maybe tomorrow... .

Planting!

Spring seems to be here for real this time. The perennials (like the day lilies below) are up and jumped a couple of inches in the heat of the past few days.

While we waited for the soil to warm a bit, I dug out one of the compost bins. Amazing how organic debris breaks down and gives you... spoons. I have scheduled a refresher on what you can compost and what you can't for the next staff meeting.

The wheelbarrow of stuff I dug out made some nice additions to the beds that I'm building on top of a huge pile of clay from the foundation dig seven years ago. We then planted a bunch of walla-walla shoots.

Jess also puts in 40 or so potato plants after I loosened the soil I touch. We went with more purple caribe, a russet variant, and a yellow boiling potato.

It is interesting to poke around in last year's debris. I found this Roma and was surprised to see the colour change in the skin over the winter. Very striking against the greys and browns.

The storage onions we put in more than a month ago have started to jump up out front. No sign of the last fall's garlic yet.

The bird house we bought for Jenn last mother's day has tenant (chickadees). Hard to get a good shot with my camera and zooming. The best I could do is this one (you can see the chickadee launching itself out of the house--pardon the distortions through the three panes of glass).

The rhubarb is up. We were drinking some of last year's rhubarb wine and quite enjoying it last night. I think we'll do this again this year. We plants the carrots, turnips, and zucchini yesterday. It looks like the radishes self-seeded last year n one bed so we'll just leave them.

I need to uncover the soil in the corn bed to let it warm up a touch over the week. There is also some early weeding to do.

The good news is that the bulbs are starting t come on. This daf was the first to flower but the tulips should follow shortly. The greening up of the shrubs has bee fast enough to almost watch it happen.

More seeding and early garden maintenance

Our early spring continues with the birds (these are waxwings) flocking up and the geese starting to fly overhead.

Jess and I continued the seeding yesterday, with some marigolds.

The tomatoes we seeded two weeks ago are now germinating under lights in the basement.

Outside, the garden is beginning to wake up with the early tulips in the back pushing up through the soil. These survived the snow we had earlier this week.

The spinach we planted in the cold frame has also come up.

I few years ago I snagged some wild onion seeds from the river valley and dusted them along the south side of the house. These have started to turn into a new patch and are back again this year. To encourage its spread, I spread the seeds from its heads last year around in the same spot.

We stopped in at Apache seeds this morning and picked up 1000 pounds of cow manure to add to the beds. Many places are still froze, but the top couple of inches of the raised beds were soft enough to stir in the manure.

Around front, last year's garlic is starting to emerge. I was a bit worried that nothing had emerged yet so I'm happy to see these shoots.

I left Jess to spread some of the manure around in the front beds. We're slowly improving the soil in a nasty little corner of the garden. She's also keen to pull out the irises below her window and put in some strawberry plants. But we'll need to wait a month or so before we can start that project.

With the weather looking better as spring break moves on, I am hopeful we can get the rest of the manure spread out (some of the bags were frozen) and maybe look for some onions to plant. If I get ambitious, I will also pull the Jerusalem artichokes and move them.