Mouse Destruction

Actually "Mouse Mass Destruction".  Because it's back.

Obviously the half a mouse I found was not the culprit because this morning's visit to the potting shed saw the scene of another raid on my corn seedlings.  This time not only were sprouted corn dug up for the seed, the newly planted corn seeds were dug up as well.  I guess I'll be planting right into the soil this year.  Ah well - that's gardening.

But we're off this morning, so a quick feed thrown to the fish, and away we went.

Mother's Day in the Garden

May has to be one of the headiest months!  The air is heavy with the scent of lilacs and rhododendrons are in their full glory.

Our Cherokee Chief Dogwood is safely behind deer-proof fencing and looking gorgeous against a blue and white sky.

Many years ago I planted a Clematis Montana Rubens at the base of a cascara tree.  Today the top of the tree is a canopy of pink blossoms.  Too bad it's so hard to photograph!

Corn starting to sprout

A mouse has decided to help himself to my corn seeds!  I have 2 trays of corn planted, which is now starting to come up.  They are protected by a clear plastic dome, but evidently it's not tight enough to prevent a mouse from sneaking in!  One tray has been systematically robbed.  There are a few corn sprouts, but I'm afraid most of the corn in that tray is toast.  The mouse might be, too, because not far from the potting shed I found half a mouse.  In the meantime, I've wedged a pot against the plastic dome for that tray and I'll replant the corn.

The lettuces are almost ready to rob a few leaves from.  Time to seed some more!

The 4x4 beds are all full.  Potatoes well up and I expect some flowers on them soon.  Siberian Kale at the back of the kale bed is starting to go to seed.  Three plants each of Redbor and Improved Siberian will take their place when I pull them out.  In the meantime, I'll just snap off the flower heads.

The strawberry bed is lush with leaves and flowers.  Another month and we could be eating strawberries - if we can keep off the birds!

In the potting shed, tomatoes are starting to get a little leggy and as we have a stretch of wonderful weather starting, I decided to plant out the tomatoes today.  The bed has been ready for a while.  I dug 10 holes to receive the plants and poured a cup of homemade fertilizer in each.  This was worked into the soil, the hole re-dug and the tomato plant popped in a little deeper so that stems can form more roots.

Each plant has a galvanized tomato cage over it and a 6' stake beside it.  Now I'll lash bamboo to the stakes to create a sturdy framework.  This bed now holds 4 Health Kick, 2 Classica and 4 Principe Borghese tomato plants.  As they are all determinate, none of these tomatoes will require pruning.   A Sweet Million cherry tomato occupies a half barrel and 2 more cherries, Gold Nugget and Sweet Baby Girl, are in pots on our deck.  I foresee lots of sauces, salsa and salads in the future!

Getting Ready for Tomatoes (and other stuff!)

It's almost time to plant out the tomatoes.  Our nights are almost consistently above 7 degrees C and warm days are coming - after a couple of cool rainy ones, of course!  The bed for the tomatoes has already been prepared with a couple of wheelbarrow loads of SeaSoil.  I've decided to plant fewer tomatoes in the bed and only the ones which I'll use for dehydrating and sauces/salsa.  I already have a couple of cherry tomatoes in large pots on the deck and a half barrel in the garden will be home to a Sweet Millions tomato.  So that makes 10 tomatoes going into a raised bed - 4 Health Kick, 2 Classica and 4 Principe Borghese.

Tomato bed ready for plants

I dug the holes for the plants and placed 6' stakes beside each hole.  I'll add a cup of homemade fertilizer to each hole and work it into the soil before planting.  The stakes will be the foundation for a framework of bamboo poles lashed to the stakes.  It makes a surprisingly sturdy support for the tomatoes.  Initially I'll put hot hats on the newly transplanted tomatoes until the days and nights are consistently warm enough and then water lines and tomato cages will be set in place.  Then it's just waiting for the crop!

After reading about all the food shortages which will be coming our way, we decided to be pro-active.  We will already be growing beans in the Three Sisters Garden and I'm going to put up the framework my husband made for me to grow my Italian heritage beans on.  This year I'll plant Fortex beans in with the corn.  The vines aren't as heavy and vigorous as the Italian heritage beans and perhaps I won't have broken corn stalks this year!

A bean barrel experiment

I'm setting up for a third bean garden and this one will be in a half barrel.  I set in a tripod of 6' stakes and joined them to a nearby fencepost with a long, thin piece of wood. I've planted 6 of the Italian heritage beans here and will grow these ones for dried beans.  These dried beans will be the seeds for next year as well as a store of dried beans for using during the winter.  Cheap protein!

The pond from the back looking to the house

I also did a little work around the pond.  The steam leading to the pond had to be relieved of its pebble bottom as it was causing the water to spill over the sides of the stream.  I'd just left it beside the stream and of course, it's created a huge mess as the grass has grown up around it which I've made a start at repairing.  The pond is starting to come into its own with 3 Japanese maples around it. I'm particularly pleased with a self-seeded bullrush which appeared 3 years ago.  I recently saw hummingbirds taking fluff from an exploded seed head for nesting material.  Now if only the redwing blackbirds would come, the pond would be complete!

May Garden Update

We've just had a spell of very nice weather and the garden is all the better for it.  Things are sprouting.  Things are growing.  Things are getting away from me!  As in weeds...

The hummingbirds are at the feeder in full force - in fact one evening we thought there might be as many as 30 all vying for a spot on a perch - but who could count! Now that there are lots of flowers in the garden, competition isn't quite so fierce.  On the deck, my herb pots are doing nicely.

I've even used some of the oregano, chives and tarragon!  All of the parsley seedlings have made it - and I transplanted a lot since parsley doesn't like being moved.

The two cherry tomatoes have been very happy under their hot caps, which I've removed on nice days and replaced at night.  They're bigger than their mates in the potting shed and will soon have grown too much for their hot caps.

In the potting shed, the tomatoes are also growing well.  We are expecting some cool rainy weather for a couple of days, but after that, I might plant them in the garden, protected, of course, with hot caps.

Fruit trees are in full flower and the mason bees are doing their jobs pollinating.  I was worried that there wouldn't be many bees this spring after a bird pierced nearly every straw looking for meals.  We have plenty of bees to go around, however,  and nearly all the holes are full.  This year when the bees have finished I'll turn their houses sideways so they will be left alone.

Lettuces, snow peas, gai lan, radishes - all are doing well and we'll be eating radishes with our next salad.  I've planted sunflowers in the zags this year and all are up.

The Pacific Russet potatoes in one of the new 4x4 beds have been hilled up once and today I added a good 4" of chopped maple leaves.

In the potato grow bags, the German Butter potatoes are sprouting and soon will have more soil added.

And our favourite rose, Abraham Darby, which was transplanted last year to its new location has never looked so good!  All in all, spring is progressing well.

April Update

April is a very busy month in the garden.  It's a prime month for planting so many things.  I've now put up the zig zag pea fence in the bed which has radishes, gai lan, and lettuces.  I was going to plant multiplier onions in between the zags, but fortunately checked for companion planting and discovered that onions are definitely not planted near peas!

Yesterday I transplanted the Copra onions outside.  After setting in over 90 tiny plants, pieces of fencing were carefully set over them to prevent cats from digging them up.  Once they're established, the fencing can come off.  Today I'll be planting out the leek seedlings.

The Pacific Russet potatoes are nicely up and have received their first weeding.  When the plants are about 6" high, I'll start adding more material.

The first pink stalks of asparagus are thrusting up.  The sun will soon turn them green and before you know it, we'll have enough for a meal!

The strawberry plants are also thriving - in spite of the heavy dusting of pollen on their leaves!  This is a rough time for someone with allergies what with masses of pollen from all the maple trees around us and the spores from the sword ferns!

In the potting shed, the tomatoes are looking very sturdy.  I'm rapidly finding homes for some of my excess and will have to put name tags in pots so I remember who is getting what.

We have the circulating pump and UV light going on the pond now and the water is clearing up.  Pond plants are blooming and the water lilies are starting to form leaves on the surface of the water.  I recently purchased a yellow water lily for the back of the pond and hope that it's securely sitting on its ledge and not in the bottom of the pond!

King Edward flower currant is a busy place these days.  The Rufous Hummingbirds are back in force.  In addition to a large feeder hanging on the deck, the flowering currant usually has at least half a dozen birds battling for supremacy.  It's so massive now that I think I'll have to start cutting it back before it shades out the potting shed.

Container Herb Gardening

This is all the result of my husband not knowing one herb from another.  We are starting to use fresh herbs in the kitchen on a regular basis and my husband has been asking me to get them for him because he says he doesn't know which is which!  Then I discovered some beautiful brass herb markers in the Lee Valley catalogue.  Thus the idea of having an herb garden on the deck was born.

Our deck is a large one and I've had pots of flowers on the deck before.  Unfortunately, they started rotting the cedar planks, so away they went.  Lee Valley also has some wonderful deck protectors.  They are round grids with little feet on them which allow the pot to drain but create a space between the deck and pot, thus reducing the likelihood of rotting deck planks.

Today I assembled all the things I'd need and planted the first of my herb pots.

The first order of business was to cover the drainage holes of the pots with broken pottery shards.  Then I put a complete container mix in the bottom of the pots, topped it up with a combination of compost and SeaSoil and mixed the two together.  Finally I put more container mix on top, wetted it thoroughly and planted the herbs.  The final act was to place the herb markers and give the plants a drink of water.

Today I planted mint, Greek oregano, French tarragon, English thyme and Canadian parsley seedlings from my own garden.  I'll add a few more pots to the collection such as basil, and I'd like to grow some of the scented verbenas.  Another plan is to make some of my own herbal teas and it would be handy to have some of the ingredients close to the house.  Two more very large pots were readied for cherry tomatoes.  It'll be nice to relax on the deck, cool drink in hand, and nab a ripe tomato or two while taking in the wonderful scent of fresh herbs.

Potato Grow Bag Experiment Part 2

Today I bought the potatoes for my potato grow bags.  I managed to find German Butter Potatoes which are a delicious yellow potato - just perfect for potato salads.  Most of the resources I consulted regarding potato grow bags suggested 4 or 5 potatoes per bag but that sounds like a lot to me.

I planted 3 potatoes per bag.  As they're small, I didn't cut them; just planted them whole with the strongest spouts at the top about 6" deep, then smoothed the soil over the top.  When they get about 6" high above the soil, I'll start adding more material to the bags.

Then I checked out the first potatoes I planted in one of the 4x4 concrete beds and they're up!

And just because it's spring and it's a beautiful day outside, I snapped some of my favourite narcissus flowers.  I thought they were called Grandma's Hat, but after looking them up, I've no idea what they are.  But they're definitely beautiful!