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I am still a few weeks before before the last frost of the year and planting my veggie garden. As you will see, I have PLENTY of work to do but there are spring signs of life to share.
This first edition, I am tackling a big project, surveying the yard for the damage winter has done and enjoying the first signs of spring.
First Things First
This is the jungle that we grew last year. This year promises to be even better as we have felled that tree for more sun in the garden, and are sharing our garden with another grower this year.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet. This is the disaster that the winter and a couple rounds of lumberjacking has left us. Busted up garden boxes in need of repair, Logs that need to be cut up and removed, patchy grass that has yet to grow in and plenty of winter waste to remove. Most of that happens on Mother's Day which is this coming weekend. Plenty of work to do.
Early Blooms
One thing I love is the variety of brave early blooms that pop up in my yard every spring. Many of them weeds (or more favourably refered to as native plants) and an assortment of perennials that lead the way every year.
While many of them were planted before I arrived, there are a few I have added and worked on through my years here. One of them is the hostas I planted last year. I love these plants for how lush and green they are with little maintenance. They are so hearty that they have to be pruned from many gardens and I search out the ones discarded on the curb every spring here. Hope to find a nice harvest as I have some ground to cover still. These ones are sprouts from last year's finds.
Speaking of strawberries, I have a wonderful little raised bed dedicated to them. I started with a handful of plants purchased at the nursery, that come back every year a little thinner. So, I purchase a handful once they grow and place them in the empty spots. This year, I will research how I can harvest some of the berries for seeds, figure out when to plant them, and see if I can avoid buying any more. Nice to see some popping up after a long savage winter.
We cut the raspberries back to 1-foot canes in the autumn and they are growing back nicely. You have to control their spread as they end up dominating and I have a bunch of lilies, mint and other ground cover that has to grow here too. Seems like they produce a good amount of berries every couple years so I wonder how they will do this year.
Flowers for the Pollinators
One of the gifts left over from the last owner of this property are the daffodils. The flowers come up early but don't last too long but leave some nice green throughout the summer.
Another nice member of the front garden bed are the tulips that fight through the rest of the green each spring. These ones are a little slow to pop because of the shade from the overhang but they should be open this week with a couple more warm days.
We planted a few more tulip varieties in the fall when you are supposed to. The rabbits and squirrels sure did a number on them in the spring digging them up and munching on the green sprouts. Still, these Black Parrot tulips have made a nice debut!
The pink & white ones are also popping and I hope they come up again next year.
The garden beds are not producing the only flowers. These little purple beauties are springing up all over the lawn and I wish they would choke out the useless ornamental grass. I try not to mow in May to the chagrin of some of the people along my street. Still the early pollinators are more important to me than the opinion of neighbours.
I can't tell whether this is a beach or Chinese plum tree. Either way, is is nasty with the thorns, needs to be pruned yearly, and is covered in flowers at the start of every season. If I do have to mow the dandelions off my grass in May, at least I know there are hundreds of flowers for the bees to snack on otherwise.
Another flowering tree is the lilacs at the side of the house. They too decide each year whether or not they will flower very much and I hope this is an on year as they fill the house with a nice fragrance when the windows are open.
So much work to do...
Makes my head hurt to look at all that has to be done to get the yard and garden ready. That is only laziness speaking as a few hours of hard labour is all it really takes.
The butterfly garden will take a coupel of those as I go to war with the vines and clean out all the dead stuff.
Even the shed has been haphazardly jammed with shit by the rest of the family when it is me who has to clean it all out. The little guy is very entertained by the squirrels nest I will be removing this weekend. Deck chairs will be all set up and the outdoor lounge will have a new umbrella this year.
We have a bit of a head start on seedlings in our little greenhouse. I usually end up buying $100 worth of seedlings from the nursery but we work every year to make that less with the seeds we harvest and grow ourselves.
Hopefully this little dood will help out with the garden care this year while I buckle down to get everything rebuilt, cleaned out, soil prepared and veggies planted. Here's to the best garden yet!
Cheers to all the Hive Gardeners wrapping up their season or just starting on their gardens like me.
This is the first chapter of the 7th season of the Pickleman Family Garden. We have a long way to go but it is good work with fantastic results.
Mom started me along my path of growing stuff when I was a kid. Motivated by so many blockchain blogging gardeners, I figured I would plant and share and learn as I reclaim as much grass space as I can. It has turned out to be a fruitful experience and I hope to inspire you to sow and grow no matter what your location or experience level is.
Wherever you are...JUST GROW!