tardis gardens in 2021

We seem to have spring, at least temporarily. It's been mostly above 0C for long enough that much of the snow is gone. I didn't find anything sprouting when I was out poking around today, but I have pruned my pear tree and the amur maple.

My back yard is a disaster. We dug a trench last fall to put in a gas line to the garage, which was fine except by the time it was done we barely had time to fill in the trench before the snow flew. The mud is horrible. I can't even re-seed the grass yet, because it's too wet. I also had to move a raised bed that was against the house, and couldn't put it back, so that still has to be done, and the soil put back into it. And some paving stones got dug up for the gas line, too, so those have to be put back.

Last year I heard that the City accepts donations of trees from private property, to be relocated to city park space. I have a very nice spruce in the front yard that was supposed to be smallish, but is out-growing the space available, plus a mad desire for another fruit tree. I sent the City an email, and they called back, then came and inspected the tree, and I just got the good word! The city is going to take away my spruce! I'm getting an apricot! Or maybe a plum!

Oh, that is a great policy!

Glad to see your new thread, Jane. Happy gardening !

>2 2wonderY: Thanks :)

My older son's girlfriend stopped by for a visit today and we sat out on the back deck in the sun having a physically-distanced visit. It was really nice. After she left, I couldn't bear to go back inside, so I pottered around cutting back dead perennial foliage and poking around in the soil. I came in just before dinner time, and then the wind came up, it clouded over, and started rain/snowing. Welcome to Alberta!

It's snowing again! I woke up to a few gentle flakes drifting down, and now it's snowing quite hard. It won't last (it's already 0 and the high today is supposed to be 10) and it's very pretty. It is going to delay my plans for today, though, which include raking the front lawn. I also have to grocery shop for my mother-in-law, though, so I can do that while I'm waiting, with the raking as a treat for after :)

I never did get to the raking on Saturday, so I did it today. It's probably too early in the year, but I really wanted to get out. I cut back the tall grasses, too. Newt (my tuxedo cat) supervised and greeted all the people (and dogs) that went by. He's really curious about dogs. I'm not sure if he wants to be friends or enemies, though 🙂

My other cat, Amy, came out for a while, but she's not quite so keen on the outdoors. Newt has to be on a leash, but Amy is more trustworthy so gets to run loose.

Now we have retreated indoors because the weather is taking a sharp turn for the worse - a cold front is bringing rain showers, flurries, weak thunderstorms, and strong winds. I love how weather can go from really nice to really not almost instantly.

Last fall we had a gas line run from the house to the garage, which entailed digging a trench in the back yard and it had to go right through one of my raised beds (fortunately a smaller one against the house) and also through the pavers at the foot of the deck stairs. We didn't get everything put back last fall before it snowed, so it sat all winter.

Today I cut the raised bed a foot shorter (because of where the gas comes out of the house it won't fit at its original length), re-installed it, and filled it up again with the soil that sat on the patio all winter. Of course there's too much soil - not only because the bed is shorter, but because it's all fluffed up. If the bed settles I can top it up, but otherwise I'll have to find a place to put the rest of the soil eventually. For now, it can stay on the patio.

After that, I re-laid the pavers. It looks SO MUCH BETTER. There's still work to do with the trench through the grass - need to pack the soil down and put the sod back on top, and then probably overseed it all, and I'll get to that later this week.

So, a productive day :)

I'm glad my tetanus jabs are up to date. I've suffered several minor (but bloody) injuries while gardening in the last few days.

I have, however, finished repairing the grass where the trench was, and chipped up all the branches that I pruned a few weeks ago, and cleaned out a few more beds. The back yard is looking good for the time of year.

I saw your pictures on Instagram and I’m very impressed by your tidy. What chipper do you use? I need to buy another one, I think.

The one I have now is a little electric job from YardWorks, similar to this one: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/yardworks-15a-garden-shredder-0601744p.html Previously, I had a SunJoe chipper that was very similar and I think it was slightly better. I wish I'd got another SunJoe when it died, but I was in a rush and got what the local Canadian Tire had in stock :)

Biggest problem is keeping the blades sharp - it's actually quite difficult to get them off for sharpening or replacement, and it works A LOT better when they're sharp. It's so much fun to shove things in and see them just sucked through :)

I’ve been meaning to take my SunJoe apart to see if I can figure out why it won’t go; but just haven’t found the time. I might just buy another. Prices seem to have dropped.

The other problem with the YardWorks machine is that when it arrived there was a plastic bar across the part where the chips come out - I think a safety feature. It jammed CONSTANTLY. I could hardly run anything through the machine. Finally, I got a hacksaw and removed it, and it's been much better ever since.

Yesterday was nicer weather and I spent a lot of it outside, but today is cooler and a lot windier. Still sunny, at least for a bit longer. The cat needed some outside time (leashed because I don't trust him not to disappear) so I went out for a bit, poked around the beds for signs of life (there are some!), and pruned the Therese Bugnet rose.

We've had a few days of really beautiful weather - the kind where sitting outside with a book is the only reasonable thing to do with my time. Especially since the library has provided a couple of very nice gardening books to drool over.

Despite that temptation, I have managed to clear the perennial beds of some of the leaves I mulched them with last fall (not all - want some to break down and feed the soil), use up a bit more of the soil piled on the patio, lightly prune the saskatoons, and conduct a few search and destroy missions for lily beetles.

Things are coming up!

I planted most of my veg garden, including the tender bedding plants like tomatoes. So of course it's going to SNOW tonight and we're going to get at least 2 nights of 0C or below. Sigh.

This is not an insurmountable problem, but it does mean a lot of work. Everything that can be moved will go into the garage. Everything else that can be damaged by frost/snow must be covered. I have a bunch of plastic "hot caps" but not enough to cover everything that needs it, so I will also use all the pots, buckets, blankets, towels, etc. that I have.

Because a lot of the trees have leafed out, there will be branches that break under the weight of the snow. I don't expect my trees are especially vulnerable but I wouldn't be sad if some of my neighbours' volunteer weed trees get squashed flat. They're planning to cut them down anyway, but taking forever to get to it.

Any seeds that haven't sprouted (i.e. most of them) will be fine, thankfully. Even some (like the peas) that have sprouted can take a degree or two of frost.

And it's supposed to rain all day today, so doing all that in the wet is going to be yucky. Although good excuse to come inside and have nice cup of tea :)

Yikes! It’s the middle of May!
I can lend you a whole pile of bedsheets saved just for this kind of task.

>14 2wonderY: too kind, although I don't think I can get down there to pick them up and back in time :) I have lots of covers that I keep for end-of-season early frosts, so I think I'm good.

This isn't the latest we've had snow. They call us the Great White North for a reason :D It doesn't happen every year, though, which is why I risked planting the tomatoes, peppers, etc.

I haven't made it out to start covering/moving things yet because it's bucketing rain. I'm hoping if I wait later in the afternoon it will slack off a bit. In the mean time, I've reviewed an ER book, made cinnamon coffee cake, and cleaned the kitchen :)

We did get a fair bit of snow. It was heavy and wet and when it avalanched off our metal roof it squashed some of my peppers flat, even though they had hot caps (which are kind of thin plastic). A few of the things I covered got frozen anyway, and the one row of tomatoes against the house that did NOT get covered were perfectly fine. Presumably the heat in the house foundation protected them. I covered them for the second and third nights, which didn't produce snow but were actually colder. Fortunately, I still had enough spare plants in the garage that I could replace most of the things that got damaged, and I think the rest will recover, given a bit of babying, although they may not produce much. C'est la vie :)

I also had enough extra plants left to help out a few friends who lost tomatoes to the cold and snow.

The weather is now glorious, and I have completely finished planting all my gardens. I just need to keep them watered :)

That is quite late. Here they talk of the 'ice saints' - Pankratius, Servatius, Bonifatius und die kalte Sophie. Their days are 12 - 15 of May, and back in the old garden last century, I never planted tomatoes out until they were past. It's been years now since we've had frosts in May. Not even this year with a really cool Spring. Now I feel safe planting from early May.

Of course, you are a further 5° North than we are.

Gosh, it's been a long time since I posted here! We've gone from snow in May to a record heat wave by the end of June, and it's still hot although thankfully not THAT hot anymore. High 30s and into the low 40s is too much for me. Today started out hot, got up to about 33, and then a thunder storm rolled in, dropping the temp 8 degrees in as many minutes. No actual rain, though, which is too bad. It's super dry.

The tree donation saga finally came to an end yesterday with the move of the spruce tree. It was supposed to happen between 8:30 and 11 am, but the truck broke down and they didn't finish until almost 6 pm. It was so cool to watch, though! The tree spade came right up on the lawn, went around the tree and latched, and then the 4 spades took turns sliding into the ground as if it was butter. They lifted the tree out, tilted it down over the truck, drove it to the nearby park where a previously-dug hole awaited it, and plopped it in. Then they used the dirt from the destination hole to fill in where the tree was, and tidied up after themselves, and off they went.

Of course the dirt from the destination hole is crap - sand and clay with almost no organic matter, so I spent most of the morning adding all the compost I could find and digging it in, and then I planted the apricot tree and other things that I bought months ago and have been babying in their pots through the heat wave.

I hosted an Open Garden today for fellow members of the Horticultural Society. About 20 people attended, and we had some great conversations. It's always nice to have people admire my garden. Plus all the prep I did ahead means my garden looks pretty darned good and I can sit back and enjoy it for a few days before I need to start weeding again :)

The odd weather this year has really affected the garden. My corn is pretty much a write-off. I don't think I'll get a single ear. The peas got baked and had to be pulled. The winter squashes are puny. The potatoes are spindly. On the other hand, the hot peppers are doing VERY well, I have lots of cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes, and even the aubergines (normally very iffy) are producing.

I spent the last few days replacing the frame around my herb garden bed with concrete slabs. Of course the dimensions changed, and so I had to re-lay a large part of the patio around the bed. Sigh. It looks nice, though!

>20 tardis: It took me an embarrassing long time to realize that is a mirror and not a giant, intentional hole in your fence. I bet that patio is nice to sit in the shade and enjoy a refreshing beverage.

I have finished putting the garden to bed for the winter. The bird feeders are up, the chair cushions are put away, all the raking is done. I'm going up the alley every day or two, stealing bags of leaves that neighbours have put out for yard waste collection, because I never have enough :)