Asparagus, apple blossoms, and raspberries

The weather has warmed the past week and seeds are germinating (including beans and squash). In the asparagus bed, it looks like only one crown survived the winter (arrrgh). I may give up on asparagus and just put this bed into regular rotation.

In better news, the fruit trees are blossoming and the neighbourhood smells great. Cinnamon from the apples, fruit from the cherries, grape from the Maydays, and the lilacs are just opening.

I'm hopeful our apples will have good season given the large number of blossoms. I've been pretty diligent with the weeding this spring and have made serious inroads against the crab grass and the bellflower.

The raspberries we put in along the south side of the fence seem to have all come back this year and are putting up new canes. The potatoes we interplanted also seem to be doing okay. In the back yard, the carrots have finally germinated and the garlic and onions are doing great.

It is hard to convey how showy the apple blossoms are.

If the weather cooperates this week I'm going to transplant some raspberry suckers into an empty spot on the north fence line. I also have a plan get my hand tools off of the deck this year.

Finished planting and fixed fence

We finished the spring planting over the weekend, with a few flowers. The move from cold spring to hot summer is always so sudden Edmonton (two days this year).

The potatoes we put in a few weeks back are just up. We also put in two haskap plants and a cherry tree and they seem to be doing well.

This tiny tulip (maybe the diameter of a toonie) has a tiny mason bee inside.

Last night we put out the tomatoes and basil Jess had grown. In the foreground are the peppers. This is the hottest part of the garden with the bounce off the garage so I'm hopeful for a good crop this year.

We spent most of the previous weekend disassembling two sections of fence the has pulled apart when a post rotted out. Then we put in a new post, rebuilt the panels (salvaging a much wood as we could) and installed them. They aren't perfect but there are good enough for the fence on the north side of the garage.

We now turn to watering, weeding, and waiting for stuff to germinate. Onions are garlic are well up. Peas are a mixed bag. Beans, pumpkins, squash, and carrots are still waiting.

Planting

April was cold, with winter hanging until the middle of the month. I spent some time thinning out the preserves cupboard and working my way through pie filling and apple sauce. 

The violets were up in one of the raised beds. these got transplanted to make room for onions.

We finally saw signs of life the last week of April with the garlic poking through.

I put Jess to work before she heads off to a join Banff for the summer. Here she's planting onion.

We also put in 50 feet of peas along the edge of the fence (plastic trellis is invisible).

We built a strawberry tower. Not sure the strawberries we bought are going to make it.

This week it was potato day. We had about 50 spuds left over from last year so they all went in the ground.

I dug and she raked.

We also moved a water barrel and some composter around to make room for some hasp bushes and a cheery tree. I'm currently doing battle withs some crab grass in the back yard while the soil is moist and loose.

The next big project is to fix the north fence. It looks like we might still have some below freezing temperatures so the tomato and basil plants remain in the house.