Welcome July!

July is finally here, and we had FROST the morning of Canada Day! My beans and corn got a little whithered, but all in all they seem to be OK. During the days, it gets hot and sunny, then come evening, the dark clouds roll in from the west, and we get some thunder and lightening, strong winds, and normally quite a bit of rain. I don't mind really, because it's watering the garden, and any flowers that get blow over, I cut and bring in the house. Currently, it seems the garden is blooming like crazy, and I have tons of photos of everything -but I'll just share the exciting ones! Earlier in the spring, I planted 5 bleeding heart roots, and 4 of them actually grew! This one is already putting out little blooms:

There are tons of peonies in the garden, and they are all different colours and sizes! Some are small and deep pink, or huge and light pink, and white! They are right next to the raspberry bushes and there isn't a whole lot of room to walk around them... so I would prefer to move them, if I can. I also have a friend that actually wants to take some for her garden, so I'll have to look up how to divide peonies. If its anything like rhubarb, I'm set!

My friend Kerri gave Mikey and I some cute house warming gifts last month, and these planters were some of them! They are so funny and adorable! I was trying to think of something I could plant in them that could double as a hair style! A week or so ago I found a zip-lock back downstairs that had some leftover cat grass in it from the winter, how perfect I thought! When the grass first started growing, it looked like they had buzz cuts, now they have nice flowing mops!

The Tiger Lilies have started to bloom too! They are a beautiful deep dark orange!! So vibrant, and beautiful, I love them! There are some more Lily plants around the yard that are also getting ready to bloom!

In the Greenhouse, the Tomatoes are starting to bloom as well, but some of the leaves are also starting to whither! One day when I was at work last week, it got quite hot out, and I wasn't here to open the door for some air ventilation! usually on a sunny day, temperature get to 40-50+ degrees Celsius! I do constantly have the fans going in there, but I guess it wasn't enough that day. Either way, they are still growing like crazy, and look like they are doing fantastic!

Well, that's all the really exciting stuff for me, I do have lots of more photos online... If these links don't work, please leave me a comment, and I'll see if I can make them work for you!

Garden Photos Part 1

Garden Photos Part 2

Greenhouse Photos

Vegetable Garden Photos

House Plant Photos

Garden Photos

I meant to post a link to my facebook album with all of the garden photos in it... so HERE IT IS! Sorry for the delay! If you can't view it, please leave me a comment.

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!

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!

Starting Seeds!

You know, I started this blog so that I could tell you all about my gardening experiences, and I haven't really written about that yet! Today I planted some new seeds, and remembered that I should write about it! Perhaps I should go through everything that I have grown so far!

Avocados:

Apparently you can save avocado seeds, suspend them in water so they will crack open, and form a root and sprout! I thought that was such a cool idea, so I saved 2 seeds, and started trying. I started them at the beginning of March, but nothing has happened so far, (even tho it can take a few months) but then a friend of mine advised me that it might not be safe to have an avocado plant in my house. I did some research and found that the seed, plant and leaves can be deathly toxic to animals! (and we all know how cats - and some dogs - love to chew on our house plants) So, I decided to compost them.

Pineapples:

If you chop off the top of the pineapple and save the crown, you can apparently grow that as well! I saved 2 crowns and tried to allow them to produce roots by suspending them in a glass of water. There were some really super small roots that had formed - but didn't get long enough before the plant started to rot, and smell extremely gross! I have composted them since, and will try again next time I buy a pineapple.

Seeds started indoors in the middle of March:

Sunberries, Onions (early crop), Ground Cherries, Celery, Petunias, Sweet Peppers, Hot Peppers, Catnip, Strawberries, Tomatoes.

About 7 days after sowing, my Tomatoes, Petunias and Onions started to sprout. 11 days later, Celery and Strawberries sprouted. It took 13 days for the Peppers to come up, and 14 for the Ground Cherries. 18 days for the Sunberries, and the Catnip... never germinated.

Seeds started indoors in the middle of April:

Lettuce, Pumpkins, Watermelons, Cantaloupe, Catnip (again), Squash, Brussels Sprouts, Cucumber, Cabbage, Cauliflower, and Broccoli!

I have transferred my Tomatoes into coir pots because they all have 2 true leaves forming now. Soon I will transplant them into the greenhouse. I also planted some seeds from a lemon - just for kicks. If they grow, they grow. If they don't, no biggie. It's not like I'm expecting to get fruit from them, I would just like to see if I could actually grow them, and maybe keep them as a nice pruned house plant!

Tomatoes in their new coir pots

A friend of mine gave me some Amaryllis Flower bulbs that came in a kit. They have a pot and soil already, all you have to do is water it. I put them out and watered them on the 12th, and they are already starting to put out green sprouts. And, I have also noticed some flowers blooming in my garden! I have no idea what kind they are, but they are small and cute!

There are some more flowers almost ready to bloom on the left!