CANADIAN REGION: What are you doing in April 2017?

We removed the last items from my Mom's house today then locked the door for the last time on her behalf. If all goes well we should be back home on Monday. I may get my SFG going after all.

trolleydriver wrote:We removed the last items from my Mom's house today then locked the door for the last time on her behalf. If all goes well we should be back home on Monday. I may get my SFG going after all.

All things come to an end, but I am sure you have happy memories of your mom's home.  I am glad it has not taken you months on end to clear up and I am happy for you that you will be able to catch up soon with your SFG which can be a great consolation to you.

Just got back from a one week vacay to escape the snow. And Ottawa has heated up a bit. The best surprise: my garlics have popped up already. Other good news: the majority or my peppers and tomatoes made it despite 8 days of neglect. I have 79 plant babies left. Yay. Time to get out there and do some gardening. Spring is finally in the air in Ottawa.

trolleydriver wrote:We removed the last items from my Mom's house today then locked the door for the last time on her behalf. If all goes well we should be back home on Monday. I may get my SFG going after all.

Great news TD! It is a beautiful day to get out there today.

Mimi2 wrote:

trolleydriver wrote:We removed the last items from my Mom's house today then locked the door for the last time on her behalf. If all goes well we should be back home on Monday. I may get my SFG going after all.

Great news TD! It is a beautiful day to get out there today.

We arrived home safely at about 3 pm today.  The thermometer reads 26 Celsius (79F).  So it's a warm welcomes home.  I'll post a garden update later on the Third Year SFG in Canada thread.

Spent yesterday helping my parents get their garden ready to go.  Sorry that the image loaded at 90 degrees... Looks ok on my phone and in my email.



We used old blind slats that I notched out to fit together to make the grid. Now that I've had a test run, I'll be assembling 2 at my place. One with the 1x4 higher section like this, and one that's just a normal 4x4.

Jaffa55 wrote:Spent yesterday helping my parents get their garden ready to go.  Sorry that the image loaded at 90 degrees... Looks ok on my phone and in my email.



We used old blind slats that I notched out to fit together to make the grid. Now that I've had a test run, I'll be assembling 2 at my place. One with the 1x4 higher section like this, and one that's just a normal 4x4.

Nice work Jaffa. The new beds look great. They're so pretty when they're brand new. Keep the pictures coming. It will be fun to see your progress.

Jaffa, look forward to seeing them filled with GREEN!

Scorpio Rising wrote:Wow!  Looking good, Canada!  Here too was warm, I planted my lettuces and chards ot today.  Spinaches were out there, looking pretty crappy, might say.

My 2 kales in their containers looking good.  Good luck to the lettuces and chard...I am over the baby sitting.  I really do get sick of it?????

Ha ha baby sitting...cute. I don't even start my kale or lettuce until next week. We may have a warm spell now, but our last frost date is mid May or so. Do you protect them outside? Or has your threat of frost passed?

Mimi2 wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:Wow!  Looking good, Canada!  Here too was warm, I planted my lettuces and chards ot today.  Spinaches were out there, looking pretty crappy, might say.

My 2 kales in their containers looking good.  Good luck to the lettuces and chard...I am over the baby sitting.  I really do get sick of it?????

Ha ha baby sitting...cute. I don't even start my kale or lettuce until next week. We may have a warm spell now, but our last frost date is mid May or so. Do you protect them outside? Or has your threat of frost passed?

Mimi and I live only a few kilometres away from each other so we have the same climate. I have some tiny lettuce seedlings growing outside in one of my Winter Sowing containers. My other Winter Sowing containers are all duds.

From a high of about 26C (79F) yesterday we will be getting a high of about 9C (48F) today. Crazy weather.

trolleydriver wrote:

Mimi2 wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:Wow!  Looking good, Canada!  Here too was warm, I planted my lettuces and chards ot today.  Spinaches were out there, looking pretty crappy, might say.

My 2 kales in their containers looking good.  Good luck to the lettuces and chard...I am over the baby sitting.  I really do get sick of it?????

Ha ha baby sitting...cute. I don't even start my kale or lettuce until next week. We may have a warm spell now, but our last frost date is mid May or so. Do you protect them outside? Or has your threat of frost passed?

Mimi and I live only a few kilometres away from each other so we have the same climate. I have some tiny lettuce seedlings growing outside in one of my Winter Sowing containers. My other Winter Sowing containers are all duds.

From a high of about 26C (79F) yesterday we will be getting a high of about 9C (48F) today. Crazy weather.

I had some Kale survive until about Feb beside the house under snow...sorry to hear that your outdoor seedlings didn't make it.

Today I was able to get outside in the warm sunshine and do two hours and more of gardening, just clearing up the winter debris and spreading some wood chips that I had not spread in the fall as winter overtook me as always.

I can just see the crown of my rhubarb giving me a promise of my first harvest this coming summer.  Last year I planted one crown given me by a friend and it showed great promise with about five stalks emerging that I left so I am certainly looking forward to the result.

I can really see the grass growing and I always look forward to the first lawn mowing as it make the whole place look a little more groomed.

The cold and cough that has been bothering me these past few weeks seems to be on the mend at last. Nothing too bad but it did make me feel a little depressed.  It is amazing how a little physical work can make one feel so much better and optimistic.

It looks like Canada is waking up from its winter nap.

sanderson wrote:It looks like Canada is waking up from its winter nap.

After a lovely day yesterday, it is back to rain for a few days.  Perhaps a bit of sun on Sunday?

Kelejan wrote:

sanderson wrote:It looks like Canada is waking up from its winter nap.

After a lovely day yesterday, it is back to rain for a few days.  Perhaps a bit of sun on Sunday?

We're getting our "bit of sun" tomorrow and rain for Easter Sunday.

I did a bit of yard work today. Mostly removing dead leaves from our strawberry plants and taking leaf mulch off of my plants. Like TD my compost pile is still frozen mostly. The bits I was able to look at was surprisingly good though. I think it is ready for the SFGs. Using leaf mulch really seems to have encouraged the worm population in my yard. They are everywhere including the SFGs. I am so excited about the prospect of spring. And I'm looking forward to getting lots of yard work done during the Easter break.

Nothing but rain, rain and more rain.  Sometimes there is a break so that I can walk downtown but I take my large brolly with me always.  More rain forecast and just maybe another glimpse of the sun on Monday.

The trees and and bushes are almost showing and the grass is getting greener, ready to spring up as soon as it gets warmer.

I am sure the Easter break used to be warm and sunny;  Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in something called Easter Parade and singing about Easter Bonnets.

Snow in Sascatchewan, up to 30cm.  Hope it soon melts for them.

Our weather was really nice here yesterday, and this morning. Enough time for me to move mulch around (from my front to back yard), and tidy up  a bit. I have to be careful, or one set of neighbors calls the by-law officers on me.  They complain about "debris" (SFG boxes). 

And I don't think they like the look of leaf mulch (so I've transferred most of it to the back).  Ironically most of my leaf mulch comes from their tree  . 

The worms love it though, and I guess some of it will eventually end up in my compost bin, which appears to be producing beautiful black organic matter.  I'm so excited to get out there in my garden! I think I may be able to start direct seeding cold weather crops soon.

Surprise! Surprise! In spite of the forecast for rain, today turned out sunny, a little cool in the the morning; 9C, but by the afternoon it was a pleasant  15C so I was able to spend a couple of hours pruning some shrubs that  should have been done after summer flowering.

Today also the swallows returned (last year they arrived March 22nd) and after I finished work pruning the shrubs a small band of chickadees descended and had a good time flitting around.  I hope they found a lot of food.  Going indoors, I found a ladybird crawling up the kitchen window.

Tomorrow, if the weather continues I may be able to top the grass for the first time.

Mimi, it is funny how so many of us have different opinions of what makes our gardens look like debris.

Last summer I took a local bus ride to our city cemetery and passed through a new sub-division through which the bus had changed routes. It took nearly forty minutes instead of the  ten minutes that was on the outdated bus itinerary.

But what struck me was how soulless the place looked. It was late morning and there was not a person to be seen and it was a beautiful day.  All large houses and all surrounded by flawless green lawns with not a leaf to be seen.  There were acres and acres of lawns that had to be maintained.  I assumed all the inhabitants were out at work slaving their lives away to pay the mortgages and the cost of maintaining these "beautiful" lawns.   If I lived there I would be so cowed that I would feel unable to break our and place a SFG garden anywhere. On my return it had not changed.  Not a person in sight. I felt so sorry for them.  I wondered what sort of lives their children led?

All five grandchildren were with us for Easter. Here they are in the backyard doing an Easter egg hunt.  The SFG beds are in the background.

TD, Who got to play Easter bunny?

KJ, Yes, having a fancy new home usually means both parents have to work. When we bought our current house, we were both working. But we wanted payments we could make if one of us lost their job. We did not want to be mortgage broke and not be able to do anything else in life.

sanderson wrote:TD,  Who got to play Easter bunny?  

Our daughter hid the eggs.

The following Easter bunny video may be too religious for some but it is really cute.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xgk6g-ovjM