Tulips, peas and potatoes

 Alright, I missed a week or two of updates due to some travel but am now back on track.

We had a great year of bulbs, which are finished now. I'll definitely be putting a few more in this fall.

All of the seedlings have now gone outdoors, with mixed success. Most of the squash made it except a few that I was clumsy with. These I replanted with direct sown seeds.

We also have most of the flowers in the ground. There is still room for a few more, I'd say but I'm going to wait for some end of season sales.

The rest of the spring flowers are just about finishing, It was a great year for lilacs as well as lily of the valley. I have had to start ruthlessly removing some as pit spreads so aggressively.

The peas are up and I have been working hard to keep them free from weeds. I have been having good luck in the far corner of the yard growing clover footpaths (mostly through selective weeding) and the peas are right here so they have gotten more attention than usual.

The basil has all survived transplant, which is amazing. Usually I lose half of the seedlings to shock or various other woes. I did have a lot of casualties among the cantaloupe and the cucumber transplants and I had to go buy a few replacements.

The radishes have come up up nicely and the beans are starting to germinate. No sign of the asparagus this year. Oh well, it was never really done that well for me (maybe the soil is too clay-y) and I think I'm just going to give up.

The garlic is almost a foot tall already. nice to have some early signs of success. we've also managed to finish the garlic scape pesto I had in the freezer so I may do a batch again this year.

I was also happy to see that the potatoes have started to pop up. Yay!

I ended up reseeding the carrots (maybe I used old seed?). In better news, the beets seem to be coming up (finally!) and the tomatoes all see to have survived their transplanting. Whew!

Fruit blossoms, bulbs, and planting

 This week was probably the height spring blooms in Edmonton.

Above, plums; below saskatoons.

The cherry tree was also in full show and I'm hopefully we'll get a good crop this year. The apples (not shown) are just starting to bloom.

The tulips also all popped.

In more prosaic gardening, I have been putting out the seedlings we grew. The tomatoes got way too leggy so I ended up putting them in on their sides in the trench method. Six went in out front and six in the back to climb up the deck railing.

These were a mix of cherry tomatoes and larger ones (mortgage lifters, I think).

I also put the squash, green onions, and the basil out. I didn't get a chance to harden off the basil as much as I wanted so I gave them each a mini greenhouse and some leaf cover for the first few days to lessen the shock.

 

I have a few squash left to plant. I also finished the seeding, including a bunch of sunflowers. The cucumbers and cantaloupe will sit inside for another couple of weeks before I put them out (they are more prone to dying when transplanted!). The last of the planting will be a bunch of flowers, maybe in a week or two.

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.