Looking forward to Spring

I don't know about you, but every January I start to long for spring.

 On Boxing Day I'm in a fever of impatience, wanting my tree down right now, loading empty laundry baskets with anything Christmasy, ready to make a clean sweep.

 Master Gardener or not, I deliberately stop watering my poinsettias so I can throw them away as quickly as possible without guilt. Which I can. Because they're dead. Even though I killed them. On purpose. (Yes indeed. That's how my brain works.)

By New Years Day my house is usually bare of seasonal decor. I love to decorate for the seasons and somehow I never seem to do 'winter'. I go from fall to Christmas, skip winter altogether and go straight to spring.

The ultimate denial.

By the end of January I'm chomping at the bit, aching for the sight of fresh flowers. When I can't stand it for even one more day, I'll treat myself to an inexpensive bundle of flowers, which I will spread out into an assortment of tiny vases so there will be something pretty all over the house.

 Then it's February and time for the grocery store primulas. I love to work them into a spring vignette. Because, if I still lived in B.C., it would be spring . . . at least, that's what my sister Lisa tells me when I'm moaning about another winter snowstorm and she assures me that the snowdrops are already poking their heads up everywhere she looks . . .

 She's a mean one alright . . .  ;D

 By late February (and sometimes even before) the tulips/daffodils I'd forced back in the fall start to bloom and it's just magical. There is nothing like enjoying the blooms of your own tulips and daffodils. I'm not sure why I find them so much more satisfying than those I buy at the store, but they are.

 March is hardcore seeding. I could watch those seedlings pop up all day long if I didn't have to keep us in clean underwear and toilet paper . . .

 

In April, seedlings get transplanted into bigger pots and moved into the greenhouse. Oh the thrill of a greenhouse in April.

Ah spring, it's almost as fun to anticipate as it is to live it.

Almost . . . 

Looking Forward to Spring.

I don't know about you, but not long after Christmas the itch for spring sets in. I enjoy the somewhat slower pace that comes with a Canadian winter (when it gets dark by 4:30 or 5:00 o'clock in the evening, all I really want to do is read a good book) but the gardener in me starts getting restless not long after the winter solstice.

With so many new hobbies and projects in the works this year, I had decided I would keep my gardening efforts very low key. I dismantled the shelves in the greenhouse and I'm still in the process of turning it into a tiny, natural light studio where I can take still life and product photography images all year. (My house doesn't get a lot of light in the winter.) I took the lights off of my seedling shelves and filled them with props . . .

In short  . . . I was sensible.

What I forgot in all this, was the fact that . . . well   . . . I'm not all that sensible when it comes to doing the things I love, especially when life is in need of a little extra joy.

I had a challenging day yesterday. The withdrawal symptoms from the medication I've been on for the lingering nerve pain after my bout with shingles in October aren't great. I decided it was time to do something fun. And today that meant something that would allow me to look forward to spring . . . and gardening.

I had a bag of tulip bulbs I had forgotten about down in my cold room and I knew just what to do. Thankfully, I hadn't gotten so sensible that I had purged all my gardening things. I made a quick trip the garden shed for my planting tray and some 6" pots, the kitchen for coffee filters and the greenhouse for a small bag of potting soil.

I was going to force my tulips, which would give me blooms inside long before I'd see any outside.

I'm late with this. I really should have done it in October sometime but, I had shingles, it was the last thing on my mind, so you work with what you have. Even though the bulbs aren't in top shape they are still firm and have begun to grow . . .

Time to garden!

 

There is nothing like playing in the dirt and imagining how pretty these are going to look to cheer me up!

Once the pots have been thouroghly watered and let sit over night, they will go into a dark, cool place until green starts poking up. Then they come out and go onto a sunny cool ledge. In this case the windowsill in Henry's man cave . . .

Shhhh . . . don't tell him!

The bonus to forcing this many pots of bulbs is that I can give them away as gifts. I get just as much joy giving them away, as I do keeping them.

What do you like to do to cheer yourself up when you feel a little 'blue'?

An Amaryllis Blooms

My Aunty Nancy had asked me to share the progress of my amaryllis as it bloomed so I thought I'd make a little movie to show you all the process from start to finish.

I think it's a lovely way to start a chilly winter's day.

Enjoy.

Planning For Early Spring. . . By Forcing Bulbs Indoors

On the Saturday before surgery Nicole came over and we spent a couple of hours planting a variety of bulbs in pots.(Okay we probably spent less than an hour actually planting and the rest of the time chatting but hey, that's what good friends do!)

There is nothing like pulling a pot of daffodils or tulips from the cold room in late winter, placing them in front of a cool basement window and waiting for the day they begin to bloom and they are finally ready to move upstairs, beautifying a warm and cozy home while the snow is still flying outside.

I do it every year and every year it is just as thrilling as the year before. . .

 Every year it's a leap of faith  and that's something that's more important than ever this year. . .

There's Always Something New To Learn

Two seasons ago I harvested leeks from the garden as late as I dared and left a few in the ground to see just how long they would last once we started getting serious frost. I also put a bunch down in the cold room in a pile on bubble wrap and then covered the top of the pile with bubble wrap as well.
I harvested leeks from the garden until November some time and the leeks in the cold room lasted until early January. (more or less. I still had to peel quite a few layers from the leeks before I could use them .)
This past season I didn't bother leaving any in the ground but rather dug them all up and 'planted' them in a pot of dampened potting soil and stored them in the cold room.
They held on much better than they had on the plastic and I was thrilled as we entered February and they still looked great.
Until. . .
One day about a week and a half ago and discovered the leeks just covered in a fuzzy mold!

Ugghh.


Of course the big problem with that, was the fact that mold is one of my big asthma triggers.
I took a deep breath, grabbed the pot and rushed it upstairs and out the door.
As I let my breath out and put the pot on the driveway I took a closer look at the leeks and was astonished to see this. . .

Aphids!
It never fails to amaze me how quickly bugs can multiply.
A week before I had seen nothing and now. . .
An infestation!

Well, they still lasted nearly a month longer than the year before and I have learned something new again.
Even in storage you have to keep a close eye on your produce. 
Nothing lasts forever.

And We Have. . . .

Germination!!!

Whoo Hoo!
Another excellent cure for the winter blues.
And considering the estimated 10 centimeters of snow headed our way this weekend, a desperately needed one!
(Still working on the book pile though.)

African Violets. . . Solace On A Snowy Spring Morning

Peering out of the dining room window early this morning, I sighed as I beheld yet another snowy start to my day.
It's spring. . .
In name only.
But wait!
What's this I see?

African violets

My African violets are finally blooming!

Solace for my flower starved soul.

Fresh Homegrown Leeks At The End Of January!

I've been trying a few veggie storage experiments.
Check this out!

Cool Hey?

Snow

The snow is blowing down on a slant.
Large fluffy flakes are piling up on the bird bath.
Sedum peek from under their little snow caps.
And it's cold.
Very cold!
You would think I would be moping around the house just waiting for spring, filled with gloom at the thought of many more winter days ahead.
And yet, you would be wrong.
I know, I'm surprising myself!
I have been immersing myself in all things gardening.
Books, magazines, blogs, DVDs, the works!
I've been inspired. It has given me a few project ideas, one of them big.
I promised Henry there would be no more projects for a while but I just can't help myself.
After all. . .
Projects are the spice of life!
Look on the bright side Honey,
most of theses projects I can do by myself. . .

A New Year

The sun is shining, and it's still very cold on this first day of 2009.

Henry and I spent New Year's Eve with a group of friends at Bart and Jurrina's home in the country.

I almost missed it due to some serious crankiness and an unwillingness to brave the cold.
The desire to be a good friend won out however and a good time was had by all

Bart and Henry B. put on a great fireworks show, which, aside from that one rogue firework which decided to shoot itself at the crowd rather than above us, was very well executed.

The kids who attended spent lots of time on the frozen pond skating and playing hockey. (Miles had gone the extra mile and strung Christmas lights around the entire pond.)
A few of the kids had stayed out just a little too long and had to deal with some painful thawing, but thankfully no one got as far as frostbite.

Jurrina, Lorretta and I also decided to have a seed party again this year which we will hold at my house.
Seed parties are always great fun. Everyone brings something to munch on and any seeds that they might like to trade. If someone doesn't have seeds to trade we don't mind. There are always lots to go around. This year I saved lots of sweet pea, poppy, and iris seeds. And of course there are all those seeds I bought. . .

We all chat and peruse the new seed catalogues so we can make one order and save the extra shipping fees.
Some people come just to chat gardening with other like minded women.(Or men.)
We also make cute little seed envelopes so everyone can take home the seeds they want.
The year I took the Master Gardener's course they let me borrow the box of old seeds to give us the chance to try something a little different, which was very fun.

I choose to grow something whose name I had never heard before. I searched for information but I turned up nothing.
I was sure I was growing some very exotic plant that would have all my gardening friends green with envy!
Until it developed it's first set of true leaves. I thought they looked rather familiar but still couldn't figure out where I had seen those leaves before.
Jurrina dropped by for a visit shortly after and checked the plant out.
"Oh I know what that is," she informs me airily.
"You're growing celery!"
Ack!!

The seed party will be on Friday January 16Th at 7:30pm.
If you are in my neighbourhood, drop by and join us for some fun!
You could always go home with some celery seed of you're own.

Holidays

It's Tuesday and Henry, Jesse and Jada have left to visit our friend Russ out at his cabin. They may sleep over tonight. That leaves Holly at home packing for her move to the coldest city in Canada.

She leaves early tomorrow morning.

Morgan is driving her to the airport as it has become 'tradition' for him to see her off.

They have spent a lot of time together in the past year and he's really going to miss her.

So.Am.I.

So. To distract myself and be productive at the same time I'm going to spend the rest of my week off scrubbing the house from top to bottom, baking for the freezer and collecting new recipes for quick dinners.

This is to help me stay organized as I plunge into a new gardening season.

This past year I did not garden the way I had hoped.

The loss of my little portable greenhouse and extra work during the spring season meant that most of the plants I had grown from seed were lost. Mind you, the extra work also meant I had extra money to put towards a new permanent greenhouse. A good trade off I think!

Renovating also took up a lot of time.

This year I hope to learn more about gardening on the prairies as I look for more specific garden information on that topic.

I've already found some great resources.

Olds College has an entire Hort week every July that sounds fascinating. I may not get there this year but. . .

One of these years. . .

Can you imagine an entire week devoted to something you are passionate about?!

In the meantime, I hope to rejoin the Horticultural society, visit as many gardens as possible, read everything I can get my hands on, and grow things.

I want to grow as many things as I possibly can.

To all of you. . .

I wish you a blessed Happy New Year, and the opportunity to do something you're passionate about.

See you next year!

A sneak peek

It's Saturday afternoon and I have done everything but bake and decorate!

It's been an enjoyable day none the less.

Little Women (the 1994 version) was on late last night and I didn't get to bed until one in the morning.

I slept in until 8:45, had a leisurely breakfast, did a little tidying, went out for lunch with Morgan, did a little shopping together and then brought Jesse to the Credit Union to do some banking.

The Credit Union is a great place to go as it is right beside one of my favorite garden centers.

Every time I visit I'm inspired and I rarely leave without at least a little something. (Today was no exception)

I'm going to give you a quick sneak peak today and then feature them on Monday's post.

As a matter of fact, you will be seeing images from Wellington Garden Centre all through the Christmas season.

You wouldn't believe how many pictures I took and those were just the tip of the iceberg!

I hope to take you on a tour again in the spring.

Enjoy your sneak peak!

One Last Garden Chore

Some of you maybe thinking my garden is covered in snow. While we did have two lovely snowfalls, neither lasted, as we have had above average temperatures for most of November.

Last week I realized that I hadn't done anything to protect my evergreens from the drying prairie winds.

The cedars in my back garden don't really need extra care as they are protected by the fence from most of the wind. Of course the other problem we face in overwintering cedars is our bright winter sun. Cedars still transpire from their foliage when warmed by the sun but if the roots are frozen solid they have no way to bring moisture back up to the foliage to replace what was lost.

Some one can think that their cedar has made it through the winter only to find it turning brown and dying as spring arrives. Cedar growers from British Columbia who enjoy optimum growth conditions (wet,wet,wet) just love us crazy Albertans for trying, year after year, to grow cedars where cedars were not meant to be!

My back garden is shaded all winter as the sun does not come high enough to shine over the garages. (Ours and our neighbour's)

The front garden, on the other hand is the worst possible place to plant a cedar.

In general, I am all about the right plant for the right place. I only plant hardy roses,trees and shrubs that are well suited for our zone. If I'm going to experiment it's usually with perennials as the cost is much lower, especially when I start them from seed.

However, I was born and raised in B.C.'s Frazer Valley where people plant cedars instead of building fences.

Sometimes I get homesick so. . .

When I was able to buy a topiary cedar from Costco for cheap,(and I mean cheap!) I planted it in a pot and put it on the front porch. I knew it wouldn't survive the winter in a pot so I told myself the back garden had no room and planted it in the front, right where I had always longed for an evergreen.

Wrapping in burlap can be self defeating as the cedar can still heat up if the burlap is touching the foliage, so I tried something different. I sprayed it with an anti desiccant.

It actually worked!

This year I found three little Alberta Spruces languishing in a Canadian Tire garden center. As soon as they saw me they begged me to take them home!

What could I do? They had been marked down from $40 to $10 a piece! Of course, they hate the wind and sun even more than cedars and where did I put them?

In the sunny, windy front garden.

So with 25 minutes before I had to leave for school one afternoon I decided it was time.

First of course I had to find the anti desiccant.

In the garden shed? No.

Then where on earth?. . .

Oh right! I put it in the garden room. Found it.

I used 15 of the 25 minutes to figure out just how much 'Cloud Cover' I needed to mix with the water in my sprayer. (1:10)

I hate ratios! I hate math.

I didn't believe my teachers when they told me I would need it some day.

Who knew they were right?

I ended up using my favorite measuring cup for the job. (It's still out in the greenhouse.)

In the end I got the job done with a minute to spare.

Gardening. It's such a relaxing past time. . .

Ooohhh, look what came in the mail just as I was ready to leave.

Now reading about gardening.

That is relaxing.

I've got flowers!

Here's a peek at what is bloomimg under my lights. . .