Rain Rain, Go Away...

ITS SO COLD OUT!!! It actually snowed Saturday night! Thats right, SNOWED. It's supposed to be JUNE TOMORROW and it was SNOWING on the weekend!! GAAHHH!!! Now it has been raining, and raining, for about 3 weeks straight. Where are we... Vancouver? My house warming is on Saturday, and I was really hoping it was going to be hot and sunny, as if it were June! It will be June next month right?

Apparently, we're not even going to break into the 20's for the next 2 weeks... This is so depressing! I mean, don't get me wrong, it's awesome that the garden and lawn, and all the fields and crops are all getting their watering in, but... does it have to be THIS WEEKEND? *cries*

**EDIT** 8:53pm

So... after I wrote this blog, the sun came out and it's been really nice and sunny all evening! I went outside and took some pictures of all the new things in the garden, and it its sunny again tomorrow, I'm sure there will be EVEN MORE things to bloom and take pictures of!!!! *happy dance* Now, if only it stays this way until the end of the weekend!

Less than a week!

In less than a week, my guests from BC will be at my house, and in a week and 1 more day, we will be having our house warming! I'm so excited, and cant wait to see everyone! I still have a lot of stuff to do in the house, but most of the garden is taken care of. It has been raining, and cold out, and I have been working more hours now that I'm making the transition to full time, so I haven't had a lot to write about lately. But I promise, once the weather is nice again, I will have a lot more to talk about - garden wise!

New Rain Barrels!

Do you ever notice how you tend to sleep in when the sun isn't shining in the morning? Well... thats my reasoning for sleeping in this morning. When I woke up at a modest 10am, I walked the dog, and regretted not grabbing my jacket, brrrr! Yesterday and the day before I was battling the heat, and today its like the tundra outside! I haven't seen a break in cloud all day, and it feels like a mist is in the air - You know, when its not raining, but you still get wet...

Anywho, I was actually hoping for more of a downpour, since yesterday Mikey and I invested in some new rain barrels! Now, we have been shopping around for a while, checking out all the home and garden centers, looking for a barrel that wasn't too flashy, that was safe, simple to use, and reasonably priced. Well... if you too have been looking around, you probably have noticed that the typical price range is anywhere from $80-$150 for a good sized, screen and spigot included barrel.

Recently, I posted a video on my Facebook page on how to build your own rain barrel, for most likely a fraction of the cost. Well, we also checked out all of our local building and garden centers for food quality barrels or drums that we could turn into our own rain barrels. Well... no one had any. Actually, while I was calling UFA to see if they had just barrels or drums, the lady that answered informed me that they have rain barrels - already made with everything included, for $55. .. ... $55??!! Sounded a bit too good to be true, but Mikey and I decided to check them out anyway.

To say the least, they are AWESOME! They are large and made with thick black plastic, they are recyclable, and seem to be of very high quality. They include a lid with a screen built in, and a shut off valve with hose connection at the bottom. They don't have any fancy, cheap, or tacky design like fake woodgrain, and they hold about 45 gallons. I like the fact that they are black, so that the water can warm up a bit inside too. Here are some pictures:

This barrel is in the back yard, on the south west corner of the house. It's kind of in between the house and a tree, so when you're hanging out at the fire pit, you cant even see it! I know that it looks like the contraption we have under it looks kind of unstable, but it isn't! We tested it!

In the front yard, this barrel is at the North East corner of the house, along the side walkway. Ive noticed that this downspout usually gets a fair amount of water - mostly because it takes care of the entire front of the house! When you look at it from the front yard, it kind of hides behind the little bush that is growing there in front of it - in a year or two, I'm sure we wont even see it!

RED RUM.. I mean, red door... *ahem*

Ive been pretty sick these last few days, missing work, I have a nose that feels like sandpaper, and yet I am still trying to get stuff done off of my to do list. So, I thought it would be a good idea to take it easy, and try to finish a small painting project - the front door. The great thing about doing it while you're sick is that you can't smell the paint fumes! My sister Lindsay has been bugging me to paint my front door red for the longest time now, so I have decided to give in, and paint it red as per her request. But let me tell you, I will NEVER paint anything red again - even tho I still have to paint a feature wall in the Master bedroom red (this may be reconsidered).

First, you have to prime it with pink primer so that you don't have to do as many coats, but I still had to apply 2-3 coats of red paint just to get good coverage. THEN the door started bubbling... OMG, that better not be OIL PAINT under there!!! Silly me, I didn't test it, and just assumed it was latex. Once the primer dried and the first coat of paint went on, the bubbles went away - mostly... but I will probably still have to sand it down, prime it again, and repaint - but that will be after the house warming. *sigh* How tiring. But I did it for Lindsay, so it's worth it because it actually looks terrific. She is flying all the way from Vancouver to visit for the house warming, so I wanted it done.

Here are the before pictures, this first one is at the time of possession, and there is still wallpaper up: *shrugs*

Then, we took the wallpaper down:

Here you can see that I fixed up the door and trim where the paint was peeling away, and needed some touch ups:

The hot pink door (primer) which actually looks pretty sweet, LOL and the bubbles that came with it (click for full view):

Finally, the first, second, and third coat of red. It looks super dark in the pictures, but it's because of the sun shining in through the window:

Once the sun is on the other side of the house, I'll take another and try to get the true colour to show. I've just got a few touch ups to do here and there, and hopefully those bubbles don't come back to haunt me!

Getting dirt between the toes

Between my allergies, my new job, getting the house prepared, and my recent cold, I have surprisingly found some time to plant some stuff in the garden - but I'm no where near done. So far, I have planted some bleeding heart roots that I bought at Wal-mart. They were affordable, and I have always loved bleeding hearts. They were in both Mikey's and my yard while we were growing up. I also planted some wild Horseradish roots that Mikey dug up from a ditch near the farm. I've planted those in an isolated spot, that will be easy to till in the fall so that it doesn't take over our garden.

Mikey and I are still getting the corn plot ready by tilling in lots of peat and organic matter, because it is freshly turned. It is finally raked into a wide hill, and I am hoping to get the corn in either tomorrow, or Sunday. The secret to planting it this early in our climate, is actually a trick that my co-workers gave me. They cover the plot in black plastic for about 10 days while the seed germinates. This keeps the soil warm, and protects the seedlings from any frost while they emerge. I'm stealing this idea so that my corn can also have an early start.

Today I planted all of my carrot seeds, and then covered the rows with wet burlap. This helps protect the slow emerging seedling, and also contributes to minimizing moisture loss. I also planted a few miniature corn seeds in a row further away from my main corn plot. I'll cover these with black plastic tomorrow as well. I planted my green beans, pickling onions, green onions, beets, radishes, rutabagas, and... thats it!

Tomorrow I need to plant my potatoes, and my storage onions along with the corn... I was also thinking it wouldn't hurt to try and grow some new tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouse - because most of the transplants have wilted... I also have to start hardening off my other seedlings that I still have in the house, because they will all be planted outside at the end of the month (hopefully). I need my counter space back!! OH, and I have "ornamental" corn that I want to grow as fall decoration... the only problem is that they have to be grown at least 100 feet away from your eating corn. I'll have to find/make a suitable place for them.

I was thinking of getting some solar lights to hang up in the trees above where the hammock is going to hang. I think it will be romantic, and dreamy. *sigh* Tomorrow morning, Mikey and I are going to check out the Seba Beach Farmers Market. Ive never been! I figure it will give me a chance to see what people have to offer, that way if my greenhouse and gardening catch on, I can see what my competition is, and find out what no one else is offering! There is also a plant exchange here in Tomahawk at the end of the month. I've never been to one of those either, so hopefully I don't work, I'd like to check it out! Now it's time to take my allergy meds, and get to bed, I've got a busy day tomorrow!

What kind of Tulip is THIS?!?!

There are a few spots in my garden that have some great full growth of what looks like will be tulips and day lilies. Well, yesterday I noticed that one finally opened!! but it doesn't look like any kind of tulip I've ever seen! Take a look (click for full view):

Its a beautiful flower with bright solid orange petals, and a yellow center! Its so pretty, but I don't think it's a tulip! Its about a foot and a half tall, and has a blue-y green foliage like the rest of what I think are tulips, compared to the bright green foliage that you see in behind it in the photo - which I think will be day lilies. So, if anyone knows what they are, let me know!! There are some other things that have made their debut recently as well, here are a few:

OoOoOOooo, pretty blossoms on a tree outside of our kitchen window! This has been Bee central for the past week or so. Its kind of scary to walk past, all you hear is an orchestra of Bzzzzzz. Its super fragrant, and smells delicious. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but here is a picture of the entire thing:

I found this little guy on the North side of our house, a cute little fern of some type! I cant wait to see what he looks like when he is all unraveled! There are also a bunch of smaller ferns on the west side of our yard, in the rock garden, but he is the tallest so far. I should name him...

... how about ElFernZo?!?!

*EDIT*

Apparently I've been concentrating on looking down too much, and didn't even notice the beautiful pink bush in my front yard! *GASP!* How could I have missed this?!?! Not sure what kind of bush it is, but it's so amazing. The light pink flowers and deep pink buds are such a great contrast to all the green around it!

While I was in the yard just now, I also decided to check on a group of what I thought would be tulips, because they all had huge flower buds ready to bloom - and after the first one blooming and not being what I expected, I thought I would check.... Well, looks like they are "true" but small tulips! Bright orange like the other one, but with the black inside! they are very tiny, and super cute!!!

*SIGH* so pretty, I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings me!

R.I.P. seedlings...

The weather lately has been anywhere between +10 and +20 during the day, and can get down to zero at night (Celsius people). But, the greenhouse is reading +40! Oh Lord is it ever hot in there! I have my fan going full speed, and the doors open for readily airflow. Recently I transplanted my tomato and pepper sprouts into the pots I have set up in the greenhouse, but now I'm just a little worried that they are going to wilt (most already have) and then completely die. It's not looking promising tho.

Since its staying warm in there, I could probably throw some more seeds into the pots, and try again... Then I will just have to hope that it will stay warm enough later in the year to keep the plants alive and get some production. Worth a shot I suppose, because I'm not ready to give up yet. I just have to remember that it is only my first year, and I'm going to have these sort of learning experiences - But really, wouldn't you be sad to see the seedlings you started on your kitchen counter in March, and cared after, and took pictures of each day because they grew so fast, and changed so much (like your first child) suddenly die? I suppose it's my own fault for not hardening them off properly. Sometimes I just get super impatient, and don't want to walk them back and forth from the greenhouse every day for a week, and I just ended up pushing them into their fiery hell.

Sorry my little seedlings. I have failed you. Perhaps in the next life, I will come back as a tomato seed, and you will be a first time gardener like me, and you will get your victorious revenge. Till we meet again.

Fairy Rings

Have any of you ever heard of Fairy Rings? Well, if you haven't - like myself - once you have your own lawn to care for, you'll learn quickly! Once the grass in the yard started turning green, I noticed that there are a few distinct areas that were not growing in at all - I mean, there wasn't even grass to grow. Since the grass has been growing longer, I've noticed that the patches of no/dead grass are circular. I thought maybe the owners before us had a kiddie pool, or something on the lawn that could have killed off the grass? But... there is still grass growing in the middle of the circle... thats peculiar.

Then I remembered a neighbor telling us to make sure we bleach the bottom of our lawnmower so that we don't pass on any fungus or diseases from the last lawn it cut. He also mentioned that he has been battling Fairy Ring at his last 2 properties now... Well, what is this fairy ring? Mikey told me that he remembers a Fairy Ring in their yard when he was younger, and that a bunch of mushrooms popped up in a circle in the lawn... Crap, we have a few Fairy Rings.

I did some research online, and found out that there are a few different kinds of Fairy Rings, and depending on what kind you have, you can see symptoms of mushrooms, dead/withered grass, or dark green, lush grass, and they can form in arcs, or complete circles. Hidden in the soil is a complete network of threadlike fungus as it grows deep into the ground to find food. The fungus can deplete the soil of valuable nutrients causing the grass to whither, or produce hormones causing rapid luxurious grass growth.

There is also quite a bit of folklore surrounding the origin of Fairy Rings, which has a multitude of stories, and depending where you hear it from, can include elf's, fairies, witches, and even the devil. But I wont get into that right now, what I am most concerned about is.... what am I going to do about it? After some more research, it looks pretty hopeless. If I wanted to try and remove it entirely from our lawn, that would include digging up and removing all the "infected" soil - which could be more than a few feet deep - replacing the soil, and grass, and hoping it doesn't come back, but its not garunteed.

You could try fungicides, and nasty chemicals, but with no guarantee, is it worth it? I know for a fact that I have at least 3 Fairy Rings in my lawn (because I checked the soil and it has the white threads of fungus in it) and I am not about to dig it up, or pour chemicals on my lawn. But I did find something to help mask the problem, it's called the "poke and soak" method:

"Poke and Soak"

Using a soil probe or similiar tool, poke holes into the fairy ring, approx 2 inches apart until you have opened up a great many areas within the fairy ring. Once this is achieved, soak the ring with soapy water (dish soap is fine) . The soapy water acts as a wetting agent and makes the water "wetter" helping the moisture get deeper into the mycelium layer to get to the turf grass roots. If you can get enough moisture to the root structure of the grass it will continue to live and not die out creating a dead area. This method must be done on a rigid schedule in order to succeed, once a day for 4 to 6 weeks so as you can see it is somewhat labour intensive. Interestingly enough most of the so called "cures" you find at farmers markets and such will sell you a product that uses this method to incorporate their product into the affected area. You can do the same thing without shelling out your hard earned money.

Beacuse I dont have any grass at all around the circle, we did the poke and soak, minus the dish soap, and then sprinkled grass seed on top. Once that seed starts to sprout, we may continue with the soap. I'll have to make sure that its OK on new grass tho. Now, we just have to wait and see if it helps at all, wish me luck!

Here are two photos I took this morning of the 2 noticeable Fairy Rings (the other one is only a small arch):

Dadipark

I was perusing some Etsy listings not too long ago, and I came across this one which sparked interest in me, not for the product - but for the place. If you take a look at the 3rd picture in the listing, you'll notice the model leaning on some sort of merry-go-round. I had to ask where and what it was, because the curiosity would have killed me. Now, for as long as I can remember, I have always had a fascination with amusement parks and rides, and always day dream of having one of my own (NOT MJ style...). It takes me back to when I was younger, and going to the PNE and Playland every summer with my mom, visiting the local fair that always came through, and always imagining having my very own homemade roller coaster.

The Etsy seller advised me that the picture was taken in an old abandoned amusement park called Dadipark, in Dadizele, West Vlaanderen, Belgium. She told me that the park has been closed for almost 10 years, and is taken over by trees, and bushes and is very spooky - definitely an attraction in itself! My curiosity grew even more, and I had to do some research. It seems that you can plop "Dadipark" into any search engine, and I promise you will get hundreds of different kind of results, such as peoples own personal experiences, memories, (tons of) photos, and videos.

From what I've been able to find out, the park was opened in 1949 and was created to be an affordable attraction, or "self" amusement park, meaning all of the rides were mechanical and are propelled by the children. In the peak of its operation, the park saw more that 1 million visitors in a year!

Some time between 2000 and 2002, a guest lost their arm on a ride, being the worst accident case the park had ever seen. Naturally, popularity dropped, and the park received numerous complaints about safety. Not to long after, the park was shut down in 2003 for a year of renovations, but apparently the maintenance cost became too great, and the park never re-opened. Since, several companies have shown promising interest in buying the park, including an 80K investment to turn it into a modern amusement park, with shopping malls, arenas and event centers, but it seems none of these plans have ever followed through.

You can find the parks archived website here. There is also a pretty amazing set of photos here, and this video isn't in English, but you get a cool idea of what its like there. Here is a picture of Dedipark in it's glory days:

Mothers Day!

There are two very special women in my life that have been a great mom on call since I don't have any connection with my own. So, Happy Mothers Day to them, without you, I don't know where I would be nowadays! Also, I've noticed that since I've hit my twenties, it seems all of my girlfriends are having babies, so Happy Mothers Day to all the newer moms too!

My allergies are just horrific today, I woke up countless times last night to blow my nose, scratch my burning hot eyes, and just gasp for air because my nose is so plugged up. Mikey is supposed to go to help out at the Tomahawk Mothers Day Pancake breakfast this morning, but I don't think I will be able to go with him.. I feel like I have an outright cold! I mean, really. Who wants to sit and enjoy their pancakes next to someone who keeps sniffling, blowing their nose, coughing up phlegm, rubbing their red bloodshot eyes... Perhaps he can bring me back some pancakes instead!

Or maybe Colt and Rocksteady can whip me up some strawberry waffles.... unlikely, but I can wish, can't I?

Insane in the Membrane

Someone once said: "Insanity is repeating the same action over and over expecting different results." ... ... That sounds a lot like gardening! Ha ha, I don't take this saying with any seriousness, but if it were true, I'd be a loon in no time! (Or maybe I already am..) Today I did a lot of work in the garden, and I know for a fact that next year I will be doing the exact same thing, with different results I'm sure.

Yesterday I wrote out a huge to do list for the house and garden before our housewarming at the beginning of June! When I woke up this morning, I finished replacing the doorknobs that I started yesterday, then for the next few hours I worked outside. I started by removing anything that was dead in the garden. I removed debris like pine cones, broken branches, leaves, I cut out dead flowers, plants, tree limbs, and I also pulled some weeds.

I filled my wheelbarrow about 5 times with cuttings, and I'm sure there is more that I missed or just couldn't get to. It feels like there is still so much to do! (I'v only knocked about 2.5 things off of the list) I've noticed some newer stuff emerging in the garden, and some of the smaller trees are starting to bloom! The leaves on the larger trees in the yard are starting to unfold too. Oh, and my Rhubarb is growing like crazy! I even found a second Rhubarb plant in amongst some bushes. I picked out the perfect spot for our hammock, its not in the sun, and it is secluded from our neighbor, but also has a view to the open field behind us. This means on a hot and sunny day, I can lay there in the cool shade and relax/nap after a hard days work in the garden.

You know, it's crazy what a difference something simple like raking your lawn can do for your yards appearance! I was in behind the house where I am hoping to put our fire pit, and the entire area is lined by pine trees. But you see, a handful of pine trees = millions of pine cones! This specific piece of yard doesn't have a lot of grass (another reason why I picked it for the fire pit) but it just looked so forgotten and messy. The solution? I raked up all the pine cones and broken branches, and whatever else was hiding down there. It looks a million times better!

I also had to look up the fire and burning bylaws for our area, which advised me that the fire pit needs to be 3m away from anything combustible (house, trees, etc), needs to be made out of a thick metal, and needs to have a grate. That is perfect, because I made a fire pit at the farm while we were living there out of an old barrel that was already cut in half, and we found a metal grate to place on top! We'll just grab it from the farm and Viola! Perfect sized, law abiding fire pit!

Now it's almost dinner time, and I am starving! Maybe I'll pull something out for the BBQ! ... Wait a minute... doesn't everyone try to make dinner every night, and hope for different results? I know I sure do. Maybe we're all Insane!

Allergies and Business Cards!

Each day that goes by, my allergies seem to be getting worse, stronger, and taking over more of my face! I never had seasonal allergies before last year, and when I got them for the first time, I thought I was just sick - I may as well be! My eyes were swollen, red, watering, and extremely itchy and irritated. My nose ran constantly, and all I wanted to do was sleep. I never once thought it was allergies until someone suggested it to me, and I tried some antihistamines. Viola! I was feeling much better, and everything cleared up for a few hours!

It didn't seem to last for more than a month last year, but since May has rolled around, it's definite that my spring time allergies are back! Bring on the Tissue!! As much as I don't like to rely on medication to make me feel better, I feel that I can't go 5 seconds without blowing my nose or scratching my eyeballs out unless I've taken an allergy pill. But maybe about a month or 2 ago, I read somewhere that you can take a tablespoon of local honey every morning to subdue your spring time allergy symptoms - naturally. I don't know if this is true, but it only makes sense in my mind. I'm still on the hunt for some local honey, and may not know if it really works until next year.

Yesterday was a nice day for me, although it was cloudy, cold and windy. I still went outside, touque and all, and raked the garden into rows. It was actually nice, because I could work up a sweat, then stand there in the cold breeze until I cooled down again. LOL! Only in Canada will you ever see someone gardening in a touque. Great things came in the mail yesterday too! I finally received my 50 free Moo business cards! Etsy and Moo teamed up with a limited time offer of free business cards - you only had to pay the shipping ($6) - as long as they could put their info on the front of the card! Here is what they look like (I blacked out the codes and some info):

The great thing about these cards is that you can have them completely customized with your artwork, logo, motto or quotes, and every card can be entirely different! How awesome is that!! You can also choose from other artists designs if you don't have any yourself. I personally didn't know what to use for my design, so I used Moo's text generator, and wrote out some words that I think of when I'm gardening (Love, Live, Give, Grow, Sow) and made each card a different colour! You even get to choose the type of paper you want - naturally I opted out for the "green" card which is 100% recycled and recyclable, has a natural feel and still looks fantastic!

All of my business info is on the back, and the print quality is amazing - especially for recycled paper! Because my cards were free, there is a small band along the bottom on the front that shows the Etsy and Moo logo, but also offers the business card recipient a coupon code to save 10% off of their first order of custom business cards (they print more than just business cards, btw). So if you are in the market for some new, unique and high quality business cards, let me know and I'll give you my card so you can save! I highly recommend their product - not to mention, shipping was crazy fast (I ordered the last week of April)!

Brrrrr!!

I went to bed last night to the trickle of rain outside, and woke up this morning to crazy wind and blowing snow! Currently the weather is about 0 degrees. By the end of the week, it is supposed to be sunny and warm, and this brief snow storm will only make everyone more appreciative of the lovely greenery that will pop out after it melts!

Mikey took some pictures this morning at 6am when the snow was still falling heavily (click on photo for full view):

This is what it looked like after I walked the dog this morning:

It's really not that bad, but I think I should cut my bloomed Daffodils and put them in a vase inside before they whither and die. So much for working in the garden today, with the wind chill, it feels like -10! At least now I can concentrate on getting the house cleaned and tidied in preparation for the house warming!

These Days Fly By!

Lots of work going on in the garden these past few days! Mikey has been finishing up the last of the tilling, and removing large rocks from the garden. I have been raking all the soil into raised beds, I've been pruning trees, clearing dead brush, and weeding. Its hard work, and it seems we only do an hour or two of work a day, but it is slowly getting done! The garden and yard look better and better everyday! Trees are starting to bloom, dandelions are popping up everywhere (eeek!), and the grass is going to need a cut soon.

By the end of this week, my cold loving veggies are going to be planted. Those include: Potatoes, Rutabagas (early crop), Carrots, Onions, Radishes, Beets, Garlic, and Horseradish (got a couple pieces of wild horseradish from the farm). These veggies can withstand a frost or two, and the carrots will be covered with plastic so that they stay warm and protected because they have such a long germination period. I'll have to find a specific spot for the horseradish so that we can till it all up after we have picked it all at the end of the season - it's super invasive if you don't.

We've had some great moist weather, with lots of overcast so that the sun doesn't dry up all the rain. I'v already seen some bees, wasps, caterpillars, and big spiders out and about - along with mosquito's... Time to stock up on Eco-Friendly bug spray! Speaking of bugs, there have also been a lot of birds! Some birds that have come back from their winter migration (that I have actually SEEN) are:

Canada Goose

Snow Goose

American Crow

Black Billed Magpie

Mountain Blue Bird

American Robin

Red-Winged Blackbird

Of course there are more, but these are the only ones I've seen since spring time, and have been able to identify. Some that I have seen over winter are:

Blue Jay

Black Capped Chickadee

Boreal Chickadee

Common Raven

Common Redpoll

There will be more to come and go once the season and weather changes. It's exciting for me to try and keep track of the birds that visit because I never really found it interesting before. When you live in the city during the winter, all you see are Crows, Seagulls, Pigeons (doves), and Magpies. They go through your trash and wake you up early in the morning, and then you start to think of them as a bother.

During the winter in the country, you see the small Chickadees come and eat the seeds from spent flowers and trees, I never even knew Redpolls existed, Blue Jays are everywhere, there were even woodpeckers - but there are so many different kinds, that I didn't get a chance to distinguish what kind actually visited. our yard has a few bird feeders, so its exciting to see who comes and visits in the winter, and then find out who comes by in the spring, etc, etc.

Wow, I can hardly believe its already May! In about a month we are having our house warming, and I feel that there is still so much to do in preparation for the party (especially painting). I guess time really does fly by when you're having fun!