CANADIAN REGION: What are you doing in April 2017?

countrynaturals wrote:

trolleydriver wrote: Go Sens Go!

Go Bruins! 

Ottawa Senators take the series with a 3 to 2 overtime win in game six.  Bring on the New York Rangers.   

Ok... I posted all of my photos in a separate thread so that I have one place for my garden's journey.

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t21515-jaffa-s-garden-year-one#264664

To my surprise this morning turned out dry and warm and my good neighbour turned up to prune the apple tree and also the old cherry tree.

I was able to help by removing all the debris out of his way so that he could concentrate on the hard part and the part that I am unable to do.  I cannot saw wood for a start.  He has shortened both trees so that I can get to any fruit without having to stand on more than a step ladder. Taken out dead wood and crossed branches.

That left several piles of twigs and branches, some quite large, so Bruce trimmed the branches into three foot lengths, ready for me to bundle them up for disposal next week during the city clean up.

After that morning's work I was pretty tired so I went indoors, had my lunch, then a siesta, only to wake up with the rain lashing down.  So my lawn is covered with piles of stuff and I only hope that the rain stops before the grass grows up between all the twigs and before the garden recycling comes along.  Nothing I can do against Mother Nature so I will just have to wait and be patient.

At least the two trees will be able to get on with growing their leaves so as to soften their rather lop-sided appearances.  The apple tree has already had two years worth of chips laid down so my next job is to do the same for the old cherry tree and that it will appreciate the TLC as was given to the old apple tree.  Hopefully both will have a few more productive years left before they fall down.

Kelejan, what type of apple tree do you have? I've just planted two for the first time.  They're probably the opposite of yours... they look like single sticks poking out of the ground with a couple of leaves on them.

Jaffa55 wrote:Kelejan, what type of apple tree do you have? I've just planted two for the first time.  They're probably the opposite of yours... they look like single sticks poking out of the ground with a couple of leaves on them.

My apple tree is a Transparency.  A mainly green apple although there were some apples that took on some red colour and perhaps were grafted on to the original tree, they tasted different.

The weather forecast is for 79F (26C) here in Ottawa on Thursday. Yippee! Me like that. I need to get planting but then again we could drop below freezing before the end of May.

https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/on-118_metric_e.html?unit=imperial

Wow, quite a stark warm up!  

Glad you got some stuff done, KJ!

I did another hour's work today, Scorpio, but that was all as I felt so tired after what I had done the precious day.

Today was supposed to be the garden waste collection day but I was not ready for it, but on walking around the neighbourhood tonight I see lots of bags that had not been collected.  Methinks that the garden waste collection scheme is growing now so it cannot all be collected on the one day.  So I will be able to put out the couple of bags that I thought I would have to store until next next. The next collection date is May 9th.

I try to return everything I clear up to where it came from, but I have too much this year to accomplish that.  This is where I wish I have bought  that $200 chipper last year as it would have made short work of 90% of the prunings of the two trees.

Looking for a high temperature of about 80F today.  Break out out the shorts. 

Plans for today:

1. Finish preparing and submitting our income tax returns to Revenue Canada. I hate doing this stuff. The deadline (May 1) is fast approaching so I really need to get this done now.

2. Visit our friends who have chickens and pick up some chicken manure. They tell us the poo is nicely aged and full of gardeny goodness.

3. Exchange a bag of fine vermiculite for a bag of large (coarse) vermiculite.

4. Transplant the Leeks and Onions into the SFG.

5. Other possibilities include planting chitted Yukon Gold potatoes, planting Multiplier Onions, sifting out compost from the plastic compost bin, repairing the grids in the SFG beds, starting more seeds, putting up the mini greenhouse, creating more veggie beds, raking the lawns, getting the lawnmower ready, etc., etc., etc.

All go now, TD.   Rained here yesterday but maybe today I can do a little bit.

Today I am mixing MM for my grandkids' 3x3 beds. It's a bit of a challenge because of the windy conditions. So I'm mixing it in small batches in a wheelbarrow to help keep down the dust. I can't even wet it down because I'm putting it into 4 cubic foot bags for transportation to our son's house. If it's wet the bags will be too heavy.

trolleydriver wrote:Today I am mixing MM for my grandkids' 3x3 beds. It's a bit of a challenge because of the windy conditions. So I'm mixing it in small batches in a wheelbarrow to help keep down the dust. I can't even wet it down because I'm putting it into 4 cubic foot bags for transportation to our son's house. If it's wet the bags will be too heavy.

Got the MM all mixed and bagged for the kiddies. It was an interesting experience with winds at 30 km/hr gusting to 50 km/hr (i.e., 18 to 31 mph). Bad weather on the way.

From Environment Canada:
An intensifying low pressure system emerging from Texas is forecast to soak southern portions of the province beginning later tonight for Southwestern Ontario and elsewhere on Sunday. Several rounds of rain are expected with some embedded heavier thunderstorms in many areas. Total general rainfall amounts of 20 to 40 millimetres are anticipated through Monday before it tapers off. But some areas which receive more persistent thunderstorms are likely to be impacted by 50 to 75 mm. Rainfall warnings are likely to be issued for some regions.

NOTE: 75mm is about 3 inches.

I'm very excited. My asparagus is starting to pop up with one spear that is about three inches long already and fairly thick. A few other nice thick ones too. This will be the first year that I harvest it (third year growing in the SFG). My peas, spinach and radishes are popping up too. And the seedlings are all a decent size. 
Today I was busy in the garden spreading my homemade compost everywhere including the SFG. I still can't get over how my kitchen scraps turn into new soil. I can start to fill it up again now. I pretty well emptied it out (except a bit at the bottom to help get me going again. I'm hoping there's some beneficial bacteria in there. A nice warm day today, but looks we're getting rain storms tomorrow.

Jaffa's entries inspired me to post some pics of what's growing in some of my square foot gardens today...and my seedlings. The last pic is the strawberries in my kids' SFGs.