New fence and fruit blossoms

May has been a month of pretty unsettled weather, with lots of rain and cloudy days. The water has been a real boon. The plants could use some heat, though.

I've managed to get everything seeded, including the corn yesterday. The garlic has been shooting up in the front yard but no sign of potatoes yet. Lettuce and beets are up; carrots remain MIA.

We spent some time last weekend completing the fence around the back yard (it has always been open on the north side of the house). 

Overall, a pretty successful project that was very expensive because the price of wood is crazy ($140 to do a 5x5' section and I already had the screws).

The fruit trees all survived the winter and are in blossom. I'm keen to see if the cherry and plum yield any fruit this year. The dwarf apple in the back is loaded with flowers, which is a good sign.

I've been aggressively weeding in the wet weather, trying to get at the roots of the crab grass and the creeping bell flower. I've also knocked a bunch of smaller home repair projects off the list. If the lathe holds off, I'll burn the last of the raspberry canes tonight!

Spring 2024

I got a late start to blogging but gardening is well underway! April was a mixed bag, weather-wise, but I had lots of time to do a general clean up. The beds all got a thorough weeding and shaping. I also thinned and burned most of the dead raspberry canes.

Some early seeds went in the second week, including 110 feet of peas, 25 feet of spinach (below) and 20 potatoes. The spinach is up. No sign of the peas yet.

In early May, I put in two beds of carrots, spendings one time loosening the soil below the rows in the hope of giving the carrots and easier time of things.

I also put out the tomatoes we've grown (some black Russians and some blush). The threat of first has passed and they were getting awfully leggy in the house.

The perennials are doing well. The haskap berries are flowering and the raspberries are putting out leaves. I was also hay to see the cherry and both pears survive the winter, along with the apple trees.

The rhubarb are also up. I still have a bunch of squash on the window sill. Some are getting quite viney and need to go in the ground, maybe tomorrow if the rain stops. The eggplants I grew have been a bit of a dud (I imagine I did something wrong).

I also spent some time reworking the drainage of the house and garage to put the water into the garden in anticipation of a mother dry summer. My hope this year is to blog every two weeks at least.