Gardening Adventures from the North...

First plant babies of the year...

2009-02-24T22:45:00.000-08:00

My first seeds have sprouted - the Candytuft - the package said 10-15 days for germination, and it only took 3. I chose Candytuft because they are drought tolerant, and grow well in less than ideal soil conditions. I plan to put them around the rocks in my perennial gardens which are under fairly large trees that suck up all the water around. They also have sentimental value to me because my mom has them in her garden, and they have always been one of her favourites...so hopefully now I will have a garden full!!

I also started my Black Pansies - but no germination yet, and the Lupines will go in tomorrow.

Orchid Love

2009-02-15T10:14:00.000-08:00

I went out of my way this year to make sure my husband was not going to spend a ridiculous amount of money on roses again this year. I told him that any type of plant that grows in dirt, and is still alive when you purchase it is fine - I don't need roses - I don't even particularly like roses.

So yesterday he comes home with this beautiful orchid. I love orchids - they are one of my favourite flowers - but my record keeping plants alive inside my house lately has been rather dismal. I have a graveyard of dead plants on my back porch - of things I have killed this winter: a spider plant (who can't keep a spider plant alive?), Pepperomia, A Poinsettia, A Martha Washington Geranium I was trying to overwinter, and something else - but I can't even remember what it even was.

So now, with a record as a terrible plant-mother I have to try and keep this beautiful plant alive. And, I don't even really know how to water it. I predict it will be dead by June. Sigh.

I finally took my Christmas lights down...

2009-02-08T21:27:00.000-08:00

A little late is better than never...I guess I can no longer say anything about the people that still have Santa on their roof in May...

I've also changed the look of my blog - and spent a long time choosing pictures and colours. I think today's new looks is a little less lopsided than yesterday's. I also really like the new blog roll gadget.

I've weeded out my blog roll and it is now strictly blogs with northern gardening interests like my own.

And I bought my seeds today...way too many, but alas, I think that is far too common with gardeners... I see the racks in the stores and I want them all. And yet, my garden is still under at least 2 feet of snow. I am dreaming of spring.

So many choices...

2009-02-07T21:08:00.000-08:00

I need to order my seeds. But I can't decide what I want. I keep changing my mind, second guessing myself, and adding things to my list that I can't possibly have room for. I want to grow some perennials, but my last year's seed growing experience with perennials wasn't great. I didn't grow that many, so maybe the ones I choose this time will grow better? Also, I have lots of seeds leftover from last year. Do they last for more than one year?

So far this is what I have selected. I order from Veseys.com

Blue Mirror Chinese Delphinium - I love blue flowers and it is so hard to find a true blue flower.

Munstead Lavender - I am not sure if I need/have room for this, but I love lavender!

Black Beauty Pansies - I grew these last year, and really liked them - I would like some more, and I am really hoping the ones from last year will come back.

Mixed Lupins - I think these are fairly easy to grow and really cheap. I bought a lupin plant last year, and think a few more mixed in the corner with it would be nice. And, since the seeds are so cheap, it is probably worthwhile to grow them from seeds.

Giant Tetra Snapdragon - I want to use these to fill in the extra spaces and maybe in my black pots out front

Razzmatazz Sunflower Mix - These were probably one of my favourite things in my garden last year - until a wicked rain/wind storm knocked them all over when I was on holidays (and filled my basement up with water...I wasn't pleased). They were fabulous colours - this year I want twice as many!

Plus, I have my vegetable seeds - beans, several lettuce varieties, carrots, beets and onions...

I can't decide because I don't actually need a whole package of the perennials, and I am worried it will be a waste of money if they don't grow well. Does anyone have a lot of experience growing perennials from seed? Is it worth it? Or should I just buy the perennials from a garden centre? Plus I still have to buy my spring bulbs - lilies and glads. Gardening is going to make me go broke!

Anyone have a lily garden?

2009-02-01T22:20:00.000-08:00

So, I spent many hours this weekend looking at garden catalogues and websites, and have come to the conclusion that I need a lily garden. (I should have been marking and prepping for this week, but I sat on my couch and looked at plant pictures...)

I know lilies do really in our area, they take up lots of space, and they aren't very high maintenance. But now, I need some advice. What types of lilies should I get - do they all multiply, or just some? How many plants do I need per square foot? And what other perennials should I put in with them. I loved the geraniums and annuals I planted against the house last year - but annuals are too much work. I now work full-time and am probably going back to school in the summer so I want something that will look stunning, but not take all my time. I was thinking of putting lupins and chinese delphiniums with them to start, and maybe some snapdragons to fill in the spaces this year because I know I can't afford to fill the whole garden in one year.

Does anyone have any lily favourites that they have to have in their garden? Anything I should look out for?

6 months later...

2009-01-24T14:06:00.000-08:00

Well, life seems to have taken over, and it seems I have all but forgotten my blog. August 8 was my last post, and then I went on holidays and back to work. I have never worked full time until now, and it seems that work has consumed most of my time lately. My gardens are now under several feet of snow, and it's been a rather cold winter. Several weeks of -30 Celsius temperatures, and lots and lots of snow. I am just starting to contemplate what to put where in my gardens this summer. I am going to set up raised square foot gardens for my vegetables, and replace the soil in my raised beds against the house. I was not pleased with how my raised beds produced, and I think some nutrient-rich soil may help. I pickled beets, beans and onions in the fall, and plan to grow more pickling type vegetables this summer...But, there are still 5 months before my vegetables can go in the ground.

If anyone still checks up on me, any suggestions for what I should plant in front of giant snapdragons in a raised bed? I think I am going to plant snapdragons up against the house in my raised beds, but I am not sure what to put in front. Maybe some dark blue lobelia cascading over the edge? Do I need something mid-height in between?

Summer Heat...

2008-08-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been slacking on the posts, but it is finally hot and sunny here and my only excuse is I have been out enjoying the sunshine every minute I can. It's already 22 degrees here this morning and it is not even 11am yet... (I don't want to hear anything from anyone who lives somewhere 'deserty' or 'tropical' about how that's not hot... I live in Northern BC, and this is fantastic weather!!) On a side note, I was out running the other day in the afternoon heat - (which maybe wasn't my wisest decision ever) and I passed an older man walking with no shirt on and he actually shook his head at me and told me it was too hot to be running... (he was right, but I really don't like it when people try to tell me what I should and shouldn't do...

Anyways, my sunflowers are blooming. I picked a really cool variety - called Razzmatazz Mix and my first sunflower is brown with yellow edges.. I am super impressed with them and hope to plant a bunch more of them next year...I also can't wait to see a few more open up and bloom...

The heat has also made the geraniums I started from seed bloom and grow like crazy, although it took them a long time to finally flower. I think next year I need to start them a few weeks earlier and then plant them into bigger pots while they are still in the house. I tried to keep them small in the house so that they wouldn't get leggy, but I may have delayed blooming. Also, I think my raised beds need new dirt, because none of the plants are flourishing the way I would have expected... so next year I am buying a load of topsoil and compost and spreading the goodness around my yard - gardening is too much work to have crappy soil preventing your plants from thriving...

anyways, here is a pic of my raised beds with all the flowers/plants I started from seed in my living room...

My Garden is Delicious!

2008-07-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been awhile - the end of the school year always takes all my energy...

My vegetable garden in finally paying off. In the spring I really wanted to try and build "square foot gardens" to grow my vegetables, but ran out of time and energy - so I used the plot that the previous home owners had set out as a vegetable garden. I am really enjoying eating fresh lettuce every night, although I think it is funny how I spend much more time washing it then I do store bought lettuce - I know exactly what is on my stuff - nothing but a bit of dirt, and somehow I think it is less clean than whatever I pick up at the supermarket - it doesn't really make any sense.

Anyways here's a peek at my delicious garden...

June 4, 2008

July 10, 2008

Front Walk Changes...

2008-06-18T13:34:00.000-07:00

So, I've been saving these pictures to post for awhile. I got new planters for the front of my house for my birthday, and we replaced the old ones. They were so rotten that they fell apart when my husband tried to pick them up. I love the new ones, although if it was a little bit warmer I think the plants would be doing better...

Front Walk when we Moved in:

Front Walk this Spring:
New Planters and Blooming Flowers:

Taking a Bath...

2008-06-03T16:29:00.000-07:00

Finally - I have been trying to catch a picture of this bird in our newly cleaned bird bath for several days - (ut I have little patience with the slowly sneaking up and not scaring the poor creature part of photography - I always move too fast and then trip) So my husband snapped this one for me... I'm not sure what kind of bird this is, but it's pretty, and it sure likes the bird bath!

Final Tulips of the Season

2008-05-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

My tulips are finished - and it's about time, because I need their space to plant my morning glory seeds. Here are the pictures of the last tulips to finish blooming - I love their colour

Friday Picture: Lily of the Valley

2008-05-30T16:36:00.000-07:00

I'm exhausted. I taught 2 days of Kindergarten, 2 days of grade 8, and one day of grade 6/7 - interpersed with parent meetings this week.

So, all I have energy for are some pictures...Here are some pictures of my (very aggressive) lilies of the valley...

New Garden Finished

2008-05-26T16:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been finished for awhile, but I've been slacking on the posts since we started renovating our office and my computer is no longer hooked up. So, while my husband was at work, I secretly downloaded the camera software onto his computer and downloaded my most recent pictures...

The plan is for this garden to be a perennial garden. My mother-in-law is going to give me a chunk of her peony in the fall to put to the left of mystery plant, but for this year I planted sunflowers in that spot. She gave me the irises, which have started to flower since I transplanted them, and there are sweet pea seeds planted in behind the irises - the plan is to have them grow up the back wall and the railing of the back porch...

Before:

During:

After:

Mystery Plant has Flowers

2008-05-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

So, my mystery plant that no one seems to have ever seen before has beautiful pink flowers. They kind of reminded me of peony buds before they opened, but now they remind me more of a ranunculus or buttercup flower. Anyone know what it is now?

Going Green: The Global Warming Debate?

2008-05-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

**warning: this post contains little about gardening, and some strong opinions on my part.**

Well, it was my understanding that the global warming debate was decided. Over. Finished. I thought, and correct me if I'm wrong, that climate change scientists have pretty solid and concrete proof that human activity causes climate change. What I don't understand then is why there are so many letters to the editors in my crazy little town about how "they don't believe in environmentalism" or how they think that this extremely long, cold winter we just experienced is proof that global warming doesn't exist, and it's simply over-zealous environmentalists trying to find a way to shut down industry. IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY - uneducated, ignorant people making blanket belief statements with no knowledge of the facts - and then the paper publishes their letters.

Case in Point #1: Environmentalism Just a fashionable fallacy

In case you don't want to read it, he basically blames the Pine Beetle epidemic on environmentalists refusing to let the government and industry turn a provincial park into a clear cut/slash and burn. I don't post my comments on the newspaper's website because it just invites insults from those who have a different point of view - but I can't keep quite about this. Anyways if you know very little of the Pine Beetle epidemic in Northern BC you can look up the history online, or check out the Manic Gardener's Blog (I didn't know Montana had a pine beetle problem), but basically every Pine tree in BC is dead or going to be dead within 5 years. It is really hard to imagine unless you have seen the pictures of landscapes that are red in every direction you look.

But Pine Beetle isn't new. It has been around for hundreds of years, and the population never got out of control. A cold winter would hit and kill them back to reasonable numbers. So in the 80's and early 90's when the Pine Beetle attacked Tweedsmuir Provincial Park everyone thought that the problem would manage itself like it always had. I don't think anyone envisioned the ending up where we are now. But, blaming the problem on environmentalists seems foolish. Of course people protested the idea of logging a park - it was a protected area. No one predicted this devastation, and it seems unfair now to start playing the blame game.

But getting back to what is so shocking about what I keep reading in the newspaper. So many people agree with these sentiments, and really think that "green" is just a buzzword, a fashion, or a bandwagon that the unwashed masses have jumped on because it makes them feel good about the choices they are making.

So, my question is, who really is the one being deceived? Those who refuse to acknowlege the green debate and environmental issues, or those of us who have and are now making changes and paying more money to live green because somehow we've been convinced of its importance. Or maybe to some extent, are we all being deceived?

Seedling Update

2008-05-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

Most of my seedlings are ready to be planted. I have about 2 weeks before they can go into the garden beds - but I can probably do the planters this weekend and then just pull them inside if it gets cold again. I am impressed with the geraniums and how good they look, and how easy they were to grow, but less so with the salvia. The problem may be that I just started them too early, but they are a little tall and stalky. The marigolds did well, but all the vegetables got leggy really fast.

Seedlings hrdening of on the front porch:

It's a Bug's Life

2008-05-13T07:51:00.001-07:00

The Lillies of the Valley are growing fast!

It's a Beautiful Day (in the Neighbourhood)...

2008-05-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been awhile since I posted. Here's a few pictures of my garden this morning. There are no clouds in the sky today, and it looks like it is going to be warm. I am going with my mom this morning to Van Roode's Greenhouses (best place to buy plants in town!) to get our bedding plants.

First few planters on front porch

Looking Up at the Sky

Finally Flowering!!

Would you hurry up and bloom!!

2008-05-03T10:36:00.000-07:00

I've been watching these tulip buds for weeks. I want flowers!

What is this plant?

2008-05-03T10:30:00.001-07:00

Now, I am usually pretty good at plant names - especially annuals - but since this is a perennial, I am a little bit stumped. I have never seen this kind of plant before. It's in my garden, was here when we bought the house - but the garden was such a mess last fall, that I must not have noticed it. This spring I dug out that garden entirely, and we are still in the process of re-edging it and fixing it up. I saved this plant because it looked like mini palm trees. Does anyone know what it is?

Going Green: The Lawnmower Dilemna

2008-04-28T16:48:00.000-07:00

We need a lawn mower. We don't have one, and we have grass to mow this year. I have learned a few things about lawn mowers recently. The main thing being that mowing your lawn for 1 hour produces the same carbon emissions as driving your car 500km. Actually, I can hardly believe this. But, my husband, who has much more knowledge in this area says that it makes sense to him - so sure - Lawn mowers are HUGELY inefficient. The other problem is that we have no money - so buying a new fancy solar-powered green lawnmower is kind of out of the question.

So, what is a girl to do?

1 - don't mow the lawn - (not sure this is an option...)

2 - buy a used gas mower and pretend I don' t know the facts (don't like this option)

3 - buy a "reel" mower - (they still cost at least $100 - not sure if we can do that right now)

4 - don't do anything and pretend there is no dilemna (currently what I am doing, and will only work for another couple weeks...)

What would you do?

Supposedly the sales of "Reel Mowers" are on the rise...

Going Green...

2008-04-28T16:35:00.001-07:00

So, I've decided to start a series of posts called "Going Green." These posts will record my attempts to minimize our carbon footprint and make better choices for the environment. Hopefully, as time goes on, I can make some good changes and make my home and garden more sustainable.

If you want to find out the size of your carbon footprint check this out:
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx

PS - My carbon footprint was about 13 tonnes of CO2 per year. The average in Canada is 20.

Also - anyone know why there was a question about what types of financial services I use? How does this connect to sustainability?

Bought more seeds today...

2008-04-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

A quick trip to the newly opened walmart garden centre, and I came home with more seeds. I guess now I am growing broccoli, and cucumbers. I started them this evening along with the romaine lettuce I had previously purchased. I think I was slightly more conscious of "numbers" today than I was with the tomatoes and peppers, and only planted 12 broccoli, 18 cucumbers and 18 Romaines - which is still too many - but not anything excessive like 32 Jalepeno pepper plants I have started already... (I have the same problem at Walmart as Babs at Rambles and Brambles... I think I will be giving away plants to whoever will take them - and maybe even to people who wont...

A Walk in the Park

2008-04-21T14:43:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, my husband and I drove down to a local park to get some river rocks to use in our garden. This park is part of the local trail system and has paths that follow the banks of the Nechako River. We can actually walk there from our house - put walking home with 3 5-gallon pails of rocks would have been awkward (impossible for me - I could barely carry one from the riverbank to the car). Anyways, this winter the river was struck with a major icejam for about 3 months - houses were flooded, and roads/businesses were closed for a significant amount of time. This park was in the middle of the ice jam. Yesterday, we saw the devastaion that the ice had actually caused. There are still ice blocks there that are 10-12 feet high. The trail has been washed away in places - and bridges have been reduced to splinters, and there is trees, branches and debris everywhere. It's funny how you can live so close to a disaster like this, and not really know its full effects. We are only several blocks from the river - but up a hill, so there was no chance of it affecting us -and yet, we had never seen the extent of the damage. The park is still beautiful, but since parts of it have been washed away (several times in the last few years), it will never quite be the same, and will take a lot of money and time to fix back up.

view of one of the ponds in the park

view from under the ice at the river's edge

large tree a beaver tried to knock down

Ready to Burst...

2008-04-20T10:44:00.001-07:00

I had a very busy work week, so I have had very little time to post on my blog, or comment on some of the fabulous things that happened in everyone else's gardens this week. And, when the weekend hit, and I was ready to spend some quality time in my yard, we were hit with the same coldsnap that has hit much of Western Canada, with nighttime lows of -10 degrees Celcius, and daytime highs of -2 degrees (which is very abnormal for this time of year). Yesterday it was so cold that I had to pull out my heavy winter coat just to go shopping. Today, it is a beautiful sunny day - but still quite cold and windy. I am hoping we can get a bit of yard work done - finish edging the gardens we changed, and finish putting the new composter together. I am about ready to burst waiting for spring to actually arrive. Just like these leaves...they are ready to burst as soon as it warms up.