Saskatoons, ground cover and apple blossoms

Things were fairly subdued in the garden this week. I did a lot of weeding and tackled some of the problem areas after a big rain (three inches!) loosened the soil. The garlic and onions have really jumped up.

The Saskatoon bushes are in blossom, and it looks like a good crop this year! The yellow ground cover out front is always starting to flower.

While our apple trees are still not quite in bloom, the rest of the neighbourhood is trees certainly are. Out front, our carrots are germinating and I'v started to thin the beets. I'm hoping for an early harvest of spinach next week.

I picked up the last few flowers plus some basil and cilantro today. I hope to get them out into the yard tonight or tomorrow. Ot looks like the weather is warming up appreciably, with a high of 27 predicted on Saturday.

Tulips, tomatoes and potatoes

We spent part of the long weekend planting out the more tender plants, including a bunch of tomatoes.

Given that we've lost a lot of our gardening space to the garage build for this year, we only planted about 20 tomato plants: some in the box at below the back deck and some in a garden bed that I've recovered from the hedge.

Jess got pretty into it, based on the dirt on her face when it was done.

While she was planting, I was busy with the weeding in the side and front beds. A bit of heat has brought on the weeds. But it has also brought out the blooms on the saskatoon bushes. Assuming the bees get busy, it should be a good harvest!

The heat has also meant some of the potatoes we planted have pushed through to the surface. These are caribe blue that overwintered in the basement.

I still have a few plants to put in (two celery plants we've regrown from the butt plus a pair of leeks). There is also a bit of room for more flowers. And I see that the carrots have finally germinated out front. Let the thinning commence!

Daffodils, raspberry and peas

Nothing really inspirational in the garden this week. We put in the last of the onions, some bush bean seeds, and I planted some lettuce. I hope to get some flowers this week from the local garden shop.

The daffodils out front are very pretty and there was a huge bee on them while I was weeding. I spent a lot of time this week weeding, cleaning up some neglected areas of the yard, and weeding some more.

The raspberries are also leafing out, which is nice to see. I have been working around back, doing further hedge surgery and also starting to reclaim the garden bed that the hedge has grown into. When garage construction is done, this bed will form part of the new "in-ground" garden".

The first of the peas are also up this week, which is nice to see. We've sown two crops so hopefully we can spread the harvest out a bit longer than usual.

Trellis, peas, potatoes and radishes

We put in a lot of time this week, as the weather was very nice. Saturday we moved almost the last of the backyard dirt to the front and then I dropped in another 25+ potatoes. This puts us at 80ish plants this year. I'm hopeful for a good harvest. A bit heavy on russets but what can you do?

The rhubarb we transplanted last year has come up out front, which is a relief. Everyone likes strawberry-rhubarb pies and we use a lot of rhubarb.

We took apart the pea and bean trellises last year as the mesh had deteriorated (and they are way easier to store in pieces). I bought some new mesh this year and we re-assembled them Saturday night (a nice, sit-down task).

We then put these on the north side of the front garden. Jess planted peas there Sunday morning. I might plant some beans, depending on how the peas do. Jess also finished the carrots and the beets germinated Sunday afternoon!

The garlic we planted is also up and looking good. I think we planted 80ish bulbs last fall. Should be a good crop.

Less excitingly, I trimmed two feet of the left side of this alpine currant hedge. It was just too wide for me to trim the top any more. I'd like to trim the inside by about the same amount. But this was a huge amount of work.

Out front the bulbs are coming up, with the daffodils being the first.

And the radishes that I planted in a pot have come up too.

Overall, were in good shape. We just have some tomato and lettuce starts and some bush beans to plant and everything is in. We also almost have the back yard stripped for garage construction.