Tidying Time

As I've said before in a previous post, this past summer/fall has been chaotic.  As a result, I'm very far behind in tidying up chores - not that tidy was every part of my persona!  I am The Messy Gardener, after all.  We're experiencing some beautiful - and unseasonable - weather and today seemed like a good time to tackle the potting shed which hasn't had a good clean out in a couple of years.

Before - there's barely room to stand!

The potting shed is a very small but practical space.  It's storage for the gardening tools and is where I start plants before transplanting to the garden.  Sometimes when I'm in a hurry, it's an invaluable place to chuck things that I'll get to later.  Unfortunately "later" sometimes takes a long time coming.  Today was "later".

The "before" picture doesn't do it justice as a multitude of things had been crammed under the potting benches.  Surprisingly it didn't take all that long and I carted away a wheelbarrow load of detritus, most of which could be burned.  All of the pots which had been stored on ledges above the main potting bench were moved to the end of the potting shed where they are much easier to get at.  Larger pots were stacked under the counter.

After - it's actually a lot tidier than it looks!

Now that things are much tidier, I'm ready for the rest of the "starting" season.  Next week the tomatoes and peppers will be seeded and brought indoors to sprout.  I've also had a good look at my supplies for fertilizer and now know what I need to buy so this year's batch can be made.  And what a feeling of self-satisfaction at being able to work in a neat environment.  Too bad it doesn't last....

Oh The Work To Do!

Each non-rainy day I can spend a bit of time getting the garden ready for planting.  Yesterday I managed 2 small beds.  Today so far it's just one big bed.  It's not just turning over the soil.  I have to check for root invasion and pull out any trespassers.  Then the soil must be turned over and broken up.  It'll be turned over again before planting, compost will be added and the bed raked smooth.  But this initial turning over of the soil is important.  It allows me to check for cedar roots as well as monitoring the soil quality.

Newly turned over beds

One of the newly-created beds years ago needed filling with soil we didn't have so we tried out a local supplier.  The day we went to get the soil, the skies opened up and we just had the soil loaded and left without giving it a good once over.  When we got home we discovered the soil was almost all clay!  It only half-filled the bed, but what water landed on it didn't drain at all!  Fortunately we had a good sand pile at the time and I added almost the same amount of sand as there was clay and dug it in well, topping it off with lots of compost.  Initially that bed was a dead loss, but has since turned out to be an excellent growing spot.  I still come across pockets of clay or sand when I turn it over, but each year it's better and better.

Yesterday when I turned over one of the 4x4 beds which had contained Pacific Russet potatoes, I discovered that we hadn't cleaned the bed out as we'd thought we had!  Right in the centre were 6 good-sized potatoes, all with healthy sprouts on them.  I re-planted the spuds in the other available 4x4 bed.  I'll need 3 more potatoes for that bed, but was delighted with the find.

Clump of Bright Lights Swiss Chard complete with fir cones!

One of the things I have to do before preparing a bed for turning over is take off all the fir cones.  An enormous Douglas fir tree stands above the garden.  Decades ago its top was broken off and so it looks like a giant bonsai.  The squirrels pull off the cones and drop them below, so the beds are covered with fir cones.

Squirrel cone processing locations

And walking around the garden today, I discovered lots of places that the squirrels process their cones.  We are fortunate to still have our native red squirrels.  They're much smaller than the invasive grey squirrels which have chased away the natives elsewhere.  Our little island has provided a haven for more than one endangered animal!  I'm happy to share my garden with our little red squirrels.

There's so much work to do that it's a little overwhelming.  I only tackle a bit each day so that it doesn't seem so onerous.  Some time in the near future, the pond needs seeing to.  I never got around to cleaning away the dying vegetation and it certainly doesn't look very inviting!  Ah well - another day!

February - and the garden gets going

It's been an eventful past 6 months.  What with family emergencies, urgent business and some illness thrown into the mix, the garden has gotten short shrift.  However, hopefully now things are going to get a little more manageable!

Today I set aside some time to start seeding for this year's garden.  Four 6" pots were seeded with leeks and onions.  This year, I'm trying another leek in addition to my trusty Bandit which holds through the winter so well and is just now finally getting past its prime.  Chinook F1 is the variety I selected especially for summer, fall harvesting and there were only 25 seeds in the package!  I only found it on West Coast Seeds' website - not even in this year's catalogue.  Since I'm growing 2 varieties, I only seeded half the amount of Bandits I usually do.

A full package of Copra onions were seeded in 2 pots.  Last year's onions were outstanding, the biggest I've ever grown and I only lost 2 plants.  Copra is the only onion I grow as it's an excellent keeper and stores extremely well in addition to having great flavour.  Last year I just had to buy about half a dozen when I ran out of my own.

Pots of onion and leek seeds in the house under lights

I brought the pots back into the house and settled them in my lighted tray under a window.  Once they've sprouted, they'll be moved out to the unheated potting shed.

Siberia Kale doing well in the garden

This winter has been quite mild.  We've only had one decent snowfall and one good cold snap.  This doesn't augur well for bugs!  And things are budding very early.

Crocuses peeking out of dead iris foliage

Crocuses are up and wide open when the sun shines (it wasn't today) and narcissi are almost open.  The King Edward currant bush has flowers starting to extend from the buds so we could have an early influx of hummingbirds.

Fuchsia coming back to life

By the pond I found a forgotten planter with a fuchsia plant in it.  I'd assumed it was an annual, but there is green growth on it, so I whisked it into the potting shed to protect it from the cold - it is only February after all!

In a couple of weeks it will be the turn of the tomatoes to get seeded.  The garden never waits!