Frost! eep!

The forecast calls for 1 degree tonight so we've tried to protect the little sweeties planted over the weekend. I overheard a conversation today where a woman was explaining to another that in Canada you shouldn't plant anything outside until May 24 weekend. uh oh.

We have frost refugees inside the kitchen awaiting warmer climes.

Seeds are potted

Seeds are in their little pots to camp out until it's warm enough to let them loose in the garden. I used an organic potting mix with old seedling containers. I ended up just writing the plant names on the pots in black marker since my sticky-note tagging system had some drawbacks. They're in a ghetto greenhouse right now as the temperatures at night are dipping to 5 degrees.

Name that tulip

I need to find the names of these tulips in my garden...

A weekend of clean-up

We spent Saturday outside cleaning up the last of winter... shed sorting, raking, the last of the pruning, more raking. I found a box of old bulbs in the shed last year and planted them all, not really expecting much. Surprisingly most of them survived and are about to bloom. The weather broke 20 degrees and I think the peonies grew 4 inches in a day.

We're planning the vegetable garden right now... raised beds or double dig again. Both are tons of work but something's required for this heavy clay soil. Am leaning towards the beds but unsure what material to make them out of. Wood - can you buy untreated given that it's going to leach into the beds? Stone? Cement?

Some images... daffodils starting to bloom, our assistant gardener, and a "before" veggie patch. The roses are Don Juan climbers that need a trellis this year.

Seeds of Diversity

Seeds of Diversity is Canada's Heritage Seed Program for gardeners which provides "information about heritage seeds, seed saving, plant diversity, garden history and your own garden heritage." They are a living gene bank with over 1900 varieties of vegetables, fruit, grains, flowers and herbs. The Heritage Plant Database is here.

Next year I'll order catalogues

I say this every year. Finding the right seeds or, as the weeks tick past, the right seedlings is an annual stress ritual associated with spring. But this fall, I'll pick and choose from...

• Prairie Garden Seeds (seeds by Jim Ternier from Saskatchewan, the brother of Judy Ternier who has supplied my parents with veggies for over two decades)
• Urban Harvest
• Salt Spring Seeds
  
• Grow Wild or Wild Canada Native Plants
  

Societies of the roses

Canadian Rose Society & Greater Toronto Rose & Garden Society

Seed Spacing

Ed Hume Seeds provides a useful chart for spacing out vegetable seeds.

Best Roses

according to Gardening Life...

1. ‘Abraham Darby’ -- a David Austin English roses, does not get mildew and blooms through the summer. Zone 5.

2. ‘J.F. Quadra’ -- best red climber for cold climates (to Zone 3), Explorer rose with double blooms & a light fragrance.

3. ‘Snow Pavement’ (‘Schneekoppe’) -- rugosa, dense mounding with large white flowers infused with light lavender, superb fragrance, blooms all season and makes a wonderful hedge or specimen. Zone 3.

4. ‘Windmill’ -- modern shrub rose, single white flowers with mauve-pink edges and a unique twist to its petals, repeat bloomer, hardy to Zone 5.

5. ‘Fellowship’ (‘Living Easy’) -- floribunda from the U.K., vigorous, disease-resistance, Zone 6 and warmer.

garden circa 2007

Coneflowers, peonies, wild flowers, lilies, poppies, light through the green.

garden circa 2006

Creating an irregular line was one of the first edits made to the space. Simple edging also allowed for easier mowing by hand since Ryan had given us a great push mower as a house-warming present. I really love those peonies and can't thank Michael O enough every time I look out the window or through archived images.

garden circa 2005

The garden when we purchased the house in 2005 was one of the main features that attracted us to the place. It's an extensive yard right smack downtown with established trees, peonies, and lawn... all beautifully maintained. And then we naturally changed it.

The Virginia Creeper was one of the first plants to go since it doesn't play well with others. I'm still digging up roots and sprouts 2 years later.

One thing of note is the glass in the shed window is from the late 1800's and came from Michael O's parent's farm. The sunken irregularities of old glass are beautiful. Tal talks about putting shutters on it given the horror of breaking a pane.

it begins again

The snow left several weeks ago during a rainy spell. Current weather has been balmy (10+) with the bulbs making a break for it. Most of them have a good 4 to 6 inches of green above the soil line. Last fall we piled the leaves into the back end of the garden where very little grows due to shade from the Tree of Heaven. I was surprised to find several gung-ho daffodils trying to make it up through this mound (and succeeding!).

I got 15 whole minutes to prep the backyard this week. E's not too keen yet on hanging around in the cool spring outdoors to allow for much pruning, raking, potting, etc but that's of little surprise for a 3-month old. She's slowly learning to enjoy wind.

Raised beds are being toyed with due to the high clay near the house. Last year Tal, Peter, and Ryan sifted the area and removed what became a 6ft+ mound of stones as well as worked in several bags of sand and compost. It really paid off but the back corner remains a terrible place to subject plants to. The seed gulag.

Roots vegetables faired poorly - carrots and beets, while tasty, were small and took the entire season to produce. Tomatoes - 3 plants, forget the varietals - tried to take over the place. Greens, especially spinach, also did amazingly well. Edamame succeeded. Peas didn't. Squash in the year previous produced 2 small fruits. Corn was accidentally weeded out by a keen brother so remains an unknown.

I bought seeds this week from Urban Harvest...

• Greens: Ruby Red Swiss Chard, Green Salad Bowl Lettuce, Red Russian Kale
• Tomato: Black Brandywine, Matt's Wild Cherry
• Herbs: Garlic chives
• Broccoli Di Ciccio
  

Others yet to purchase: mint, basil, thyme, coriander, dill, spinach.