Defiant Acts

"Gardening is the most therapeutic and defiant act you can do.  Plus you get strawberries:" ~ Ron Finley

I love the feel behind this statement - well, both of these statements, really... Though I won't necessarily get strawberries (I don't plan to plant any, but just because it isn't part of the plan today doesn't mean I won't find somewhere to put some eventually..) I am, though, most defiantly acting in favour of spring!

To go back a few months, my yard had a hard winter - loads of deep and long lasting heavy snow, along with a February snow accumulation that meant that even as late as the beginning of this week there was snow in my back yard (though today all gone) and there is still a little in the front yard...

Taken about 4 weeks ago...

Last weekend I spent some of my Sunday on poo patrol as the snow was melting, I also pruned my apple, pear and plum trees...  There's a small pile of branches I need to dispose of, but nothing really huge to worry about there.  The trees were still lying fallow last weekend, but today when i was out I noticed that the plum tree is budding out all over - so last weekend was the absolute last minute I would have been able to do the pruning safely.

Today's project work was the back yard.  I made a trip to Art Knapp and then over to Slegg Lumber before heading home... While at Art Knapp, I picked up six raspberry plants, two blueberry bushes, a bag of peat moss and a bag of container potting soil.  At Slegg Lumber I picked up two cedar trellises and four . ten-foot long 1" x 2"s.

So here's this weekend's outdoors project list:

• move the upper long bed box to a new location along the side fence
• build a pea trellis using the old green lattice screen that was acting as a barrier to hide the old oil tank (thus the 1" x 2"s) and make a new bed to plant the pea trellis in
• ready the garden beds for planting
• plant peas, spinach, raspberries and blueberries
• tidy up the garden shed
• rake up the back yard (basically make it pretty) and make another poo-clearing pass over everything.

Once back from the shopping excursion, I realized there is more I will need, so I'll be out again tomorrow morning to collect the missing bits, but today I was able to accomplish a fair amount.

First item on the list had to be poo patrol. That done, I opened up the shed and pulled out my bistro set and got the concrete patio spring-friendly.  

By the end of the daylight hours today I had moved the long bed, dug out and readied the other beds, planted the raspberry and blueberry plants, and set up the trellises for their jobs... Tomorrow (after the Slegg Lumber run) I will set up one final small raised bed, build and install the pea trellis, plant the peas and spinach seeds and tidy the garden shed a little. If I have enough time, I'll also rake up the back yard & get the lawn ready for spring and over-seed with grass seed where there has been winter damages.

Once I finish off all of tomorrow's bits, I'll snap some pictures and show you where I am at this point in readiness for sunshine and warmth...

Next weekend I'm going to be putting out my drip lines and then I'll see about getting in there to tackle the front yard projects...

With love across the waters...

Things I Am Working On…

September feels like it is almost gone already (OK, maybe I’m being a little overly dramatic, it is only the 10^th after all!) and I was just pondering what I have to show for the month so far…

Essentially, all of my “project” time has been spent working outside – the front and back yards are getting LOADS of attention this month in preparation for autumn and winter and, of course, for spring to follow!! I have cleaned up the front garden bed significantly – cut back the other rhododendron in a great big way – like I did to the other one. I also dug out a peony and some lilies (and a couple of irises) and gave them to a friend of mine to add to her garden space.

Moved the Clematis

I spent a couple of odd days digging out around the damn sumac tree stump and pulling out as much in the way of roots as I was able to. Space blocked off, I seeded some grass and replanted the roses at the end of that part of the flower bed and filled in the rest of the dirt around the stump.  I will be digging the stump back out again, but that’s because my Dad (who was up today with my Mum) is going to come back up in a couple of weeks’ time with his chainsaw and, provided I have a clear enough area for him to cut through, he’s going to help me get the sumac stump out once in for all.

Sumac Stump Removal - Part I

One of Three Wheelbarrow Loads
of Sumac Roots

YAY – no more sumac!!

As mentioned above, Mum and Dad came up for the afternoon and after a gorgeous lunch at a new place here in Cumberland (Mar’s on Main) we came back and did a little bit of stuff in the back yard together.  Dad dug out a fir stump for me and Mum and I harvested my pears – which were ready to come off the tree – they are now laid out on my freezer – it’ll take a couple of days for them to ripen and I’m going to need to get my hands on more canning supplies so that I can process them (I have jars and snap lids set aside, I just really need the canning pot, rack and hand-held tools to make things “simple” before I head off to Vancouver next weekend for training!

After Mum & Dad headed home I went back out into the back yard and dug up some of the flower beds I will be converting over to vegetable beds.  I moved a couple of the peonies out to the front yard as well as a few of the lilies that were bunched up in the back garden bed. When I was talking with my folks, I got great suggestions on what parts of the yard (and how) to convert over to vegetable space and so I decided to get myself moving with some of that.  Mum has given me a couple of heads of garlic for planting and so the beds I have started converting over will house the garlic – which I will be trying to get into the ground next Sunday before I head out of town for training for a week.

I’m thinking that through the winter and spring I may also try my hand at starting seeds inside the house with an aim to have things ready to plant when the weather warms up sufficiently to get them into the soil come spring/summer. I know I will need to start communicating with people up here who garden so that I know “when” to plant “what” but I’m thinking about things like (Oh God, here she goes with a list!)

·        Onions

·        Tomatoes

·        Cucumber / Zucchini

·        Green Beans (and OOH – wait until you hear the idea my Mum has for them!!)

·        Snow and sugar peas (along the wire of the fence that I will be putting up to protect the garden from Jasmine)

·        Rhubarb (already established)

·        Celeriac (also already established)

·        Jerusalem Artichokes (ditto on the establishment)

I’m not certain if I will try corn, but eventually I will also want to put in some raspberry canes and some blueberry bushes as well.

Green beans – you will LOVE this idea!  OK, so the green beans I will be growing need to have something to climb… I can’t remember the specific type, but when ready to harvest, usually the problem (especially with a very tall something for them to climb) is getting to the ripe beans. Get this: We’re going to move the green arched trellis from where it is over to the side of the patio – it will eventually become the arch-way for a gate into and out of the garden – but the trellis is PERFECT for growing beans on – how utterly cool is that!!!!

My pear tree was a total winner with the fruit production this year – I got a full freezer-top full of pears and am guessing I will likely get 18 or so jars of pears out of them.

All in all, September is looking like a damn productive month for me!

Alright, time for a hot bath (I have to admit, I’m a little achy with the shovelling and mattock-ing I did this weekend) a cup of tea and a good book…

With love across the waters,

Slowing Down But Catching Up

This weekend has been all about taking things easy and catching up on the little jobs that haven’t been done in a few weeks.  A rare weekend, especially one in summer – I had nothing planned, nowhere to go, and nothing specific that I felt I needed to do. Time this weekend has, therefore, been filled with a lot more relaxation and puttering around.

We all need them – the weekends where we spend more time reading or wasting time watching TV than getting stuff done.

I have the perfect excuse this weekend, though.  Rain - sweet, cool, fresh, quiet and glorious rain.  We haven’t had much of it at all in the last few weeks, and so my Piscean heart was missing the moisture and cooler temperatures… Yesterday (my Saturday) I spent a couple of hours outside in the morning – taking care of some light weeding and pruning back the Weigela – which was, admittedly, very out of control. I also dug out the Centaurea - also known as cultivated bachelor’s buttons – which were more of a blight in my front garden than something pretty to look at. I then moved one of the roses that was planted in the back yard in a weird space to the front - I also moved the double Shasta Daisies out to the front bed.

I know that much of the transplanting I am doing at this point is being done in The Wrong Season – but the things I am moving will not break my heart if they should not live where I have put them.

There is no rain today, and so I have some laundry out on the line. It may not be dry before nightfall, but I’m happy to just have it “air” outside and will chuck it into the drier only if I absolutely HAVE to. I’m also going to go out and cut back one of the Mock Orange bushes in the back yard – it has pretty much finished blossoming and is in desperate need of a severe thinning… wish me luck – this may be a multi-strike project!

When I feel I have done enough in the yard I’m going to come inside, have another cup of coffee and work on some indoors projects – namely, some personal work on setting goals (projects in such books as The Key and The Secret) and emotional clearing… 

With love across the waters,