Vegetable garden and the Crazy Wind

Lovely Pasque flower- an early bloomer

We planted our vegetable garden last Friday, a relatively calm morning and it feels good to get that out of the way.  My' gung ho' husband had gone a little crazy planting hills of potatoes in our small vegetable plot a few days prior to that, so now we are quite limited in space for other veggies.

After planting 6 short rows of lettuce, swiss chard, spinach, then some radishes and carrots (via a seed tape,) I realized we were running out of room.  Yikes! What about the squashes I have so lovingly been carrying in and out of the house every day, as well as the (too many) Black Krim and Lemon Boy tomato seedlings I have been nurturing? And, hey, I want to try growing zucchinis again, now that we have more sunshine in the garden (after cutting down one of our beautiful huge spruce trees.)

Big stack stone flower bed with veg garden in background

 I mapped out  the garden plot and ear marked a few spots to save for them.  Darn! I forgot about the green beans which I love so much.  Alright, so it will be a bit crowded, as usual.... I wonder if I can dig up a couple hills of potatoes without 'anyone' noticing, LOL!

After soaking the seeds overnight I planted a few green beans, peas and sweet peas. (I love sweet pea flowers!) I had a lot of bean seeds left over so I stuck them in a couple of pots to leave on the deck. Now the waiting starts.... What will sprout first?

The grass and dandelion skirmishes continue!
I have to admit, I do admire the stealth and tenacity of both!  After working for hours, (days!) on 5 of my perennial beds, I still find quack grass in them every day! I'm starting to wonder if I'm developing a type of "green blindness'. I think that once exhaustion sets in after a couple of hours of digging, all the the quack grass, hiding so stealthily in the middle of the sprouting perennials becomes invisible!  Until the next day, at least, then I wonder, "How did I miss all of those?"

Grass/sod has been removed to start construction of a new flower bed (upper left)

A new flower bed is in progress!   I know, I know, I probably need my head examined!
But in reality, I am shutting down 3 little ridiculously tiny beds that interrupt the flow of the lawn mower by their unstrategic locations.   I plan on digging out the Miss Kim miniature lilac, a small but developing delphinium, the 'wall to wall' bearded irises, a small day lily, a perennial aster (which has never yet bloomed), and a grass infested false spirea shrub out of those tiny beds. Some of these treasure will be given away and a few relocated into the new bed, along with perhaps a foxglove or two and a couple of small lupines that have seeded themselves in a poor location....

The exciting part of this new flower bed is that it is the first one that I am planning from scratch instead of trying to work around existing perennials. What a treat that is!

Last night we started the exhausting work of digging out the lawn where the flower bed will be. What a work out! Who needs to pay for a gym membership when they can exercise those muscles for free!? LOL!

Today I paid my first visit to a greenhouse and bought myself some plants!  I have been restraining myself up till now, mainly because of the vicious winds we have been experiencing in most of Alberta for over  a week now!   35 to 40 km an hour winds with sudden gusts to 60 km or more! And coming out of the south! That is very unusual here. Our winds normally come out of the west or northwest and only occasionally from the south, which usually indicates a change in weather for us. It seems that the jet stream is doing weird things here in Canada right now. The jet stream is sitting right over the province of Alberta, streaming from the south end right through to the northwest territories!

I can understand now how the relentlessness and constant sound and pushing on everyone and everything outside by the wind can cause madness! Isn't that what happened to many people during the dust bowl on the prairies during the 1930? But a little craziness is mild compare to what the residents of northern Alberta are experiencing right now.  I sympathize with the residents of Slave Lake and surrounding towns who are in danger of losing their homes and businesses to the wild fires raging through there right now.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to them....

I feel blessed not to have to experience the flooding that's taking place in southern Manitoba, southern Quebec and the states bordering the Mississippi River right now as well.

I am being optimistic and am counting on the weather forecasters to be correct when they predict an end tomorrow to this constant relentless wind so I can start planting my bedding plants, dahlias, glads, geraniums and begonias, (and even the one canna lily which suddenly sprouted yesterday just when I was ready to plant something else in that pot)!

But then again, the constant wind has had one huge positive benefit:  the wind deters the mosquitos and because of the huge amount of standing water around here, here are millions of them and they are waiting 'in the wings' in huge ugly hordes for their chance to strike!  The joys of summer!!!

One of the numerous tree swallows gracing our acreage checking out nesting sites