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

Animal Repellents and Drinking Alcohol

This time of the year, we are busily cleaning up flower beds and garden plots and our plants start shooting up, we need to think about keeping the plants safe from "predators". Deer, rabbits and rodents like to eat them and dogs and cats like to sit on the tender developing plants or dig them up.  There are quite a variety of animal repellents on the market.  Some are based on an unpleasant taste and some on an unpleasant or feared smell.

Skoot is one type of animal deterrent product you will see on garden section shelves.  Read the label carefully! Unlike the Green Earth Animal Repellent, that I mentioned in my last blog post, this one is poisonous! In my haste to get something, anything, to use to deter the porcupines that were regular visitors to our yard this past winter, I missed the skull and cross bones logo on it.

It wouldn't have worked this winter anyway, as I also missed the part about only using it if the temperature was NOT below 4C.  Have you seen very many prairie winter days where that's a realistic temperature?  There's so much fine print on the container, some of it in bold letters, but no where does it say anything about "not using it on a windy day" nor does it recommend wearing gloves or long sleeves.   This morning I was considering applying Skoot to my nibbled daffodils, but carefully read the whole long label (this time!)

"Because of unpleasant side effects, alcoholic beverages should be avoided for 24 hours before or after using Skoot". That's a direct quote from the label! What??!!? That got my attention!  I had that glass of wine last night... what would happen?

I called the 1-800 number on the label and I was taken aback by the company's out going phone message: "If this is a medical emergency for either a human or a pet, press 1. For any other concerns press 2." ( I'm dead serious! OMG! )  I left a message along with my phone number.

 A few hours later I got a call back and was given some interesting information by a very pleasant woman:  inhaling the fumes of the chemicals in Skoot could enhance the effects of alcohol in the users system! Wow!
Not only that, although it is on store shelves right now along with all the other spring gardening products, it should NOT be used on growing plants at all! (Dormant only!)

I have decided that Skoot is not for me! Sounds far too dangerous!
What is also strange, the harmless "Green Earth Animal Deterrent" made from black pepper oil is made by the same company as Skoot!  Go figure!

Maybe I will stick to the messy mixing of "Plantskydd".  Plantskydd is a blood based product that people can't smell but animals do so they stay away from the plants. ( But after you mix the powder with water, don't keep it any longer than the label recommends or it DOES start to smell bad to humans, too!) Plantskydd works for up to 6 months and doesn't wash away with the rain or heavy watering as many other products do... It worked well last year to deter the wild animal munchers wandering through our acreage, so why mess with success?!

Beautiful May Day

This is such an exciting anticipatory time of year!  But so much work as well.
Thus far we still have NO leaves on the trees here in central Alberta. Last year by the end of April we could already see a faint greenish hue as the leaves were getting ready to emerge from their buds....  Not so this year.

The lawn is quickly turning green now, though, especially after the 2 days of rain that we had on the weekend.  There are big buds on many of the trees and shrubs especially my huge honeysuckle shrub, so it shouldn't be long now before the trees green up!  The sun is shining warmly today, although we have a bit of a wind which is, strangely enough, coming from the south rather than the usual west or northwest....  A beautiful day to be outside gardening, golfing or whatever you choose to do! :)

The tulips at the side of the house are tall and have fat buds on them so they will be popping out any time now! :)  (Last year the first red tulips started blooming here on May 2.)

My clematises are showing signs of life, at least 2 out of 3 are. The General Sikorska was the first, as usual, but only has a couple of small leaves coming out of the ground at this time.  My newest addition the white Alba Luxuriana was not far behind and it has a tiny shoot with tiny leaves also coming out of the ground. So far nothing from my Jackimanii.
 I had left the clematis stems on the trellises over winter just like the "Lois Hole perennials" book says.  Last year some of the stems were still alive in spring and they sprouted new leaves on them. Then I trimmed back just the dead stem parts. I'm hoping the same will be the case again this year so that, along with some new growth out of the ground, my clematises will get bushier each year. :)

General Sikorska clematis on right, with rudbeckia in front of it. Small alba luxuriana clematis in centre back with oriental poppy leaves in front of it.  It's a start!

The daffodils in my stack stone bed by the pond have leaves, but no flowers yet. (Did I accidently plant the late blooming variety? LOL!)  But the deer have been eating the daffodil leaves! All the books say that daffodils are deer resistant. So much for THAT theory!
On the other hand, maybe it can be attributed to the marmot! Yes, I have another marmot residing nearby. The dog chases it frequently but it always manages to escape.  I sprayed all the tulips and daffodils today with "Green Earth Animal Repellent".  Time will tell if that product works. I called the company that makes it (on their 1-800 number) and I was told that it's basis is pepper oil, a natural product, so it is harmless to humans and animals, but deters animals through the smell.  (Good to know since we not only have a dog, but 5 cats wandering around freely on our acreage.)  The down side is that it doesn't last that long. It needs to be reapplied after a good rain or a good watering.  Hmmm....  back to mixing 'Plantskydd'?

Nibbled daffodils...

Three out of 5 of my rose bushes are showing buds or some kind of sign of life now!  Looking forward to seeing them bloom!  I removed all the peat moss and mulch from around the rose bushes yesterday and began applying some bone meal in the soil around their roots to help them grow.   :)
Today I spent several more hours toiling in the sun, (whew!) digging out shasta daisy seedlings and tons of quack grass from my stack stone bed.   Those never ending grass wars  have begun again in earnest !

Holly hock back left, close to house, with a number of bearded irises growing well.

I have to dig up my Winnipeg Parks rose bush and move it forward about 2 feet in the flower bed to put more distance between it and the large Baby's Breath perennial there. Last year the Baby's Breath got so big that it flopped over on top of the rose bush and prevented the poor thing from setting any buds.  I had to stake the Baby's Breath up and even trim some of it off.  I had already dug up half of the baby's breath  a few weeks earlier.... Talk about vigorous growth!

My unassuming little pasque flowers are gorgeous! I am SO impressed with them.

These little beauties are pasque flowers. They look quite similar to wild crocuses, but they grow well in a flower bed

Angel bed

Next gardening project.... clean quack grass out of the angel bed... tomorrow. :)

Plant Swap

What a great idea for avid gardeners! A perennial plant exchange.  At this time of the year as we clean up our flower beds, we inevitably have to divide fast growing or encroaching perennials and I always hate to throw out/ compost a perfectly good plant digging.  This way someone else gets the digging and it starts a new life as a wanted plant in a new flower bed.

This plant swap came a bit early this year, since we had a late spring. Some of my flower beds were still partially covered with snow last week and so many of the perennials are barely showing yet. But the bed next to the house on the east side has been snow free for several weeks and has a head start as does my rock garden bed next to the deck facing south east.  My blue sages (May Night variety) have grown huge there, so I dug out half of one clump for the swap.

The campanula/ cluster bell flowers are encroaching on the purple and white bearded irises along the side of the house, so I dug out a huge clump, separated them and brought them both along, as well as 3 bags of white shasta daisies which I had dug out  of my beds a few days before. This is the first time I didn't bring maltese crosses, but that's only because they are barely out of the ground yet, not because I have them under control now. LOL!

I decided, as I was driving to town that I really didn't need any new perennials other than maybe something short for my rock garden bed to fill in where I had removed the daisies.  But, of course that's not what happened.   Those of you that know me, won't be surprised to hear that I came home with more plants than I left with!  Couldn't resist... call me weak!  :D

I did get the anticipated short little sedum for the rock garden, but also took a rose root (rodeola rosea), a short type of succulent with medicinal purposes, a big healthy "hen & chicks" succulent, 2 perennial poppies and something called "Snow in Summer".  (Snow in summer... what a concept! The very thing that most gardeners DO NOT want! LOL! )

 And I ended up with a different variety of bearded irises, supposedly these are blue... so now once this much needed rain quits, I can go out and find homes for all my new additions.

The grass wars are continuing as usual! The stealth and under handed (or should I say underground) sneakiness and resourcefulness of grass roots never ceases to amaze me!   Just when you think you have it under control.... more pops up over night where you were sure you had already eradicated it...

I have re-dug the same first 3 beds removing more grass out of them and now have began working on (Oh what a mess!) my stack stone bed. The grass roots and baby shasta daises in there are ridiculous!  I do have 2 friends who want some diggings, so they are both destined to get some shasta daisies from me (and probably some maltese cross diggings). The rest I will ruthlessly have to put into the compost...  

And my wonderful husband has agreed to help me start digging a new flower bed this week!

Work, work, work, a gardeners work is never done! :)

Crocuses Blooming

The wild crocuses started blooming on Picnic Hill near our place on Easter weekend. That's always a happy event which announces the arrival of spring for us!  I love the delicate little pale mauve blossoms peeking out of the long dead grass.

This year there seems to be more clusters than usual. There are a few clusters of crocuses blooming behind our house in the uncultivated / unmowed part of the hill.  Apparently wild crocuses will not grow in cultivated ground. I tried digging them up one spring and transplanting them to a flower bed, but they soon died back (which is normal), but didn't re-grow the following spring.

 And the swallows are back!!! Woke up on April 30 to the exciting sound of the tree swallows and, sure enough, they were swooping around the back yard and sitting on the bird houses there, checking out potential nesting sites. Even though spring is about 3 weeks late this year, the swallows are about 5 days early.  :)  I love the arrival of those numerous midnight blue mosquito eradicators!

Also have seen robins on a regular basis around here, one really huge one! I hope they are alert and wary when they search for food because of our cats roaming around the yard. I would truly hate for anything  to happen to them.  The swallows at least do their feeding in the air, away from feline predators.

Have been busily cleaning our flower beds. The one close to the house had a lot of quack grass trying to take over as well as the bell flower campanula. I dug out much of the cmpanula to try to keep it under control. There is still quite a bit of grass hiding in between the bearded irises, though, sneaky devils!  I don't want to get too vigorous there right now because it's too easy to accidently yank out the irises along with the long grass roots....  The hollyhocks are coming up nicely and so is one of my clematises and one of my black eyed susans.  I watered that bed, then added a mix of soil and sheep manure to fill in some f the holes left after 'weed' removal...

There were massive amounts of grass roots in the upper rock garden bed as well. I got a big laundry basket full and it's not a very big bed! I also took out most of the white daisies at the step side of that bed. I relocated 2 daisies into the upper far corner of that bed.

 The May Midnight blue sage is growing well. There are 2 huge clumps in that bed, too much for the size of the bed. I see there are also quite a number of baby sage plantlets starting there as well.... Hoping to give some of those away either to a friend or to the perennial swap which usually takes place on the May long weekend.  The creeping phlox is turning green in that bed and the soap wort hopefully will make it's usual late appearance and didn't accidently get dug out along with the quack grass....

In the lower part of the rock garden bed, the fall colored rudbeckia is coming up! I had thought they were annuals, but 'something' told me to leave them when I was cleaning out that bed last fall, just in case and I'm pleased to see them reappear!  I had planted them as a replacement for the Swan River daises and the 'ice flowers' which the little marmot varmint ate down to the ground.  I really loved their burgundy/ dark brownish red color and I look forward to seeing them bloom again this year.  Again, I dug out lots of grass in the lower rock garden bed and also many baby daisies.

Will tackle the big stack stone bed next and have to do a radical daisy eradication there! I did get one request from a friend for some daises, so one or two will find new homes...  So far the rose bushes in that bed don't show any signs of life.

My partner in crime cleaned out the pond and filled it with clean water. (What a job sweeping the algae buildup off the sides!) Then he set up the filter system. Soon now the housebound goldfish will be going out into their summer home.

Goldfish in the pond last year

Where Oh Where are you, Spring???

Where oh where has our spring gone; where, oh, where could it be? With the sun so warm and the days just right,  and no more snow anywhere in sight, we long for you with our hearts delight; Oh please will you come back to me! :D

We got more snow on Thursday (April 14)  and Saturday (April 16), but now I think it's supposed to be warm for the next 8 days, sunny and plus temperatures during the daytime...  Okay call me a skeptic, I will put away my winter boots and snow pants when I see it! LOL!

Tulips sprouting at east side of the house

On the positive side, my tulips are up about 3 inches in the bed at the side of the house, and so are the bearded irises and my oriental poppy; (all next to the house.)

Oriental Poppy 

Bearded irises making an appearance

My flower beds down in the middle of the yard are still covered in snow!  It'll be a while before anything starts happening there!

Middle of yard flower bed

A few perennials are just starting to peek out in my stack stone bed, such as the white daisies which are really not much more than weeds, plus a scabiosa and a pink double coneflower. Will have to mix up a batch of Plantskydd soon to spray the new growth to convince the deer to eat elsewhere!

In anticipation of the arrival of spring and the start of gardening, I planted tomatoes seeds a few days ago; (Heirloom Black Krim and some yellow Northern Sun tomato seeds.)  I noticed 2 little sprouts yesterday!

I also planted some flower seeds; Red Durango marigolds, calendulas, bachelor buttons, perennial poppies and some hollyhocks.  The bachelor buttons and the marigolds are showing signs of greenery.

Soon it will be time to put the goldfish back out into the pond

My Firebird dahlia (which I planted from a tuber on March 28) is so huge now that I have to keep cutting it back! The 2 red cactus dahlias which are 6 years old that I had brought with me from northern Manitoba, just sprouted in their pots 2 days ago. So far, no sign of life in the canna lily pots... Canna tubers are tricky to over winter. They need to be kept moist, but not too much or they will rot. I'm afraid that my 2 canna tubers might have dried out...

The snow is melting quickly by the pond. Soon it will be time to clean it out for another season and put the goldfish back into their summer home.

Happy Easter!

Spring 2011

Officially spring arrived 10 days ago, but one would never guess by looking out of the window. We just survived 10 days of snow and bitter unseasonably cold weather!   We have so much snow it's unreal!!!  It did start to melt mid month, but after 3 days, it took a turn for the worse.
Thankfully the temperatures have been above zero for two days now and the sun has decided she has neglected us long enough! :)  The snow has been melting a noticeable amount each day. We still have 2 Christmas reindeer (with white mini lights) frozen in the snow in the yard and I can see more and more of them each day.  keep up the good work Mother Nature. Tomorrow in the first of April after all!

The excessive amount of snow and cold has been hard on the deer. They have been fighting amongst themselves over the sunflower seeds at the bird feeder.  They got so hungry that one of the deer broke 5 out of 6 of the plastic windows in out hexagonal bird feeder! The snow was so high that I saw 2 different deer standing up on their hind legs and balancing while they licked the seeds out of the broken sides of the feeder!

The next time we went to town, we bought a huge bag of oats and I have been spreading some on the snow at the end of the deer trails.  At first the deer would munch a mouthful and then walk away. They were more interested in the black oiled sunflower seeds at the bird feeder, something familiar, I suppose. After a few days though, the oats started disappearing. The deer still seem to like pieces of apples the best though. A bag of apples is cheap, about $3.00 around here. Makes me feel like I'm doing something even if it isn't much. Might make a difference between an empty belly and a slightly full one. :)

We saw 3 Canada geese flying over head 2 weeks ago before the ugly weather hit. I wonder how they managed to survive. Today I saw 4 pairs of geese standing on the snow on the lake. Everything is still covered with at least 18 inches of snow and I wonder how they knew that there was even a lake there!

Red cactus dahlias with a touch of frost last Sept. 2010

Now for the beginnings of gardening:
This week I checked my cactus dahlias and canna lily roots that I have been over wintering in paper bags in the laundry room and one of the dahlias had started to sprout already, the Firebird dahlia! It gets beautiful gold and orange blossoms late in the summer. Three out of four of my tuberous begonia tubers have also sprouted, so I potted up the whole works, 3 dahlias, 2 canna lilies and the 3 begonias.

Firebird Dahlia

The other 2 dahlias are a gorgeous deep red cactus dahlia which I have had for about 8 years now! I grew them in a pot when we lived in northern Manitoba and each fall I brought the whole pot in the house to over winter. Then in the spring when it started sprouting in the pot, I began watering it and then would put it outside again once the danger of frost as over.  I brought the whole pot here when we moved in 2006.  In the summer of 2007 I divided the tubers and planted 2 separate plants in my flower beds. They always did beautifully well!

red cactus dahlia brought from Thompson, MB

One of the canna lilies is called Crimson beauty and the other is King Humbert. So far they don't show any signs of life, but time will tell.

As far as the begonias go, I think they are all yellow, but I can't remember exactly.  Guess I should check in my garden journal to see if I wrote it down. Otherwise it'll just be a pleasant surprise!

Next week's plan:  plant my black Krim tomatoe seeds and maybe a few of the flower seeds...