Opening The Milk Jugs

   Blessed relief!  It was a cool 2 degrees at 6:00am, but now, at noon, it is 15 degrees and feels hotter.  At least two people within earshot are motoring around their yards on lawn-mowers. 

   It was back onto the front step this morning for the transplants after being inside for a few days due to cool, windy, wet weather.  They're shaded by an old bedsheet.  The cats love to curl up underneath the sheet among the transplants.  :)

   I planted the dinnerplate dahlia tubers (started indoors) this morning and decided to open most of the milkjugs to expose the transplants to some sunshine.  This month's weather extremes left some wear and tear on the cabbage and Romanesco cauliflower.  The little flies that put pinholes in the brassica transplants also started to make their mark recently.  I pulled out the weak and very damaged ones and put the rest in partial shade near the bathtub.  I think they'll be okay.

They seem to like the heat, so I left the Dwarf Cosmos...

...and the Summer Savoury in their closed "greenhouses" for now.

We had some extra Kennebec seed potatoes, so R. planted them in the old wheelbarrow basin and recycling bins.

The garlic patch is coming along!  All varieties, including the small "Brown Tempest" rounds (in the white, rectangular planter in the front of the patch), have finally sprouted.

Dwarf Purple Heart

     The weather has been cool, cloudy, damp, and windy for the last week or so.  Awful weather for hardening off the tomatoes.  They are looking ratty and still aren't ready to be planted outside.  They need some warmth and sunshine, ASAP.

    The only transplant of Orange Strawberry (tomato) snapped in half when the shade sheet was blown off.  One of the rocks holding the sheet in place landed on top of it.  I replanted the top half and am hoping it takes root and grows stronger than ever.

    One little transplant made me smile this morning.  The single Dwarf Purple Heart (from the only seed of this variety that germinated) produced a flower.  It is so cute!  

    Taking advantage of the cool days, we planted carrots (assorted varieties), potatoes (Norland and Kennebec), a few beets, and lettuce earlier this week.  This morning, I transplanted some Swiss Chard, kale, collards, and parsley from the milk jug greenhouses into the "bathtub planter" and the shady corner of the south garden.

    R. spotted two volunteer squash growing in one of the window planters!  I wish I knew what kind they were.  If they were zucchini or prolific straightneck squash - both fairly compact - I would try to move them into a larger container or one of the gardens.  The other possibilities - spaghetti squash, Galeaux D'Eysines, and North Georgia Candy Roaster - are large and vining, and I have different varieties of winter squash planned for this year.  In any case, they're hardy little souls, coming up despite this cool weather.  Credit where credit is due!

Snowfall to Heat Wave

   The morning of my last post (May 3rd), I woke up to snow falling.  It snowed all that day and into the next.  The snow stopped on the 4th, and then temperatures dropped to between -2 and -8 overnight.  I had to bring my milk jug greenhouses inside for several nights and put extra straw on the onion patches along the driveway.

   Less than a week later, we have jumped right into summer temps.  Yesterday was 20 degrees.  This afternoon, it is 20 degrees again.  Tomorrow is forecast to be 26 degrees!  The milkjug greenhouses are back outside, the onions are starting to come up, and I spotted the first sign of buds on the raspberry canes. The first dandelions of the season have appeared.  

   I began hardening off the transplants (mostly tomatoes and peppers, plus a few leeks, marigolds, and parsley) yesterday morning.  Part of this morning was separating and repotting our rootbound and sad-looking aloe vera plants.  Despite wearing sunscreen and a hat, I got a mild sunburn. 

    A few days ago, during the cold spell, R. spotted that the small crocus-like flowers growing in the flower bed (close to blooming) had been chewed off overnight!  We assume it must have been a young deer with the munchies, though we didn't see any tracks.  The anonymous nibbler was gracious enough to leave a single flower.

Update - May 19th:  The nibbled bunch of flowers bounced back, better than ever.  :)

We Jinxed It

   I woke up in the middle of the night to the strong smell of must and damp in the basement/crawlspace.  Uhg.  I knew there had been some kind of precipitation, but assumed it was rain.

May 3, 7:00am, -2 degrees C., still snowing

   R. changed his winter tires over to summer ones yesterday, and I put away the snow shovel and ice blade.

Opps.

   I am looking forward to having a stretch of weeks (or dare I wish it, months?) with mild temps, dry ground, and a dry basement.

Volunteer Garlic

   For the last week or so, I have done daily inspections of the garlic patch in the north garden, looking for new signs of green poking through the straw.  All the while, this hardy little soul was coming up behind me in the south garden.  I thought it was another bit of grass, until I went to weed it yesterday!   That garlic patch was harvested in August and the garden tilled in the Fall.  I must have missed one.  It managed to evade the tiller blades and being frozen during the winter.

   Lou joined me on my morning rounds of the yard.  Rocking my early-morning-perusal attire:  plaid nightgown, sweater, and floral rubber clogs.  Fashion icon, I am not.  The magpies, ravens, and cats don't seem to mind.  :-)

Watching the sun come up.

Easter Sunday

   Easter Sunday has brought us mild (14 degrees at 3:30pm), sunny, windy weather.  Earlier today, I "invigorated" my tomato transplants with the oscillating fan and started some more marigold seeds.  I came in a little while ago from eyeballing the garlic patch, looking for the first signs of growth.  Picture me, still in my long nightgown and housecoat (Sunday and a holiday - that's my excuse), hair blowing wildly in the wind, squatted down in the north garden, staring intently at a large rectangle of straw.  Lou, our orange cat, weaved in and out between my legs, head-butted my behind, and purred loudly.  I think she was hoping I would stretch out on the warm straw with her - voluntarily or by default, if I lost my balance while she nudged me.

   Four garlic sprouts have pushed through the straw, and several more are growing beneath the surface (I peeked).

   Yesterday, I planted the asparagus crowns that R. picked up on impulse a week or so ago. McKenzie brand from Canadian Tire, Martha Washington variety.  I know little about growing asparagus, though have read that they are perennial, need full sun, are fussy about the pH level of the soil (they dislike acid soil), and that they won't "compete" with weeds or grass roots.  We don't really have an ideal spot on our property to plant them, and I have no idea what the acidity level of the soil is in the plots and raised beds.  The crowns are supposed to be planted as soon as the soil can be worked.  That was two weeks ago.  I chose the square raised bed (~ 3' x 3') beside the driveway as their spot.  It's not as large a space as is recommended (trenches are supposed to be 4' apart) but hopefully they will be fine there.  It will be an experiment.  I planted 3 crowns in the back and 2 in the front.  One of the two in the front looks quite feeble, so it might not make it, anyway.

   Some of the tiny tendrils that were coming out of the packaged crowns.

   Yesterday, I also planted some red onion sets in a raised bed beside the driveway (not pictured).

   The currant bush had become very large and unruly in recent years. (No production of currants, either!)  I wish I had thought to take a "Before" picture.   The currant bushes (there are two, but one has never grown more than a foot and a half tall and produced two spindly stems) were another impulse buy by R several years ago.  Neither of us expected either bush to grow as vigourously as the one did.  If it had been planted elsewhere on the property, we could have let it grow freely.  Unfortunately, it was planted right beside one of the cleanout pipes and right in front of one of the sheds.  It had become tricky to access that cleanout pipe, something we have had to do frequently recently - another story for another time - *groan*.  Also awkward to get the snowblower and lawnmower in and out of the shed.  We decided to drastically cut back the currant bush.  I have a feeling it might bounce back and be as unruly as ever.  In the meantime, we'll have some room to manoeuvre. 

   Adding to my collection of milk jug greenhouses!  This past week, I started zinnias (Pink Illumination and Pink Senorita) and some more cosmos (Dwarf Sensation Mix).  This will be another experiment, as I haven't started cosmos or zinnias this way before and don't know if they'll transplant well.  I also started more marigolds and cabbage.  The cabbage I have growing already in milk jugs are sparse (hit or miss germination).  The kale and Romanesco cauliflower appears to be doing well, though!

   In the planter at the front of the house, I sowed Bachelor Buttons (Blue Boy and Polka Dot Mix) and Thumbelina zinnias.  

   The planters outside the plant room windows have presented a challenge.  We didn't stop to think about how hot that location would be (on the south side of the house and right next to glass).  Most things I have planted there have sizzled.  Rosemary lived, but didn't thrive.  I'm giving them one more summer in this location to see if anything will grow nicely there.  I started gazania seeds indoors (a bright, cheerful flower that is hardy and loves heat - I grew a few last summer in a pot) and will transplant them to the middle planter in June.  In the left and right planters, I sowed a variety of flower I have wanted to try for some time: Portulaca grandiflora ("Moss Rose").  I knew that this variety is pretty, is a succulent, is low-growing, and that it is drought and heat tolerant.  I had read they are annuals, but then after sowing the seed, read several articles describing them as perennials!  I also read that they "self-seed generously".  That's great, I just wish I'd known that before I sowed them in planters located right above a prime tomato plant area!

   Many years ago, R rescued a plant that had been kicked to the curb at the group home where he worked.  He brought it home and we planted it outside in a small rock bed near the driveway.  It thrived, but it also suckered.  Did I mention I strongly dislike things that sucker?  It gives me a weird feeling of claustrophobia and edginess and in my mind comes close to turning a "plant" into a "weed".  Two or three years of the plant spreading in that rock bed and into the lawn, and I'd had enough.  In the fall, I clipped the stems back to an inch in length, as I usual.  What I also did, in secret - and I have never done this to another plant before or since - was set fire to what remained of the damn stems.  Once they had achieved a nice charcoal appearance (ahem), I figured that would be it.

    Wrong.  The following spring, it bounced back with a renewed vigour (and perhaps a bit of spiteful joy).  It grew like a dream, bigger and better than ever.  I started calling it the Monster Plant.  

    A few years later, we moved it to a large container, partially shaded by the lilac bush.  It did fine there, and continued it's tendency to sucker and grow small roots in the ground off some of it's stems.  Even R. started calling it, "Frankenstein".

    Last week, R. built a small planter and put it against the back fence as a new home for Frankenstein.  Time will tell if he (Frankenstein) likes it.  He didn't mind being set on fire, so a new planter will likely be nothing more than an enjoyable change of scenery for him.

   Holidays are pretty low-key here, but to my surprise, the Easter Bunny found me this morning.  I thought this was a creative way of hiding the treats.  I wouldn't have found them without hints from R.

Black Knot Fungus and Transplant Update

   This week has been cool and clear.  Most of the snow has melted and the ground is beginning to dry.  R. got started on some of the bigger yard tasks, which included taking down one of the large trees in front of the house.  We don't know what kind it was, though it produced beautifully scented blossoms in the Spring and had small berries on it.  Unfortunately, it was also covered with Black Knot Fungus.  R. left some of the main branches on it for the cats to play on when they're outside with us.  The tree might bounce back, too; he cut back a similar tree in the yard just as harshly about 20 years ago.  Now it's ~25 feet tall again.

   The black fungus also appeared on one branch of the Schubert Chokecherry tree (easily removed) and on a tall crabapple tree on our neighbour's side that extends over the fence onto our side.  I cut off as much as I could reach from our side and from the alley, but the majority is still on the tree.  The fungus spreads by spores that are carried to other trees through the air.  It can spread aggressively on fruit trees and Mayday trees.  I hope the neighbour sees it and cuts off the affected branches. I am not sure this would be a priority for them, however.

   The lilac bush was quite overgrown, so R. also cut back as much of that as he could reach.  Some extends over the fence into the neighbour's yard.  The last time it was cut back was in October 2013.  He is going to experiment with making little nooks/hiding places for the cats to place near the house ("toad houses for cats") using some of the branches from the lilac bush.  He bent them, inserted them into one of the garden containers, and will let them dry.  After that, he'll build the little houses and cover them with burlap.  I think they will enjoy snoozing in them when we're out gardening this summer!

Bea inspecting her future nook.

   Earlier this year, I received 10 seeds of a tomato variety developed by Karen Oliver called, "Midnight Sun" (a bi-colour oxheart).  I traded 5 of the seeds for another variety I'd been after and planted the remaining 5.  These are the resulting plants so far. They have large, droopy leaves that remind me of donkey ears.  I hope they grow into sturdy plants and that they produce well. The tomatoes are attractive and the variety is uncommon. 

Tomato and pepper plants in the kitchen.

   Transplants in the plant room early this morning.  Tomatoes, peppers, a few leeks, marigolds, and thyme (very leggy, at this point!).  I am still trying to get my rosemary seeds to germinate.  Two years of easy success with those but this year, nada.

More tomatoes and peppers in the plant room.

   Earlier in the week, I started some pansies (Cassis and Swiss Giant), cosmos (Dwarf Sensation Mix), Tronchuda collards, and Summer Savoury in milk jugs.  I also planted some yellow onion sets in one of the raised beds on April 9th.  The soil is cool but the package instructions said to plant them "as soon as the ground can be worked", so we're giving it a try.  It seems early, but maybe they start well in cooler temps like garlic does.  Fingers crossed.