There's Life!

Finally, the first day that I can say is truly warm! The sun was hot on my back as I squatted, pulling the first dandelions, thistles and other random weeds from the soft, warming earth. 

My peas have just started to poke out of the ground, at the base of the poles where I have hung netting in anticipation of their need to climb. The green onions and garlic leaves are nicely up, and the Sweet Annie has managed to spread itself everywhere! I'll pull out most of them, keeping just enough for sachets and wreathes.

I've been keeping my eyes on the Golden Raspberries. I put in 10 new canes last year, and 7 of them are sprouting gorgeous green leaves. I wasn't terribly disappointed about the other 3 but it would have been nice for them all to have survived. I knew they would spread, so I just showered the survivors with love and appreciation for toughing out their first winter, hoping to encourage and hearten them. So imagine the delightful surprise when I found some new sprouts a few inches away from two of the dead canes from last year. They had managed to spread some roots that did survive after all! I knew the brambles would spread, but I'm really happy they are doing so right away, filling in the spots that I was sad to think might be bare for another year. I'll just wait a little while to see where my new raspberry canes are going to come up this year, then I'll mulch the bed nice and thick to keep the weeds down. My other, well established bed of red raspberries are right under the giant pine tree, and they don't seem to mind a thick mulch of pine needles around them (oh, the joy of not having to rake them up and move them to a composter!), but there are certainly enough needles to spare for my new raspberry bed. Part of the new bed (the front of it) gets more sun then the back of the bed, and it's interesting to see the significant difference in the rate of growth of the new leaves. I'm sure the ones at the back will catch up though. I just have to give them a little more love (and compost).

I sowed a tray of indoor pots about a week ago, using seeds saved from last year. The okra is already 2" high! I adore growing okra. I have to put it in my south facing beds, right up against the wall of the house where it's warmest. They have the most stunning yellow flowers. I'm not even disappointed if I don't get very much okra to eat. I just love to look at those blossoms. The green onion sprouts are coming up the tray too - I have only two tiny patches that came back in the garden, so my plot needs augmenting. Beets and Swiss Chard are also sprouting. I use them for greens all the way through until frost. I just keep taking off the outer leaves for salad, leaving the inner growth to continue to produce sprouts. I sowed 20 pots of Ground Cherries. I want to have a proper harvest this year. I saved seeds from the plants that produced the largest fruit last year, and I'm holding my breath while waiting for them to surface in my little pots. I'm dreaming of Ground Cherry Jam.

I have a "pot maker" that makes pots from old newspapers. I'll make some soon, for when the sprouts need more room, until I'm sure enough they will be safe to plant outside. Last frost date is May 5, which, now that I think about it, is coming up very soon! I have to get myself to the garden centre soon, too, to get the best pick of the seedlings. It's just so much easier to plant seedlings of zucchini, cucumber and peppers. I can get so many different kinds, and I haven't had luck starting these things indoors. I know it's a less sustainable option, but I look at it this way - I am sustaining the nursery where I can get these healthy and robust plants year after year. I do, however, start my own green beans. Again, I saved seeds from my best plant - a real heavy producer. This year I will spread diatomaceous earth at the base of my bean seedlings, so the slugs won't eat them off at the ground, during the first night after I plant them. 

I'm trying to decide what new plant I'll put in this year. I've been reading the catalogs, trying to make up my mind. I like to try at least one new plant a year - something I've never grown before, to see how it will do in my microclimate.

Is It Spring Yet?

April 14, 2010

Spring seems to be having trouble starting this year. There is a day here and there when the sun feels warm, but then it gets cold again, and they're even calling for snow this weekend!

I planted the sweet green peas last week, after all, soil could be worked, and have eagerly been watching for their emergence. None as of yet.

There are tiny sprouts around the bottom of last years golden raspberry canes. I'm thrilled, since I just planted the canes last year and I didn't know how well the new canes would survive the winter. There are lots of buds on the black currants, and the mache is everywhere.

Oddly enough, I found much of last year's garlic strewn about, lying on top of the garden beds, sprouting. Did the frost do it? If so, that would be a first for me. I gathered them all up and planted them neatly in the bed that held the asparagus peas last year. I don't think I'll have any asparagus peas this year. They're so much work, hard to train, difficult to harvest, and not very flavorful. I'm glad I experimented with them, and every curious gardener should, but despite being able to grow easily from last years seed, and having absolutely gorgeous, tiny, dark red flowers. The novelty has worn off, and this year the bed has been reallocated.  Am I being fickle? Shallow? Disrespectful? Why do I feel uncomfortable when I move on, devoting ground to new vegetables? There's only so much space in the garden. 

I emptied both composters last week. Each was filled about two feet deep with rich, beautiful compost. I spread it out on the beds, dreaming of well fed vegetables that would, in their turn, keep me well fed. I feel so lucky that "compost happens" as they say. It couldn't be much easier, and compost will happen, seemingly pretty much all by itself. 

Plans for this year include lots and lots of herbs, edible flowers and vegetables, especially ground cherries, and cucumbers that I grow on trellises. I love vegetables that climb. No bending for harvest, and I love to train the beautiful spiral tendrils to grab onto the trellis just where I want them to go. The tendrils are so beautiful when they are just emerging, all tightly coiled and covered with downy hairs. It's fascinating how they can just latch on to the trellis and hold there for the whole season.