I always say there's no beginning or end to the year for a gardener! Or the garden. It's just all part of the neverending cycle. But spring is indeed a special time of the year because it brings with it new life and new hope. I'm very happy to be alive, and excited to have spring ahead of me!
One of the best parts about spring at a garden you've been at for a while is the bulbs! I've got crocuses along the front of the house already blooming, and here in the back yard you can see a few of the roughly one hundred garlic plants I put down in the fall.
It's great to see green shoots already up, the moment you first step into the garden in spring! Now I see the appeal to bulb plants. My grandparents were big on bulbs and I think they were on to something.
Here's my main backyard garden patch right now:
Doesn't look like much, but keep in mind, it's still officially winter. Gardening doesn't really begin until May in this part of Canada. But I do intend to get some seedlings started indoors very soon, and I'll do a post about it then. Also, I plan to have 4 large canna-trees growing in there by mid summer - I will be posting about that on Weedcash / canna-curate / Hive soon.
For now, the garden rests. The soil is warming, the soggy old leaves are rotting and releasing their nutrients, the worms are coming alive, and the garlic is coming up along the fence. Spring is underway!
The peas are in!
It feels great to have a row of peas in the ground. I put them along the shed again. Notice the snow shovel at the very right of the picture! It is being put away after many uses this winter, and replaced by gardening equipment.
The peas are covered in a layer of worm castings and compost. I used seeds I took from 2020's crop, and put a couple in water inside to see how they do. If I don't see any action in a couple weeks I'll sow again, this time with 2021's seeds. It's good to have options. I love heirloom gardening (plants that give seeds with natural genetics you can grow again and again).
The 2020 crop fed my son when he was just starting on solid foods. This year, I'll have a little girl starting on solid foods in a few months. If we get a proper spring this year (unlike last year) I'll have peas galore for her!
Peas are an underrated crop. They produce very high nutrients, including vitamins and proteins, in a short time with relatively little effort.
It's so good to be back in the garden!
Happy planting, to everybody in the Northern hemisphere : ))
DRutter
