the potting shed

The Enjoy Center

2011-04-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

Ev and I had the chance to check out Hole's new Enjoy Center last week.
I've been watching it go up from the beginning as I drive by it on my bus route five days a week.
Tamara has also been following their progress on line and sent me a link to a backstage pass to the first two opening days. The fun part is that they included a coupon for a signed copy of one of Jim Hole's books as well as a free coffee at the Prairie Bistro when you purchased something.
The Enjoy Center is still under construction but we had fun checking out what was done and speculating on work in progress.

Even more exciting was the fact that Jim Hole came over and chatted with us for a bit.
Unfortunately all I could think about was that Tamara should have been there too because she would have grilled that man to within an inch of his life about the Enjoy Center!
Oh well. . .
Maybe next time.
And there will be a next time!
I've been busy renovating the front garden in my mind and on paper for the last few weeks and roses from Hole's ( the only place I would buy roses) are the first things I'll be buying.
Which will mean another trip to the enjoy center!
Whoo Hoo! I think I'll spring for lunch at Prairie Bistro while I'm at it!

If you eat in the booths on the other side of the wall you get to look out the huge greenhouse windows at the wetlands!

How cool is this water jug? Or the mason jars you get to drink from rather than regular glasses.

Attack of The Gnomes!

2011-03-31T10:01:00.000-07:00

I just came across the funnist video over at Living home grown .
Check this out:

A Little Bit Of Cheating. . .

2011-03-30T15:36:00.000-07:00

Although I love starting plants from seed, some things are either hard to find seed for, or they don't grow well from seed.

So what's a plant fanatic on a budget to do?

I cheat a little. . .

For the past few years, our local Rona has brought in what they call basket stuffers very early in the spring.
This year everything is coming in rather late, but if you consider that is is nearly the end of March and I will very likely have to wait until the May long weekend before anything can go outside, I have a fair bit of time to keep growing these 'stuffers'. By the time they are ready to plant out they will have been transplanted from the original 2.5" pot into a 5 or even 6" pot.

If you consider that the plant originally cost $1.49 and it's value when I plant it outside is closer to $4 or $5, you can see how this allows me to buy many more plants than I could otherwise afford.
There is of course still a small cost while they are growing indoors, for the power to run my fluorescent lights, but it is small and somehow when it's spread out over time you don't really notice it.

I am going to take things one step further and try propagating any of the stems I have to cut back to keep the plants nice and bushy. I did this last year with bacopa and it worked quite well. The plants were still quite small but I just used three in one place instead of one larger one and it worked just fine.

The plant police will likely be frowning terribly right now as I'm pretty sure they don't want you propagating some of these things, but I figure as long as I don't try to sell it to anyone, all I'm really doing is preventing plant waste!
Saturday I stopped in to see if anything had come in yet and look what I brought home!

Not bad hey?

The primulas don't go under lights.
They are here strictly to take my mind off the fact that there is still nearly two feet of snow on the ground and the sun seems to think that in the very long game of peek-a-boo it's been playing this past year, it's okay that we are all boo hooing and it's doing next to no peeking!

Seed Starting

2011-03-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

I'm obviously a bit behind in posting about my gardening efforts for 2011 but, better late than never!
Since this winter has been one of the snowiest on record and the cold temperatures haven't been much better, I ended up starting my seeds in the studio inside rather than in the greenhouse.
I probably could have warmed it up enough if I had turned on both my heaters for a while, but I got a bit lazy after Christmas and put all my Christmas garlands on the floor of the greenhouse after I took them off the gazebo in the front garden. I also left all the Christmas decor bins in there rather than putting them under the deck like I should have.
I sent Jesse out to clean things up for me (so handy to have a big boy who owes me work. . .) but it seems that in our very short January thaw some of the huge piles of snow surrounding the greenhouse melted, seeped under the foundation and turned into a substantial puddle which enveloped my garland.
And then froze when temperatures dropped way down once again.
Arghh! That's what happens when you don't put things away right away!
Ah well, one of the days spring is bound to come, but in the mean time . . .
On Jan 24 I started perennial dianthus, foxglove and pansies.
Feb 18 saw wave petuntias, bellflowers, french shallots and red onion seeds planted and put on heat mats.

The garden season had begun!

Preserving The Harvest. . . All The Way Through January!

2011-03-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

I just came across this video while going through my pictures and even though I've posted it on 'Middle aged gardener' I thought it would be fun to post it here as well. . . .

A Neglected Project

2011-03-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

Oh my!
How my poor Potting Shed has been neglected!
Somehow I've just been posting everything including gardening posts over at my personal blog.
I did have a series of posts from my dear friend Jurrina who posted through a year in her vegetable garden, but even that was in 2009!
Sadly Jurrina has deserted us for warmer climes as she and her family moved back to her native Holland last summer. Even as I write she is already gardening in her new home. Lucky girl!
I've unposted her posts until I can figure out how to put them all on their own page. I'm not very tech savy so it may take a while. . .
I'm also working on bringing all my gardening posts over from the other blog but it seems a bit complicated so I need to make sure I don't do something terrible in the transfer before that can happen.
If you want to check out more recent gardening posts in the meantime just pop over to Diary of a middle aged gardener to see what's been going on around here.
That's it for now.
Stay tuned for some exciting developments for the Potting Shed now that I'm retiring from school bus driving at the end of this school year.

Promotion

2009-07-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

Canada day found Ev and I (me?) at a community BBQ, where we hoped we might find a few like minded gardeners interested in community gardening.

As I live only a few blocks away and my truck was not available, I loaded everything we needed into my wheel barrow, threw in a fork and shovel (so the wheelbarrow looked like part of the display) and headed over to the park.

It was an unbelievably windy that day and we discovered that packing tape will not stick to stained cedar boards!

Ev managed to round up a hammer and a handful of rather large nails and we nailed in the two most important signs, leaving the other pictures and what have you, in her binder to prevent them from blowing away.

I think the display turned out pretty well.

We had some very positive responses as well as four or five interested gardeners.

Whoo hoo!

Ev of course needed to take a picture for her blog as well.

It was a fun event, well attended by our local police officers who mingled and got to know the participants (One of them even tried out the stilts!)

Ev's youngest daughter, little Miss A, spent a long time working on her marshmallow creation.

When asked by the event's MC what it was, she replied " I don't know."

All in all, a great afternoon.

First Harvest

2009-07-01T08:11:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry people, but I just can't seem to get the garden movie watchable by the public, so I'll either try to make a few short ones, or do a post with pictures.

I've been enjoying the beginning of my summer holidays and informed Henry that this summer I was not taking on any large projects. It was going to be all about puttering in my garden, doing more decluttering and focusing on food. Trying out new recipes, enjoying fresh food from the garden and preparing meals for the freezer so things would be a little easier once school starts. ( maybe I'd even blog regularly again!)

However. . .

It looks like interest in the community garden Ev and I had hoped to start is picking up. Which means if we want to break ground this fall we have a lot of work to do!

We'll be at the park this afternoon (for the Canada Day BBQ) handing out pamphlets and chatting about community gardening.

Our core group will be checking out other community gardens, information evenings will be held, surveys taken , and I have to have a detailed garden design done by the end of this month to submit to the parks board.

And then there's the fund raising! (ugh.)

Henry was teasing me this morning about my vow to keep things simple.

Why can't I ever keep things simple!?

Here's a picture of what I did with my first harvest from the garden.

Four strawberries and a small handful of honey berries added to some fruit from the store with a drizzle of honey made a delicious fruit salad which Henry enjoyed on my first day of summer vacation.

We had salad, harvested minutes before Morgan's birthday dinner last night.

It can't get any simpler than that can it?

And I would like everybody to have the opportunity to enjoy feasts like this one.

So. . .

It's going to be a busy summer!

again.

Rosa

What Do You Do When It Goes Below Zero At Night?

2009-05-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

Temperatures are once again dropping below zero tonight.

What's a girl to do with all the plant material she's be accumulating for the past few weeks. . .

Stuff it into the greenhouse of course!

The Party Is Over (for now)

2009-04-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

I see I haven't posted for almost a week!

We have been having the most beautiful spring weather and I've been spending it in the greenhouse.

I've hardly been on the computer at all, dropping in occasionally to check out a few blogs.

The party is over now as a large, spring snow storm moved in overnight.

I did move all my plants back into the house as I wasn't sure how cold it would get.

The long range forecast looks good so it seems this is only a small blip.

Hopefully by the end of the week I will be able to move everything back into the greenhouse.

I'm sure glad Jurrina's been posting about her year in the veggie garden or there would be nothing new to read here at all!

Happy gardening to you all.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-04-08T09:52:00.001-07:00

Playing in the Greenhouse

2009-03-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

It's the end of March and as Jurrina mentioned yesterday there is still snow on the ground.

I'm starting to see bare patches of earth but it will be awhile before I can get my hands into the dirt.

I decided to play in the greenhouse while I'm waiting.

In early spring Costco sell bags of summer blooming bulbs. It's much too early to plant them into the ground of course and you can't just save them in the bag until the ground thaws so I plant them into 15cm deep pots (the lilies). I plant the bulb near the bottom of the pot as they like to be 6 inches below the soil. It's not quite that deep but I've never had a problem with it.

I planted the bulbs and gave them a good watering. I then brought them inside as I am not heating my greenhouse and it still gets down below zero overnight.

I had put them all under these grow lights but the fixture just gave up the ghost and I have had to put the ones that have come up on the kitchen table in front of my west facing window.

The pots are turned frequently as the lily stalks bend towards the light and I want the stems to stay relatively straight.

This batch of lilies is a mixed one (various shades of pink) so I will be keeping track of when they come up (this way I can plant early bloomers with later bloomers for a longer bloom time) as well as the colours of each one which will help me when it comes time to plan where to plant them.

Most of these lilies will likely bloom in the pot long before they get into the ground but I don't mind as next year I will be able to enjoy the lovely display in the garden and this year I will be able to appreciate them close up while they are still in the house!

I also started a batch of begonias.

To check out my adventures with these tubers last year when I tried them for the first time just click on this link. http://rose-gardendiary.blogspot.com/2008/04/planting-begonia-tubers.html

Now I'm off to transplant some of the perennials I started in February into larger pots.

Still Waiting

2009-03-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

I'm still going to have to wait awhile before I can put plants in the greenhouse.

As you can see it still gets rather chilly in here at night!

Seed Starting

2009-03-17T12:58:00.000-07:00

My Garden Buddy

We had a very short warmish spell at the end of February and I decided to take advantage of it by planting my seeds in the greenhouse.

My normal seed starting procedure has me flinging potting soil from one end of the kitchen to the other, with a dirty damp trail leading back to the garden room where I keep my grow lights.

It occurred to me that this would be a good time to try out my new greenhouse.

It was a sunny day and the greenhouse was nice and toasty so the timing was perfect.

Of course I ran around getting the housework done first so I wouldn't feel guilty when I played in the greenhouse.

By the time my housework was done I only had an hour until it was time to drive my afternoon school bus run!

Don't you just hate it when you do the responsible thing?

I got to work as quickly as I could, but in the end I had to finish up later that evening.

It's a good thing Henry insisted on adding a light fixture.

The two heaters I had going added welcome warmth.

I think I'm going to love my new greenhouse. . .

Flowers in March

2009-03-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

It's a very cold morning, -23C.

All I see out of my window is snow. Lots and lots of snow!

That doesn't mean, however that I don't have flowers.

Look what my good friend Mrs T brought me last week.

Hopefully these will keep me going for a bit.

Maybe by the time they start to fade the snow will start to melt. . .

A girl can dream!

Looking Back

2009-02-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

I am in need of a flower pick me up today, so I thought I'd share them with you as well.

Enjoy!

The Wait for Spring

2009-01-31T14:06:00.000-08:00

I've been under the weather for the last few days and so haven't accomplished a whole lot.

I'm feeling a bit better today and spent a few hours doing errands.

In my travels I just happened to pass by Apache Seeds where I picked up a bale of seed starting mix.

By extraordinary coincidence I also passed right by Holes garden center!

This lovely primrose sneaked into my hands while I wasn't looking, as did one of her sisters.

I'm not quite sure how they managed it as my hands were full of seed packets at the time!

The wait for spring has begun. . .

And a good time was had by all. . .

2009-01-19T13:01:00.000-08:00

Turn out was small for our seed party last Friday.

For those of us who were able to be there though, there were many seeds just waiting to go home with someone new.

Munchies, good company and talk about gardening.

We had a lovely time.

Respite

2009-01-17T17:50:00.000-08:00

After six weeks or frigid temperatures we have been blessed with a short respite.

The last few days have seen the temperatures climb above freezing.

Today was especially lovely as the sun shone and the thermometer hovered around 9C.

I've spent the day puttering around the house and stopping often to just sit in my sunny living room and drink in the peace and warmth of the day while I admired the beautiful pink gerbera daisies I bought to decorate for my seed party last night.

Of course part of the reason that it was so peaceful had to do with the fact that Henry and Morgan went ice fishing with Russ out at his cabin, taking Jada with them.

Since nothing wakes Jesse up before early afternoon and he then had to go to work, I spent the day on my own.

Bliss.

I read, tidied after last night's party, did some laundry, bought a new purse to replace my broken one, bought a few packages of perennial seeds and picked up fresh bread and a lemon meringue pie. (I don't bake pie.)

All in all a wonderful day.

And yesterday was Henry's 49Th birthday.

Happy birthday honey. . .

Snow

2009-01-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

The snow is blowing down on a slant.
Large fluffy flakes are piling up on the bird bath.
Sedum peek from under their little snow caps.
And it's cold.
Very cold!
You would think I would be moping around the house just waiting for spring, filled with gloom at the thought of many more winter days ahead.
And yet, you would be wrong.
I know, I'm surprising myself!
I have been immersing myself in all things gardening.
Books, magazines, blogs, DVDs, the works!
I've been inspired. It has given me a few project ideas, one of them big.
I promised Henry there would be no more projects for a while but I just can't help myself.
After all. . .
Projects are the spice of life!
Look on the bright side Honey,
most of theses projects I can do by myself. . .

A New Year

2009-01-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

The sun is shining, and it's still very cold on this first day of 2009.

Henry and I spent New Year's Eve with a group of friends at Bart and Jurrina's home in the country.

I almost missed it due to some serious crankiness and an unwillingness to brave the cold.
The desire to be a good friend won out however and a good time was had by all

Bart and Henry B. put on a great fireworks show, which, aside from that one rogue firework which decided to shoot itself at the crowd rather than above us, was very well executed.

The kids who attended spent lots of time on the frozen pond skating and playing hockey. (Miles had gone the extra mile and strung Christmas lights around the entire pond.)
A few of the kids had stayed out just a little too long and had to deal with some painful thawing, but thankfully no one got as far as frostbite.

Jurrina, Lorretta and I also decided to have a seed party again this year which we will hold at my house.
Seed parties are always great fun. Everyone brings something to munch on and any seeds that they might like to trade. If someone doesn't have seeds to trade we don't mind. There are always lots to go around. This year I saved lots of sweet pea, poppy, and iris seeds. And of course there are all those seeds I bought. . .

We all chat and peruse the new seed catalogues so we can make one order and save the extra shipping fees.
Some people come just to chat gardening with other like minded women.(Or men.)
We also make cute little seed envelopes so everyone can take home the seeds they want.
The year I took the Master Gardener's course they let me borrow the box of old seeds to give us the chance to try something a little different, which was very fun.

I choose to grow something whose name I had never heard before. I searched for information but I turned up nothing.
I was sure I was growing some very exotic plant that would have all my gardening friends green with envy!
Until it developed it's first set of true leaves. I thought they looked rather familiar but still couldn't figure out where I had seen those leaves before.
Jurrina dropped by for a visit shortly after and checked the plant out.
"Oh I know what that is," she informs me airily.
"You're growing celery!"
Ack!!

The seed party will be on Friday January 16Th at 7:30pm.
If you are in my neighbourhood, drop by and join us for some fun!
You could always go home with some celery seed of you're own.

Holidays

2008-12-30T09:42:00.000-08:00

It's Tuesday and Henry, Jesse and Jada have left to visit our friend Russ out at his cabin. They may sleep over tonight. That leaves Holly at home packing for her move to the coldest city in Canada.

She leaves early tomorrow morning.

Morgan is driving her to the airport as it has become 'tradition' for him to see her off.

They have spent a lot of time together in the past year and he's really going to miss her.

So.Am.I.

So. To distract myself and be productive at the same time I'm going to spend the rest of my week off scrubbing the house from top to bottom, baking for the freezer and collecting new recipes for quick dinners.

This is to help me stay organized as I plunge into a new gardening season.

This past year I did not garden the way I had hoped.

The loss of my little portable greenhouse and extra work during the spring season meant that most of the plants I had grown from seed were lost. Mind you, the extra work also meant I had extra money to put towards a new permanent greenhouse. A good trade off I think!

Renovating also took up a lot of time.

This year I hope to learn more about gardening on the prairies as I look for more specific garden information on that topic.

I've already found some great resources.

Olds College has an entire Hort week every July that sounds fascinating. I may not get there this year but. . .

One of these years. . .

Can you imagine an entire week devoted to something you are passionate about?!

In the meantime, I hope to rejoin the Horticultural society, visit as many gardens as possible, read everything I can get my hands on, and grow things.

I want to grow as many things as I possibly can.

To all of you. . .

I wish you a blessed Happy New Year, and the opportunity to do something you're passionate about.

See you next year!

Deep Freeze

2008-12-12T08:28:00.000-08:00

Well by this time tomorrow we will be in the deep freeze.
The weather's been lovely up until now, but starting tomorrow. . .
Shudder!
Asthma and frigid temperatures don't go well together so I've been running around like mad trying to get most of my shopping done so I won't be running from store to store in -25C ( -13F)temps. (Down to -32C or -25F overnight)
A day or two is hard, but I can manage, although driving the bus is about all I manage to get done in a day.
At the moment however, the long range forecast shows this cold Arctic high settling in for at least two weeks!
So. I'll be working very hard, remembering my blessings (warm home, hot showers, good food, big stack of books, etc.) rather than dwelling on the difficulties.
I will likely take Tamara's advice and blog about warm things.
Have a great weekend.
And stay warm!

Wordless Wednesday or Wellington Tour Part 2

2008-12-10T10:10:00.000-08:00

Wellington Garden Centre

2008-12-03T10:33:00.000-08:00

Here are a series of pictures from the garden centre.

It is one of my favorite places to go to when I need inspiration. (And I haven't managed to leave it empty handed yet!)

It has a series of small buildings, each with a different function. The buildings are connected by walkways lined with many interesting pots, statues and displays.

And the show gardens. . .

They are small, but you get the opportunity to see many plants in a garden setting. If you go back often during the warm months you will see just how these plants look through out the garden season.

The weeping 'Red Jade" crab apple tree in their garden has convinced me that I need one for my own garden as well!

I hope you enjoy the tour.

Tomorrow, the potting shed and the main building. . .

A sneak peek

2008-11-29T15:00:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday afternoon and I have done everything but bake and decorate!

It's been an enjoyable day none the less.

Little Women (the 1994 version) was on late last night and I didn't get to bed until one in the morning.

I slept in until 8:45, had a leisurely breakfast, did a little tidying, went out for lunch with Morgan, did a little shopping together and then brought Jesse to the Credit Union to do some banking.

The Credit Union is a great place to go as it is right beside one of my favorite garden centers.

Every time I visit I'm inspired and I rarely leave without at least a little something. (Today was no exception)

I'm going to give you a quick sneak peak today and then feature them on Monday's post.

As a matter of fact, you will be seeing images from Wellington Garden Centre all through the Christmas season.

You wouldn't believe how many pictures I took and those were just the tip of the iceberg!

I hope to take you on a tour again in the spring.

Enjoy your sneak peak!

One Last Garden Chore

2008-11-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

Some of you maybe thinking my garden is covered in snow. While we did have two lovely snowfalls, neither lasted, as we have had above average temperatures for most of November.

Last week I realized that I hadn't done anything to protect my evergreens from the drying prairie winds.

The cedars in my back garden don't really need extra care as they are protected by the fence from most of the wind. Of course the other problem we face in overwintering cedars is our bright winter sun. Cedars still transpire from their foliage when warmed by the sun but if the roots are frozen solid they have no way to bring moisture back up to the foliage to replace what was lost.

Some one can think that their cedar has made it through the winter only to find it turning brown and dying as spring arrives. Cedar growers from British Columbia who enjoy optimum growth conditions (wet,wet,wet) just love us crazy Albertans for trying, year after year, to grow cedars where cedars were not meant to be!

My back garden is shaded all winter as the sun does not come high enough to shine over the garages. (Ours and our neighbour's)

The front garden, on the other hand is the worst possible place to plant a cedar.

In general, I am all about the right plant for the right place. I only plant hardy roses,trees and shrubs that are well suited for our zone. If I'm going to experiment it's usually with perennials as the cost is much lower, especially when I start them from seed.

However, I was born and raised in B.C.'s Frazer Valley where people plant cedars instead of building fences.

Sometimes I get homesick so. . .

When I was able to buy a topiary cedar from Costco for cheap,(and I mean cheap!) I planted it in a pot and put it on the front porch. I knew it wouldn't survive the winter in a pot so I told myself the back garden had no room and planted it in the front, right where I had always longed for an evergreen.

Wrapping in burlap can be self defeating as the cedar can still heat up if the burlap is touching the foliage, so I tried something different. I sprayed it with an anti desiccant.

It actually worked!

This year I found three little Alberta Spruces languishing in a Canadian Tire garden center. As soon as they saw me they begged me to take them home!

What could I do? They had been marked down from $40 to $10 a piece! Of course, they hate the wind and sun even more than cedars and where did I put them?

In the sunny, windy front garden.

So with 25 minutes before I had to leave for school one afternoon I decided it was time.

First of course I had to find the anti desiccant.

In the garden shed? No.

Then where on earth?. . .

Oh right! I put it in the garden room. Found it.

I used 15 of the 25 minutes to figure out just how much 'Cloud Cover' I needed to mix with the water in my sprayer. (1:10)

I hate ratios! I hate math.

I didn't believe my teachers when they told me I would need it some day.

Who knew they were right?

I ended up using my favorite measuring cup for the job. (It's still out in the greenhouse.)

In the end I got the job done with a minute to spare.

Gardening. It's such a relaxing past time. . .

Ooohhh, look what came in the mail just as I was ready to leave.

Now reading about gardening.

That is relaxing.

A Glorious Morning

2008-11-21T12:45:00.000-08:00

I am so sorry that I didn't have my camera with me on my walk with Jada this morning!

It was a glorious morning and desperately needed after yesterday.

Bundled up for our walk yesterday, we (okay I!) struggled against 30-50km (18-31 miles) per hour winds and a - 9C (15.8F) temperature.

Ugh! That was a very short walk.

This morning was a total flip. The air was still and the temperature hovered around 0C.

It snowed overnight, blanketing the ground and it lay glittering in the pale winter sun.

Oh to be a photographer!

We had such a long, peaceful walk this morning, Jada and I. . .

Mind you the huge moose we saw in some one's back yard kind of threw me. . .

Especially when we got closer and saw that it wasn't real!

Of course peaceful doesn't really cut it with Jada, so we had a rousing game of Frisbee before we went in for breakfast.

What a lovely way to start the weekend.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-11-19T11:58:00.000-08:00

Special delivery

2008-11-05T08:19:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's time for the big reveal.

Drum roll please. . .

What could those boys be making?

Yes indeed Brenda, you were right when you guessed the first time!

It's my very own greenhouse! A spacious 8'x12'! Whoo Hoo!!

Although it is called the Easy2Build greenhouse, I've got to tell you, it was anything but!

The worst part was the weatherstripping. The directions tell you 'insert weatherstripping in metal channel making sure it is facing the right way. No instruction is given as to how to accomplish this!

This is what Henry came up with to get the roof done.

The greenhouse was creaking in an alarming manner, so he decided to send me up there! Now if the weatherstripping would have just slid into the channel it wouldn't have been so bad but. . . that was not the case at all! To get the weatherstripping into the channel, you had to pry the metal back every inch and a half or so with a large screwdriver and shove it in as hard as you could.

Arghhh!! I was not made for this! I was just not strong enough to work on the roof, so Henry braced the greenhouse from the inside and did it himself. As a souvenir of my time up there however I was left with two rather large, ugly, bruises on the front of my legs where they were pressing against the ladder.

I did do most of the weatherstripping on the rest of the greenhouse though. That is one of the reasons it took so long to finish.

It is finished now. Henry spent a few nights getting it bolted into the concrete blocks (that required some serious fiddling as well. I'm sure glad he has lots of ingenuity!)

So come on in!

There's a nice place to sit.

A corner I will use to pot up plants. (and keep my eye on the temperature.)

Henry got Mr B (our handyman/contractor ) to bring electricity in as well, so I have both a light and an outlet for the heater etc.

Henry also managed to work things so that I still have my outdoor work area.

The big box holds my potting soil.

There you have it. My big garden project.

I will be spending lots and lots of time this winter learning about greenhouse growing and dreaming of the many, many plants that will grow there.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

A Quick Hello

2008-10-29T09:14:00.000-07:00

Just a quick hello before I head back outside for the day. The big garden project is almost done and I am so excited!
My basement bathroom is almost done as well.
All that's left to be done now are the new windows.(Which hopefully come before it gets too much colder!)
The sun's shining and the forecast is for 16C.(60.8F) (At the end of October!)
What a lovely blessing!

More Fall Gardening And A Little Spookifying

2008-10-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

I've got just a second to post as Henry and I are working on the big garden project by the light of both a floodlight and a flashlight.

I've been sent in the house to make coffee. (tea for me)

My mom came over today and helped me clean out the garden. It was a beautiful day and they are calling for two more days of above seasonal temperatures so. . .

I've got to garden while I can!

While mom worked in the garden, I did a little spookifying.

Although it's hard to tell, I have bats and spiders hanging from the webs.

What do you think?

Fall In Alberta

2008-10-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

What does fall in Alberta look like?

Well today. . . .

It looks like this.

Snow, with winds at 76 km (47 miles)an hour and wind gusts up to 101 km( 62.7 miles) an hour!

I'm grateful Henry decided not to go fishing today!

Violas In The Back Garden

2008-10-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick peek at the back garden. It's mostly brown now, with a few exceptions.

The trusty viola is one of them.

More Fall Fun

2008-10-22T12:03:00.000-07:00

I decided yesterday, the windiest day we've had in ages, to decorate the front stairs for fall.

I have been gathering things for a couple of weeks now and brought everything up to the kitchen.

I like to buy things after the season is over and last year I picked up some new fall decor very cheaply.

These baby gourds were grown in my trial vegetable garden. ( I've come to realize that, as much as I like the idea of vegetable gardening, the reality is I am not a vegetable gardener!)

Once I had gathered things together I started putting them out on the front steps.

Buying white pumpkins this year was fun and it had many ladies asking me what I was going to do with those odd looking pumpkins? Did they make good pie?
I wouldn't really know as I don't actually like pumpkin pie!
The dried cornstalks came from my veggie garden. (I harvested about 10 tiny corncobs from them .) The tall, dried, starbursty things are dried allium stalks that were the the front garden earlier in the year. I put them all in a vase when they had finished flowering and dried them out in the garden shed.

Jesse made me this little wishing well in Home Ec which he took in grade 8. It usually hangs out in the back yard but I decided to let it share in the fall fun.

I rather like how things turned out. For a modest sum I've brightened up the front entry and, next week the kids will carve/decorate the pumpkins for Halloween.

Quiet Sundays

2008-10-19T07:07:00.000-07:00

Fall Blooming

2008-10-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

I did a field trip this morning, for the kids in grade 11 and 12, so my day is rather short.

I thought I would give you a quick peek at a few of the things still blooming in my garden.

Happy fall gardening!

Sunflowers

2008-09-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

As many of you know ,I started this blog with the idea that it would be all about gardening.

I started out okay, but well, other things started to happen.

Once we began renovating the bathrooms , one thing lead to another and other things needed doing.

Suddenly I was spending more time shopping (shudder!) than I was gardening.

I hardly did anything I had planned.

Plants I had started from seed died waiting to be planted in the spring, due to my lack of a greenhouse and too many nights taking care of other people's plants ( but I love you anyways Tam!)

I had planned to plant sunflowers as I love how they look in fall.

That didn't happen, but, thankfully the birds did it for me!

After spending all of last week cleaning and organizing the house I finally, by Saturday evening was able to say I was done.

I had reached the bottom of the laundry pile( a twice yearly event), scrubbed and vacuumed and rearranged the living room.

The time had come to use the lovely sunflowers in the house.

Here's where they went. . .

The garden room.

By my favorite chair.

In my pretty new bathroom.

In the kitchen.

And then, for something a little different,

Some late flowering clematis paired with a bit of sea lavender.

Fresh flowers from the garden, a clean house and, oh yes, applesauce cake made with our homemade applesauce and butter icing. (yes I use real butter!)

Life is very good.

Fall renovations. . . In the garden

2008-09-13T12:38:00.000-07:00

I'm working as fast as I can to get the garden renovated before the snow flies.

No, I'm not crazy. . .

We may not get snow this early often, but it can get mighty cold more quickly than I care to think about!

I like to garden while it's still warm enough not to need a parka and a toque.

I'm also saying prayers for all those affected by Hurricane Ike.

God be with you all.

Rosa.

Serendipity

2008-09-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

Remember these?

You remember don't you?

Tamara (http://thegreenhousediaries.blogspot.com/) and the Big Guy were out for a seminar and left behind all the baby plants they used as props for their educational game.

I planted them up and babied them until late spring.

Two of these little guys along with some baby ivy were planted in a rusty metal planter, put under the apple tree and for the most part forgotten.

Oh, I watered them once in a while and picked the odd weed that sprouted, but mostly they went unnoticed.

Until a few weeks ago.

When I saw this. . .

Isn't it pretty?

And the orangey colour fits right in with the fall nesting theme.

I love unexpected gifts.

Back to work

2008-09-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well, the holidays are truly over.

We had our vacation at the cabin. ( Stories and pictures to follow later this week.)

My mom's moved into her new apartment. A big thanks to Uncle Henry and cousin Karl who drove her up here from the Okanagan and to cousin Marie and her boys for coming into the city and helping to haul all that stuff up two flights of stairs. ( There was no elevator and my mom has a lot of stuff! And this after she pared down significantly!)

School started yesterday and with it so did school bus driving.

For the first year ever,I didn't have nightmares that involved leaving late, getting lost, forgetting students, getting stuck in the mud, or deciding to take a nap halfway through the trip!

What a relief.

I can't decide if that's because I'm more experienced(15 years this year) or just had too many other things going on to even have had time to think about it!

Henry finished my gazebo .This means the whole front garden needs some revamping.

Whoo Hoo!

I love revamping!

I'll be posting on this process as well and will be looking for opinions as it gets underway.

Volunteer work has begun and my cousin L ,who moved here recently with her family has offered to help me put on this Year's Winter Bazaar.(There is talk of a petting zoo, complete with baby kangaroo!) So we'll be working on that Thursday.

And then there's the mysterious UPS delivery. . .

Much work must be done before those packages can be opened.

Whew!

Fall is here.

And. . .

For Tamara, who wanted to know what I did with the free Darvonda mums I received.

A few found good homes with friends.

I used mine here.

Four were used in the school gardens I've put in across the street.

Complete with Darvonda birdhouses. (also free!)

That leaves one.

So if anyone out there wants it . . .

Drop by for coffee and a visit and it's yours to take home.

Special delivery

2008-08-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

Now what do you think the UPS man has in there?

Ooooh! That's a big box!

What could it be?

Stay tuned. . .

Tamara . . . shhhhh. . . it's a secret!

Silver lining

2008-08-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog, it was my intention to post primarily about gardening.

You may have noticed that has not been the case lately.

I've been very focused on renovating, organizing and purging inside the house.

The reason I'm doing this, is so that when I get involved in a project (gardening or otherwise) my house won't fall to pieces, or if it does, it can be quickly put back together again. (At the moment it often takes a week of effort to get back to normal after a big project.)

But . . .

Something big gardenwise( Is that a word?) is on it's way! I'm not going to tell you what it is, that's a secret for now, however, I think gardening is starting to edge out the house again!

What do you think I have in the back of my Suburban!

My dad called yesterday from Jasper.

He'd been having trouble with the semi he drives.

The semi full of Darvonda mums!

Some of them had fallen over, breaking the pots. Would I like to meet him once he got to the city?

Could I bring a little muscle to help move the carts around and take out the broken pots?

Jesse was happy to help out Grandpa.

Off we go.

So what was the silver lining in this unfortunate incident?

Lots of yellow mums!

A whole truck full!

This is their temporary home while I look around and decide where they are going.

I'm back in the garden.

Thanks Tamara!

Have you ever wondered. . .

2008-08-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered how they grow the potted garden mums?

You know, the ones you buy to give yourself a little colour through the fall, now that your hanging baskets and flowers pots are no longer looking their best?

Well. . .

Check out one of Tamara and Byron's Belgian mum fields.

It kind of boggles the mind doesn't it?

Tam! I can hardly see you over there!

That's better.

Hmmm. . . come to think of it, my pots are looking a little tired.

I do believe I need to run over to Costco to pick up a couple of Darvonda mums. (Small shameless plug!)

I hope they have some red ones. That deep colour looked amazing on my steps last fall.

I love gardening!

An update on Jesse and a peek at the front garden

2008-07-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

It looks like Jesse will be fine although we do think he had/has a mild concussion.(Thanks Chandra)

I stayed up with him last night for about three hours watching a movie on family channel and by the end he was starting to feel better. (He even said he was hungry and made himself ramen noodles!)

I woke him up for work this morning and he's still got a headache and feeling rather queasy so we've decided to let him stay home and hopefully sleep it off. (Thanks for your prayers Jenny.)

And as Jenny requested I'm posting some pictures that I took in the front garden this morning.

I even ate my oatmeal on the bench under the tree.

Gardens

2008-07-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

I spent a couple of hours today as a volunteer for the city's horticultural society, as a first round judge for the annual Front Yards in Bloom contest.

It is city wide and there are over 500 nominations this year.

I had great fun enjoying all the gardens and I thought I would share a few with you.

And now. . .

I had better check on Jesse who banged his head quite badly at work a little while ago.

He says the ringing has stopped, but he still feels like he's going to throw up.

Let's hope we don't end up visiting emergency!

Poor soul.

The Veggie Garden

2008-06-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

My backyard is quite small and my friend Ev's is tiny.

My yard has shrubs, flowers, an apple tree, pond, fire pit and work area.

Ev's yard has a swing set, playhouse, columnar dwarf fruit trees, BBQ, small veggie garden and an above ground swimming pool.

Any open space she had has been filled by their new pool. Literally!

I've been wanting to try vegetable gardening for the last few years but, as my yard has be designed to within an inch of it's life, there really was no space unless I redesigned it.

That was not going to happen!

Driving my afternoon bus route I would pass a large field beside a major highway with a big sign that proclaimed 'Garden Plots For Rent.'

I finally decided to phone this spring.

I won't tell you how much it cost me to rent it, because, depending on where you live you might very well find it an outrageous price.

The owner rototills for you and water from a dugout is included in the price.

If the garden grows well, it would still not be less expensive than buying from one of the cheaper grocery stores, but it would be cheaper than buying all the produce from the farmers market.

I was a little nervous about being able to maintain it so I talked Ev, who is my neighbour as well as my friend, into sharing with me.

Our plot is 15 feet by 50 feet and Ev gardens one quarter of that.

I like to use a hoe to weed.

Ev prefers to weed by hand.

Ev's daughter Alice was happy to bring the weeds to the compost pile. (For a little while anyways!)

This is my portion of the garden. I've planted, among other things, heirloom plum tomatoes, spinach, three colours of beets, corn and purple potatoes

Ev's garden has an awesome crop of carrots, spinach (already harvested), yellow zucchini, corn, purple potatoes and more.

We've both found it much easier to maintain than we it thought we would and are already considering a larger plot for next year.

We'll keep you posted.

Blue Flax

2008-06-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

The flax is blooming.

Isn't the colour amazing?

This plant was a gift from Ev's garden.

Tune in tomorrow for a peek at our new veggie garden.

*Today was the last day of school.

Tomorrow I sleep in!

Look what's blooming in my garden

2008-06-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

A Rainy Week

2008-06-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

The forecast is for showers all week.

It's been quite gloomy with the odd sunny break and I didn't think any gardening would be happening this week.

So far, I've been right!

This is due less to the random showers however, and more to the fact that the end of the school year is always busy!

Last night was a "Thank you for the music" concert which showcased the church choir past and present as well as the school band, past and present.

It was a great evening, although somewhat sad as well, as we said good- bye to our band/choir director and acting school principal.

He will be sorely missed.

I got very teary watching the junior, senior and alumni band members on stage. I have a child in each of those bands.

This was Morgan's last trombone performance as a senior.

Things are changing. . .

But I can always find solace in the garden. . .

Although I think I'll wait until it stops raining!

Look what else is blooming in my garden

2008-06-06T16:53:00.000-07:00

The iris have just started blooming!

I was given a division of this particular iris, from my friend Nicole several years ago.It has a very interesting scent, one that reminds me of the candy necklaces I ate as a kid.

Somehow, the flower smells like the candy tasted.

Odd, but true.

Blue flax, a gift from my friend Ev's garden.

I started these ground cover plants from seed last winter and they are now blooming for the first time. I'd like to tell you what they are, but I'm not sure.

I bought the seed package at my local dollar store and it had a common name which could be one of two different plants.

It doesn't really matter though, because I know they are hardy and pretty. What more could you need?

My daisies were started from seed my friend Jurrina's mom brought back from Holland. You've got to be careful with these though, because they seed themselves all over the place!

I always leave a few because I love to have 3 or 4 flowers in a little vase in the house. It wouldn't be summer without them.

Dianthus 'neon flash'. These were purchased at a garden center.

Oooh!

Tiny flowers on the creeping thyme!

And last but not least . . .

Creeping babies breath. Also purchased from a garden center.

Now. . .

I have to go clean a pan so I can cook dinner.

Sigh.

I only kind of cleaned the kitchen the other day. Every pot I own is dirty.

I keep thinking it would be nice if I could afford a house cleaner for those times in the year when gardens madness takes over. The only problem is, I know I would end up cleaning the house before the cleaners came, so I wouldn't be embarrassed to have them see what a slob I can be sometimes.

Kind of defeats the purpose though. . .

I did, however, bake a coffee cake.

It's delicious! Especially with a cup of tea.

Which I am going to have right now, along with my (cough!) third piece of coffee cake.

Told you it was good!

A day in the garden

2008-06-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

I spent a lovely day in my garden.

The long range forecast is calling for rain from Friday through Sunday, so I wanted to get as much done as I could in the next two days.

I finished up with the front garden yesterday and as you can see, the alliums are in bloom!

I began in the back this morning.

I tend to clip back most of my perennials in the fall, but some are left up for winter interest and to provide seeds for the birds.

I also have spots where the grass grows long and becomes rather unsightly.

Jada loves long grass and in her mind I grow that grass so she can have snack whenever she wants!

So, I started at the back of the garden, weeding out the grass and dandelions from the garden beds.

My two dogwood bushes didn't fare too well over the winter and and quite a bit of pruning had to happen.

I mulched this back bed last year, and, because of it's slope, most of the mulch ended up at the bottom.

What to do?

A while back Henry brought home two wooden pallet sized boxes full of different types of stone.

A local stone company that installs things like slate/ granite counter tops and stone facing for the outside of houses was cleaning out their warehouse and told Henry if he wanted he could have what ever they threw out!

A long slate counter top was one of the items .

They hadn't been able to fit it into the dumpster so the broke it into smaller pieces!

Can you imagine!!

Today I used those pieces to edge the back part of the garden bed as well as using some of the bigger pieces for stepping stones.

It looks pretty good!

The plan was to get back to work after supper.

The thunderstorm however, brought rain with it and I've had to change my plans somewhat so. . .

I'll be giving my kitchen some much needed attention. (I was seriously contemplating Styrofoam dishes for this week!)

And I do believe. . .

I'm going to bake a coffee cake before I go to bed!

Yum.

Sunny days

2008-06-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful sunny day today and where do you think I'm going to spend it?
If you guessed the garden, go to the head of the class!
I seem to be finished with all the extra stuff for now and I finally have time to do what I want to do!
I took Jada for a walk to the pet store as soon as I got home this morning.
We got her a nice smoked bone that would keep her busy. (and from noticing how short her walk was)
Of course the first thing she did when she got home, was to scout out the perfect place to bury it!
So much for that idea. . .
At some random time in the future, when she feels it has rotted long enough (that's why I buy smoked ones. They don't really rot!) she'll haul it out, and drag it into the living room to chew.
Sigh. . .
Oh well it was a good idea.
I hope to get all my plants into the garden this week as the forecast is calling for rain on Saturday.
I don't really mind because then I can do something in the house instead.
I might bake, declutter, or sew.
I just picked up a bunch of fabric from my sister-in-law who is purging before she moves to her new house. With a little stash of my own I can now sew something on a whim. How fun is that?
Well. . .
Got to go, I hear Henry's truck so he's probably home for lunch.
See you tomorrow.!

Apple blossoms

2008-05-30T02:07:00.000-07:00

My apple tree was in full bloom by last week.

There is nothing prettier than apple blossoms in the spring!

Unless it's tulips, daffodils, the flowers on my mayday tree, or crocuses.

And don't forget about pulsatilla and glory in the snow.

Lilacs. . .

Or bleeding hearts. . .

Who am I kidding?

I love them all!

My apple tree is very pretty though!

My daughter Holly thinks the back garden has a bit of an Asian feel at the moment and I think she's right.

It always fills me with wonder to watch a garden change from one week to the next.

As you can see, I still haven't had time to plant anything yet. These are all the plants I either started from seed, or grew from the cuttings my sister Tamara and her husband brought when they were visiting earlier in the year.

I've also got bunch of perennials I started, visiting over at my friend Ev's house.

She was kind enough to take them in when I began running out of room.

I promise I'll be by to get them soon Ev!

In the mean time, while I wait for a few spare moments to work in the garden, I'll enjoy the changes happening out front.

Here is just one of about eighty alliums I planted two years ago in the fall.

I love gardening. . .

A new project

2008-05-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

The trellises in my front garden were falling apart.

Henry said he would make me some new ones.

I thought he would make three nice little trellises.

But Henry doesn't think that way.

If he's going to do something, he might as well do something interesting.

Maybe even something big.

Otherwise, why bother? ( He's making me a small gazebo!)

Hmmm. . .

For a couple with very little in common, it's amazing to realize how much we are the same!

Morgan is bravery personified! ( what ever you do dad, don't let that axe slip!)

Sigh. . .

There's just something about a strong man. . .

Whew!!!

Morgan's safe for another whack.

Time for a break.

I'll keep you posted on my little gazebo's progress.

Quiet Sundays

2008-05-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

Cleaning the pond

2008-05-23T10:41:00.000-07:00

Jada loves it when it time to clean the pond!

Jesse . . .

Not so much.

An empty greenhouse

2008-05-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

I bought this portable greenhouse about four years ago with a nice sturdy cover that had a door and back window with zippers and the four side windows closed with Velcro.

I loved it!

There is nothing like going into a greenhouse (even a small one) on a cool spring day and breathing in that intoxicating smell of green growing things.

My poor cover succumbed to the elements last year though, so Handy Henry covered it with regular plastic this year. (Actual greenhouse plastic being both hard to find and rather expensive!)

Unfortunately it does not do quite the same job and I've had to move everything back inside because the temperatures just drop down a little too low at night.

This week's forecast is looking good however, so I'll be making multiple trips to put everything back.

Hopefully I'll also find some time to do it. This is the season where the to do list is way longer than the hours of the day!

Things are still coming along in the garden, and no Tamara I didn't just plant them for the blog!

Here's a peek. . .

Time to fertilize!

2008-02-19T12:36:00.000-08:00

How exciting is this?

Take a look at how quickly my plants have grown. . .

These plants have already sent out their second set of leaves. (The rudbeckia has just the one large one to start)

I use 14-14-14 to fertilize my seedlings and I place one pellet in each corner of the plant cell.

Sunshine, warmer temperatures, and new green growth. . .

Spring is on it's way.

What was I thinking?

2008-02-18T10:45:00.000-08:00

I don't know what I was thinking this morning!

I had taken some pictures of a beautiful arrangement I had in the living room. My sea lavender had grown huge last year. It also stayed upright, due to the pots right beside it in the garden. What a lovely bouquet is was. . .

I decided to bring it into the house for the winter.

As a reminder of summer.

I was the only person in the house who appreciated it. Everybody complained the it was too big.

I said it was abundant and who could have a problem with that!

Everybody said they hit their heads on it as they walked through the doorway.

I didn't. . . Really! Ok, not very often anyway. You just had to turn sideways whe you walked throught the door. How hard is that?

The other day Henry informed me, that, as the weather had warmed up , the next fire we had, would hold my sea lavender.

What!?

It had been decided. Everyone had had enough. The sea lavender's time had come.

Look at it this way," he said, "now you can display something else in it."

Sob.

So I took pictures.

To remember.

And then I erased them.

What was I thinking?

To many things at once apparently.

Well I can still show you pictures of is end. That I saved!

But I wanted you to see my sea lavender in all it's glory.

You would have loved it as much as I did.

YOU wouldn't have thought it was too big. You would, like me, have thought it abundant. I'm sure of it!

We'll never know now.

Because I erased it.

A great gardening idea

2008-02-15T08:25:00.000-08:00

While visiting various blogs this morning I came across this one. http://www.divasofthedirt.com/

The divas are a group of friends who work on the principal 'many hands make light work'.

At the beginning of each year they meet at a resaurant and plan the coming year's projects. Each member gets a month and they can choose what project they would like to have done at their home. Some times that can mean a new garden bed and others may want general clean up, pruning etc.

Before they begin their day (one day is chosen from their month) the hostess provides her fellow gardeners with a delicious breakfast served at a beautifully set table. Work and fun begin. Lunch is again, something special and, by the end of the day, the ladies have enjoyed good food, good company and made a garden more beautiful.

What could be better?

I've got a few friends in mind already!

A beautiful day

2008-02-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

My front garden last July.

When I left the house at 6:40 this morning I realized that the weatherman had been right. It has finally warmed up! It was -13C (8.6F).

It was so nice to be able to breathe deeply without worrying that I would start coughing uncontrollably (asthma).

When I got to my bus, I realized that the sky was already starting to lighten.

I drove the whole trip without my toque or gloves on, and my feet were warm.

With every pick up I made, the sky lightened, and, as I headed onto the highway towards school, the sun was on the horizon, and the clouds in the sky were blushing pink.

My drive was one long thankful, joyful , prayer to God.

Winter is coming to an end!

Seedling update

2008-02-08T12:25:00.000-08:00

Since I didn't post yesterday (something I didn't realize until I was in bed last night!) I thought I'd throw in an extra one today.

So. . . without further ado. . .

Let's see what's happening to all the plants at my house. . .

As you can see my second amaryllis is growing like crazy. It should start blooming soon.

The amaryllis that Jesse bought me has sent out a third stem! Please don't look too closely at the way I rigged up support for the stems. It's looking very Christmasy I know, but I couldn't find my bamboo stakes and Henry refused to stay and hold them until they had finished flowering. (Inconsiderate of him wasn't it?)

Now here's a nice surprise! It looks like my cuttings decide to be nice to me and grow some new roots. Let's hope I can get them planted before they tangle together again.

Here we have plants under the domes as we wait for germination.

Sucess in tray one! The pansies are up. How about tray two. . .?

Not much happening here. It looks like the rudbeckia 'Goldsterm' may very well have been old seed as Tamara had mentioned in the comments. I know the echinecia 'Luster hybrids' were old seed. . .

But a few are starting to pop up. Yeah!

Here are the little seedlings that were up earlier. Coming right along.

It may be winter outside, but the promise of spring is growing in here!

Starting plants from seed.

2008-02-05T09:52:00.000-08:00

Well I'm finally posting about my seed starting efforts.

It's going to be a long one folks!

Lots of pictures.

Here we go.... (And keep in mind... this is how I start my seed... It's not necessarily the right way, just what works for me.)

First... a peek at which seeds I've started.

This shelf will now hold all my new seedlings.

What's this?... Soil behind my chair?? Well it is a good out of the way place to thaw.( I store it outside the rest of the year.)

Now let's get things moving!!

I saved these cell packs from last year. They will need to be disinfected.

A good scrub is the best way to start. If you are washing a bunch of pots they can go in a sinkful of water.

If you don't have any used pots new ones can be bought. They do not require cleaning. ( I'm always so excited when I get to buy new ones!)

Anything used before must also be bleached. I'm not always picky about doing things perfectly so I just add a couple of capfuls to a sink of water and let the pots soak for a bit before I leave them to air dry. This is usually done before planting day.

Now for the fun part! Fill your tray (or big bowl etc.) with potting soil. I like to use soil specifically for starting seeds but you can use whatever is available as long as it is soilless mix.

Fill your pot.

Tamp down so that the soil is packed in firmly

Sprinkle in seed. Unless the seed I'm using is very expensive, I put two per cell so that I am most likely to have germination in every cell. If seed is expensive you can sow it thinly in one large shallow pot and prick them out once they have all come up and are big enough to transplant. We'll save that for another time. I don't do this often as I find that I'm usually too busy to actually do it once it's time for transplanting. I have lost entire plantings this way!

If your seed requires darkness to germinate ( that information is found on the back of the seed package), sprinkle a light layer of soil on it and press down firmly.

An important step is labeling. Label each pot individually. You think you will remember, but there will come a time, when the pots have been moved around, that you will look at the pot, scratch you head and say " Now what was in here?"

Make sure all the information is on the tag.

I always water from the bottom. I put my pots in a tray like this and add warm water. Once you can see that the soil is wet at the top, remove the pots to a dry tray. I let them sit overnight and then cover them with a clear plastic dome. The dome helps to keep moisture in.

Here's a handy germination aid. The heat mat. If your seed requires warm tempertures to germinate (check the seed package), bottom heat helps to speed things along. You used to be able to put it on top of the fridge because it would be nice and warm there, but, that doesn't work with most fridges today. I purchased this from Lee Valley Tools. Check out their garden stuff here: http://www.leevalley.com/garden/index.aspx?c=1

Plants who need warmth and light go here on my plant stand.

This batch of seed requires cool tempertures and light to germinate so they have gone downstairs where it's much cooler.

Oh... What's this??? Seedlings! And after just a few days... My dianthus seed, which I saved from the garden last fall, is the first to come up.

Whoo Hoo! Cheap, free seed wins again!

Too bad it's the only cheap free seed I have!

Flower update.

2008-01-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd show you how my plants have been doing.

This is what was left of my tulips towards the end. There is nothing left of them now. The bulbs ended up in the garbage and the pots have been saved for another day. It was great while it lasted though!

Still nothing to see on the poor cuttings that had their roots ripped off while I tried to plant them.

There is something to see however on the cuttings I did get planted. Whoo hoo!

Then there is the cute little house plant. It is orange! As all my friends know I do not like orange! I still don't know how I came to bring this home... It stopped flowering when I had it in the living room but once I put it under my fluorescent lights it started all over again. They are pretty aren't they? Even if they are orange.

Now lets see how the amaryllis has been doing....

Wow! That's quite a sight!

What's this?... This is the bulb my dad gave to me a few years back. It has bloomed for me every year but I didn't think it would do it again.

Guess I was wrong.

Don't you love surprises?

Gardening is full of them.

Planting has begun.

2008-01-29T09:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true, planting has begun! Yesterday I planted a whole lot of primula and two varieties of pansy. Today I hope to plant the rest of my perennials.

It's still cold and I have another day off of school, so... I'm going to put the house back in order, bring Holly to work, pick up a seat warmer that I can plug into the lighter and, if I'm efficient enough to get all this done quickly, I'll be relaxing with a book tonight!

Stay tuned for pictures of seed planting.

A frosty day.

2008-01-28T10:06:00.000-08:00

It's terribly cold outside today. Can you believe it was -30C (-22F) when I woke up this morning! Even worse was the windchilll. -42C (-43.6F)!!! They had already decided to cancel school last night so I was all set for a nice warm day inside. I had no plans to step foot outside my door today. That was until Henry poked his head in the door on his way to work, to tell me my truck tire was flat! Poor Morgan had to be dragged out of bed to get the compressor to pump it up. Small problem... the truck won't start.

Time to plug it in. Where is the plug? We haven't had to plug it in since we bought it. Poor soul...

He kept coming in to thaw his fingers. Eventually the plug is found, protective cap pried off and now we wait for a few hours for the block heater to work it's magic before I must bring it to the garage.

Somehow though... I will plant my seeds today !!!

In the meantime...

I leave you with pictures I took on a frostier, but warmer, walk with Jada last week.

Shameful Confession

2008-01-25T09:44:00.000-08:00

Okay... brace yourselves!

I have a shameful confession to make.

I... have... not... yet... planted... my... seeds.

Whew!! That was hard to say, but now that I've said it I feel much better!

I meant to plant them, I made plans to plant them, but life kept getting in the way.

The first obstacle was how gloomy it's been most of the week. I want to take pictures of the process so I can share it with you. When it's gloomy the pictures don't come out as nice. There was one beautiful day, but that was also the day I had to run around with Morgan trying to find him a new car now that his old car has been declared a write off by the insurance company ( a story in itself, which I will share at a later date.)

Add in, house cleaning, bus driving, groceries, etc. etc....

Still no seeding done!

I did get this far however...

It was not too cold when I decide to go out to get my planting supplies

Here's my work area. I love my work area! I had picked this spot for a work area the day we moved in, but due to the raspberry bushes, gigantic weeds, split bags of horse feed(?) and work on the rest of the garden it had to wait. But now... a spot all my own!

Now... here it is... my very own shed... Henry made it for me by reusing the kids playhouse and adding on to it, figuring it out as he went along. It only took one entire growing season.

Oh wait... what's this? Bikes? Nope...it's not totally my own shed... grrrr... Henry's garage is way bigger than my shed! It makes much more sense to store them in there. Really. He doesn't have that much stuff in there. Really. Sigh... okay, I admit it. The garage is very full right now.

Wow! Look at all the cool stuff in here! Doesn't it make you want to go out and dig right now?

So... Let's see what we have in here...

Hmmm... Someone was very organized last fall... But then, that's just the way I am... Really.

This is as far as I've gotten. These pots have made it in the house, where they wait impatiently to be filled. Maybe tomorrow...

Got to go now, I have kids from grades one to nine anxiously waiting to go skating on the big frozen lake (man made) at Hawrelak park. It's only -9C so it should be fun.

And I promise... you will see my seeding efforts soon...

It's time to start seeding!

2008-01-22T08:59:00.000-08:00

I made a visit to Rona a few weeks ago and what do you think I came home with?

Hmmm.... Could it be....

YES! New seeds! The sight of new seeds gets my heart racing, and my mind starts to race right along with it...

Now what did I find so early in the year? Check out this double morning glory... It's too early to start this yet.

OOOH.... This is a new on to me, but is sure looks interesting. I had planned to put it in pots but when I investigated it further, I found that it does better in the ground. We'll talk more about this one later. It's also too early to start this one .

Now, let's see... Ah... sapphire lobelia. Looking at pictures of my garden from a few years back , reminded me that this plant can really glow in the garden. Too early. Sigh..

Didn't I get anything I can start now? Yeah! Here's one... It's a perennial , and the earlier I start it the bigger it will be when it is ready to plant. I have found that more plants survive this way. (You didn't think that all of them make it through to next year did you? One day I'll tell you what happened with all those primrose seeds I started. :))

Any thing else? Of course! Pansies! Pansies are one annual that can be put out early as they can take temperatures of -5C . This plant is one of my favorites. I used to love to colour as a child and I still vividly remember colouring a pansy picture. I added the face and centres in contrasting colour. I was so proud of that picture... A small hint of the passion for gardening that was to come?

Well that's it for now. We will be talking more about seeding this week. I might have picked up a few (wink, wink) more seed packages when I visited Holes last week with my friend Nicole. Not too many more of course ....

Working together.

2008-01-11T12:08:00.000-08:00

Who says there is nothing to do in the garden in the dead of winter?

Henry, with considerable help from Morgan, the rest of my kids and my father-in-law, built me a beautiful fence. It took quite a long time and there was considerable discussion as to what it's style and colour would be. (but that's a story for another time!)

This fence had to be built on an existing concrete curb, using the embedded metal posts (all different sizes! ) to build the fence around, meaning that everything is up off the ground.

Over the winter the back gate kept swelling and leaning slightly so that it would stick. Henry fixed it once but the problem has returned worse than ever. I hadn't realized that the gate was no longer able to shut until Jada started going crazy in the back yard. The gate kept flying open in the wind and she was sure some dangerous people were trying to get in! So... A dad and his son work together to fix the problem...

This time Henry took of a much larger piece off the side. He does not want to do this again!

Isn't that a beautiful fence? My husband is awesome!

It's cold out!

2008-01-09T12:55:00.000-08:00

It's cold out! -18 degrees Celsius (-4F) Brrrr...!

Not to worry though, the sun is shining, and as long as you stay inside it's a gorgeous day. I have to go out and drive my school bus in a half an hour, but I still have something great to look at while I drink my last cup of tea....

Joy can be found in the smallest things!

Baby ivy

2008-01-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

When January rolls around, I am always ready to put the holidays behind me and move on to planning the garden for spring.

My family complains that I am much too quick to take down the tree and all the decorations, but I figure... after December 25... who needs decorations? I try to be good, and leave things at least until New Year's day. If I think they might not notice in their Christmas chocolate stupor, ( The Dutch chocolate letter tradition taken waaay to far!) things come down on New Year's eve day.

January 2 found me at my favorite local seed store, Apache Seed to see what goodies they might have. I like to start pansies at the beginning of January so they can be put out early if the weather cooperates. No intriguing pansy seed could be found. (although you can be sure I didn't leave empty handed... but more on that another day!)

My next stop was Rona to see what they might have in. Imagine my disappointment to find no seeds only leftover Christmas things!

You'd think they would know I was coming! Unwilling to leave without at least a little stroll through the greenhouse area, I came across this good deal... little baby ivy for .95. If they can be kept alive through the winter ( and that's a big if!) they will be a nice size by spring and can be used in my hanging baskets .

As I am incapable of just putting the little pots under lights and calling that good enough, I continued wandering around, looking for inspiration on how to display them until spring. I found a terracotta saucer and that gave me an idea... I still had some nice gravel at home... I could put them together like this.....

Tulips in January!

2008-01-07T09:51:00.000-08:00

Can there be anything better than tulips in January?

The first picture was taken yesterday afternoon and the second this morning. I'm not going to go into how to force bulbs like this now. We'll save that for this fall/winter when I get a batch ready for next year.

They do give me great delight. The flowers are great of course, but even better.... I now get to phone my sister Lisa and tell her all about it!

Now you need to know that Lisa lives on the Lower Mainland in British Columbia, about an hour or so out of Vancouver. Every year in February when we are chatting about how things are going she tells me how wonderful and mild things are,... about how green the grass is getting... blah,blah,blah... and then.... that the crocuses are blooming!! Argh!! February in Edmonton usually means more snow, and temperatures that cause me to add third and fourth layers when I go out! With no end in sight!!

Well this year I've got her beat! I'm going to phone her and tell her...... well, you know....

The tulips are blooming! In January!

Ha! So there!

Do me a favour though ... please... don't tell her they are in pots!

Amaryllis

2008-01-05T12:32:00.000-08:00

I took this picture yesterday. My youngest son Jesse bought it for me before Christmas as I just couldn't justify the expense with so many presents left to buy. It was very exciting picking through all the bulbs available looking for the largest possible one! I'd like to tell you which one it is but in my post Christmas cleaning/organizing frenzy somehow it got thrown out. I could tell which bulbs I planted last spring... those label's I saved.

Well as you can see it's not blooming yet but I'll post pictures every week so we can watch it's progress.

Potting up Sedum Cuttings

2008-01-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

Last fall I took cuttings from the sedum in my garden. I’d like to tell you its variety, but I can’t remember. Darn. I know it’s not 'Autumn Joy' because I had a “thing” with using the same plant as everyone else. I clearly remember my sister Tamara buying the original plant for me at the Van Deusen Garden Show in Vancouver. I think it’s called 'Burgundy', but I’m not 100% sure. Not to worry though, it looks almost exactly the same as 'Autumn Joy'. So much for individuality…

Potting up cuttings is very simple.

Let’s start with the cast of characters. You will need all purpose potting soil, pots, water and of course your cuttings.

As you can see I have this nice green tray that helps keep the dirt from falling all over the floor. It was a Christmas present from my husband Henry last year. He got it from Lee Valley Tools. They have great things that are hard to find anywhere else . You can also use a large bowl to hold the soil which is what I used to do.

The next step is to fill your pot with soil. I'm using terracotta because I like how it looks but you could use any pot you may have on had. Gardeners always seem to have more plastic pots than they need! Don't fill the pot to the top as you need room to water once your cutting is planted.

Now it's time to take our cuttings out of the jar and separate them. Oops! Looks like we are going to need another bowl. You can use a much smaller on than I did. I just like how this one looks. I'm afraid I have a bit of a thing about that.

Oh well... take the cuttings out of the jar and place them in the bowl. Add the water from the jar and top up with enough water to cover the roots. This will help to separate them.

Okay, in theory this should have worked. You might as well know from the start that ... well... I'm not perfect. I should have done this quite some time ago but life got in the way. Let's put this poor cutting that no longer has roots aside and try this again.

Three out of five is not too bad. Of course the two cuttings with the humongous roots actually have the roots I ripped of the two naked cuttings but... we will move on.

I poke a large enough hole in the soil to allow the roots and the bottom of the stem to fit in, add enough soil to fill in the hole and press it down firmly. We don't want that new plant to wobble. You can add more soil if needed to keep that from happening.

Time to water . You will want give your cutting a good watering the first time and after that just water as needed.

You could place your cutting by a bright window or, if you can under fluorescent lights as I have. By the time spring rolls around there will be three new sedum for my garden!

Let's see if we can salvage the two cuttings I have left. First I'll re cut the bottom of the stem.

Now I'll place it back in the jar with water and set it back under the lights. If I'm lucky it will re sprout.

I'll keep you posted!