Veggie seeding started off gangbusters in March and quickly turned into a crisis. First I realized that I didn’t make the soil deep enough so my seedlings outgrew their surroundings super quickly. Next I re-potted them but realized the soil I got was not very good and I didn’t fertilize it. So the next month or so was a constant battle of re-potting and fertilizing to salvage my crop. It’s hard to believe, but I this is not my first rodeo I usually have Beans, Peas, Tomatoes, and sometimes Cukes from seed. I blame the pandemic for losing control of the process, but it was also a very welcome distraction from sheltering in place.

Once I got things under control I had too many so sold a few on Kijiji and gave some to friends.

Once the challengers survived their 3 or 4 rounds to the winning circle, I quickly realized I wasn’t going to have enough space for even those. I had grand ideas of getting my other half to build some raised beds but when he informed me of the cost I abandoned that idea like a hot potato.

Moved the cold frame out of the garden and into the yard this spring.  The empty bed has gone through a few ideas/changes and next year I think it will be the new Garlic bed.  I’ve been planting Garlic for years and it keeps moving further out of the flower space that I am slowly reclaiming for colour and blooms.  Veggies are moving into the yard to cover weedy spots and create things for Macy to run laps around I guess.  Will try to build some proper raised beds next year perhaps I usually try to spend as little money on the garden as possible and upcycle/salvage what I can so this year was thrown together with extra bricks and old boards that were left by the previous homeowners.  I don’t want my veggies to cost more then if I just bought them at the Farmer’s Market.  If I can I’m at least flush then I am paid in joy.

So far the results are looking pretty promising, especially for the Broccoli.

I’ve had good success with Lettuce over the past few years so decided to step it up and made some vertical planters out of rain gutters, we cut them and drilled holes in them and zip tied them to the fence and also on the edge of the deck.

They are great we’ve been eating lots of lettuce and it keeps the slugs out for the most part.

My supervisor, Macy, likes to run laps though the yard and makes muddy spots in the spring so we installed some runways for her too.

Just when I thought planting was over for the year I was given more seeds! Cucumbers, Beans, and Radish. Will have an update next month I guess.

I think making the move over to container planting and raised beds will be good and we’ll pretty it up a bit and plan better for this year.

Just found out you can grow Cukes and Beans in hanging planters so I’m going to be all over that idea.

The one thing I didn’t plant that I had hoped to is onions so hopefully next year they make it into the plan. I’ll probably to something different like Shallots, but will have to do Green Onions too as my other half makes great Salsa. We grow Basil in the window for Pesto too. Yummy homegrown things. We try to buy only Canadian grown veggies in the stores, Nova Scotia when possible and visit the farm markets too. And we get things from our friend Noah at New Caledonia Farms. Food that has been trucked in from far away tastes yucky and we are foodies so want tasty and healthy I suppose 😉

Anyway, what are you doing in your garden these days?

Gardening is not something you can buy at the store, it is something you have to work at all the time. Slow and steady wins the race along with transplanting your bits and bobs and learning your little corner of the world and what works best.

A write these garden blogs as much for me as for others because it helps me document the garden so I know what will come up next spring. It all looks barren in March but the weeds are getting an early start and you have to know what not to pull. And what space you might have to plant or repair for the summer.

The pandemic has given us all a little extra time this year, and I used mine in the garden of course. I tend to spend a lot of time in the garden anyway, but the extra time this year has been wonderful for trying new things and giving extra attention to things that tend to get ignored.

Of course I do spend a little money on the garden, and most of that was at Halifax Seed this spring. It felt great to support a small business during these trying times. They have excellent safety protocols in place and are a pleasure to deal with in any times. Supporting local and being kind are what will get us through this crisis, a little goes a long way.

Although a few things did not make it, the garden has not disappointed this year.  Something different has been blooming every day since April and the Roses did not even make an appearance yet.

The 4 Tulip varieties I planted last November were a hit, so I will plant a few more of them this fall. I got these from a selection of bulbs at Halifax Seed that was organized according to bloom times. So they were staggered so I would have a different variety every 2 weeks.

I keep talking about my lack of success in planting Rainbow Rock Cress, but some of it was totally my fault.  I realized I dug some up this spring that I planted last year as I mixed it up with other weedy things.  Luckily this patch survived

Anyway, I do love my perennial groundcovers most.  Thank you so much to friends for donations to the cause.

The bees and the birds love the garden.  We haven’t seen any Hummers yet, but a number of butterflies have dropped by and butterfly season is just ramping up so it can only get better.  Also, the two pollinator plants (Bee Balm and Butterfly Bush) I bought last year are not flowering yet but looking good and rooted well and survived the winter.

Hopefully they will be featured in the next installment of my garden diary.

I wait all year for the summer solstice. I think we all do as it marks the beginning of summer. For the past 13 years living here it has been the day the large perennials bloom. The only year it was late was 2019 and it was two weeks late! This year things were in full bloom starting on June 20th and the best show was on June 27th.

Things continue to bloom there is much more to come but that is the highlight each summer and a day I tend to spend at home each year to enjoy it.

Macy is just happy on the brief occasions I let her in my garden!

The less glamorous part of this year’s gardening has been spent trying to block the super invasive Goutweed from coming in from the adjoining yard. As a temporary solution I covered what was coming in on my side of the fence with plastic (cardboard does not work) and then covered the plastic with cedar mulch. Hoping that in time I can reclaim that space and simply remove the plastic and the mulch can stay. It’s an ugly mess and I have to find a way to deal with it that involves the help of the neighbors I guess. No way around it as it’s spreading like wildfire all along the fence-lines on our street, and I’m sure other people on the street will also appreciate help with the spread of this invasive. It’s amazing to me that people still plant this stuff and it’s spreading all over my street…a nightmare…ugghhh! It’s not very ethical of a garden center to sell that stuff, that’s for sure.

Gardening is known to be very therapeutic and has gotten me through some pretty rough spots. If you are feeling a little helpless these days it might give you some sense of control while things seem to be spiraling.

I’m lucky enough to have a fenced in yard and a side garden, but if you don’t have as much space rest assured there is all kinds of container planting you can do.  And if you don’t have that, you can even grow herbs in sunny windows so please do not despair.

My little friend Macy likes to be outside in the yard when I’m out there of course. She has the backyard mostly to herself, and the side garden is double-fenced so she can’t be in there unless I bring her in with me.

You can see the two moods of Macy depending on which side of the fence she is on. If only she understood I’m really trying to keep her from eating bees!

Anyway, I’m a bit of a taskmaster when it comes to household lists for myself so naturally, I have a long list of things to do in my garden which is very welcome at the moment. We are all fighting pandemic angst, and this is my panacea of choice.

There is the list of “never do again” plantings which are based on complete failures from previous years.  The list for “try again with improvements” for things that failed with good reasons, such as not observing our full moon in June planting rule for last frost.  Last year was completely unforgiving to anyone who relaxed that rule in the past few years.  Noted and oops!  Finally, there is the “do more of” list, which is full of successes to expand and improve on.  The easy for me veggies like Beans and Peas and Garlic go here along with flowers from Bulbs and easy seeds like Cosmos and Marigolds. 

It’s chilly out there so I like this time for heavy work like digging and pruning.  I dislike grass as a ground cover (boring, does not improve soil, gets full of weeds, requires way too much maintenance and has to be mowed!) so have been working slowly over the past few years to decrease the amount of grass on my property.  It’s not easy as you really need to plant something non-invasive that will spread (with a healthy speckling of big thirsty Hostas in spots that tend to be damp or mossy) and stay healthy and durable in its place or you get weeds moving in very quickly.  I have some Bugleweed in the backyard which is great for a dog yard, but the front lawn is very sunny and there is a lot of shale under the sod. I may have to make a raised bed for my perennial dream.

Wild Parsnip or some similar nastiness is trying to take over the dream slope near my curb I’ve been trying to do something with so it might be time to completely dig it up and replace it with Clover.  I planted 4 large Hostas there, and some Spurge and recently added some Honeysuckle which flower and feed a neighbor’s hive residents all summer I think.

The slope is a tough area to mow. Clover doesn’t get very tall.  It’s great for the soil, and the bees love it.  It’s thick and pushes out Dandelions and other lawn invaders. Going to be great filler for now, and will be on the next Halifax Seed order.

My dream for “the slope” is a perennial rock garden but I will have to build that slowly because I don’t have the rocks, and I don’t have the perennials.  Seems I forgot that the beautiful flowering ground cover I love the most like Phlox and Dianthus and Aubrieta should have been started inside months ago or planted last summer to bloom this spring.  Nursery transplants are expensive so I will take it in baby steps which means cover in clover now and gradually create small rock garden components adding more over the years.  Well that’s how I do things anyway because I can’t afford a landscaper and a bunch of materials, so I take things slow and move little bits and bobs around over time.

These are three of the “hardy perennials for zone 5” I tried to start indoors last year, or to seed directly in spring, but failed miserably. I hope to have some started outside late summer/fall this year that might look like these photos next year. In the meantime, at least I’ll have Clover and no Wild Parsnip. Baby steps.

The side garden is the main event now anyway.  Last year I installed some natural flagstone and started planting in the spaces.  I couldn’t have known at the time how much I would appreciate it this year.

Many friends donated perennial treasures for the spaces, the most fun ones being Hens and Chicks.  I did a bit of Irish Moss from seed.  Some of that I started indoors, and some direct to soil.  Not as successful as I had hoped but cheaper than nursery pots.  If you get those, they spread quickly if you split them though so either option will work.  Creeping Thyme is much easier to grow and spreads quickly.  Mother of Thyme works well too and smells divine.  I inherited some of that with the house too and split some off and planted more.

On a side-note, I recommend if you get donations from friends gardens you rinse the roots and use new dirt so you don’t get invasive rhizomes. A bit of a learning experience. That being said, take all the gifts your friends will bring from their gardens and please return the favor.

The side garden was a large part of the reason I purchased the house 12 years ago as there were several established shrubs and perennial flowers:

• Azalea (probably Chinese Golden Sunset variety)
• Rhododendron
• Pink Beauty Potentilla
• Euonymus, Emerald N Gold aka Japanese Spindle Tree
• Euonymus fortunei ‘Variegata’ – aka Wintercreeper
• Red-tip-photinia
• Poppies
• Sundrop Primrose
• Grape Hyacinth
• Geranium
• Bleeding Hearts
• Mountain Cornflower
• Columbine Aquilegia
• Heather (Winter Heath)

A good start indeed and I’ve been busy with them every year since.

For a good number of years, I only did maintenance, but one day my old Lab/Setter cross, Nelson, got into the garden unattended for a while and dug up a bunch of the perennial flowers.  No point crying over spilt milk they say so I planted veggies in their place in the empty spots.  Mostly just Peas, Beans, and Tomatoes to start.  Over time Garlic was introduced into the mix, and some salad greens.

These days I’m more careful about keeping the gate closed with my Border Collie, Macy.  Here she is with one her best friends, Herk, demonstrating yet another reason that dogs are not allowed in the garden unsupervised!

Last year I decided I would do all the veggies in containers and start flowers from seed.  That was pretty much a disaster.  I tried some indoors and some direct to the ground and the only things I had success were Lobelia (started indoors), and Marigolds and Cosmos (which I’d planted from seed lots of times and are super easy and forgiving).  I did have some success with Alium Bulbs, and the drumstick variety attracted a Monarch Butterfly who stuck around for a couple or weeks.  As well I did well with Begonia Bulbs for summer plants. 

Based on that I decided no more posy seeding for me, but I did plant 4 varieties of Tulips which are coming up nicely and will bloom at varying times over a 6-week period close to the end of April. 

For the first time in my life, and because I was so pleased with my flagstone hardscaping, I splurged and bought some perennial plants from a local nursery:

• Bee Balm
• Geum
• Butterfly Bush

It’s too early to tell if they will come back this year, but the Geum is greening up already so that one’s a winner.

I’m a bit of a frugal gardener so tend to relocate weedy type perennials such as Forget-me-nots and other things instead of turfing them. I’m not sure what these little mossy guys are that pop up around the garden but I take the teeny pieces and put them between stones and concrete blocks. The leftovers go into a spot to thicken up until I need more. They look a bit like Irish Moss but they are not as they never flower. If you know what this is please let me know, it’s fantastic stuff.

Since veggies have traditionally done the best for me, I started some seeds indoors late March / early April this year – Tomatoes, Sweet Peppers, Broccoli, and Brussels Sprouts.  There is no guarantee, but seeds are cheap, and if I get my 8 bucks back out of the crop I will be thankful and welcome the diversion either way.

Flowers are still the stars of any garden, so I just picked up some summer bulbs from Halifax Seed.  Two I’d never heard of but looked pretty enough to pop into my online shopping cart (they are doing local pickup orders) – Freesia and Zephyranthus.  And being the eternal optimist, I’m going to try Sweet Peas from seed which will hopefully tumble out of pots on the fence.

I took a video on November 9^th so I would know what I planted and what to weed in the spring.  It’s keeping me busy so far, but I can’t wait until I can show you a video of some things coming to life.     

My blog is a bit of an online journal/diary too so it’s as much for me as it is for you and it’s a bit windy I hope that helps you to understand.

This is my front door from July 2019. There are things to look forward to if you plant the seeds and tend your gardens, I promise.

Stay tuned.