Canoe Corner

Architecture in Plants

2012-01-21T17:10:00.000-04:00

The ground is covered in a white coat today with not a stitch of greenery to be seen so I am turning inward and gazing at the houseplants. I tend to ignore these poor things for the better part of the year in favour of the outdoor garden but recently I've noticed just how amazing some of them are. The aloe vera is really the star of the show right now. Originally purchased in the winter

Voles in the Garden

2012-01-17T21:06:00.000-04:00

Before moving to Prince Edward Island I had zero experience with voles. So I was rather shocked this past spring when I discovered that a large majority of the trees and shrubs I had planted the previous season were attacked by these creatures. While most of the trees went on to make a full recovery I realized I needed to know more about these animals so that further plantings wouldn't be

Who Me?!

2012-01-11T19:53:00.000-04:00

I received this Liebster award just before Christmas and with all the hurry of the holidays almost forgot to post about it. Better too late than never. The first thing I would like to say is a big thank you to The Witch for her kind words and thoughtfulness. The Witch is a fellow islander (can I say that? I'm not a legitimate Prince Edward Islander, I'm From Away, but I've spent a number of

Summer Photos

2012-01-06T19:40:00.000-04:00

Here we are at the final batch of photos from 2011. These shots start in mid-summer and carry through to fall, starting with this pink MeadowSweet. I actually like this stage of bloom the best with the tight pink balls, right before the small buds pop open into a frizzy mess of cotton candy petals. Lettuce can be so pretty. I love the rows of coloured greens. In the photo below the green

Spring Photos

2012-01-03T20:57:00.000-04:00

I'm still working through cleaning up my photo collection. The following photos didn't belong to a specific category and there were so many of them I decided to do a double post and divide them into Spring and Summer. Starting with the first blush of spring the willows growing in the ditches captured my attention. I tried to capture a wide shot of apple trees in bloom but had difficulties

Black and White

2012-01-01T17:06:00.000-04:00

I am continuing to review my photos. Deleting some, smiling and laughing over others. This set is all about black and white. I don't often alter my photos but black and white has an allure for me. There's something classic about a black and white photograph isn't there? Of course, the photos don't necessarily need to be black and white. They can feature black and white, like our visitor

Cats on the Corner

2011-12-29T19:20:00.000-04:00

More favourite photos from this year that did not make it to publication. Perhaps I don't write enough about my cats? Well I'll make up for that now and focus this series on our feline friends. Cat number one, Gino, has been with us some 7 years now. He's a little cranky as he approaches middle age and doesn't like sharing his space with those outdoor felines but he does love to putter along

A Year of Sunflowers

2011-12-27T18:12:00.000-04:00

It feels like months ago I started reviewing this year's garden photos, deleting the excesses that digital photography seems to bring with it. And here I am still, slowly working my way through the images. I looked at my posts throughout the summer and compared it to the photos. It seems I took far more photos than I actually posted. Lots of time spent with the camera but not nearly as much

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2011-12-23T16:10:00.000-04:00

Just in time it arrived It will be a white Christmas after all Joy to you this holiday season and best wishes in the coming new year

A Last Look at Autumn

2011-12-21T20:52:00.000-04:00

I just realized that the autumn screen saver on my computer at work was slightly out of date. This display was made of coloured leaves and mystery squash from the garden It's Christmas already! Although the late removal of autum photos was partly due to laziness it was also because it really hasn't felt like winter in these parts until just recently. Just a couple weeks ago the roses

Garden Plans and Budgeting

2011-12-18T18:55:00.000-04:00

Since budget is on my mind I might as well address my garden plans as well. Part of figuring out my garden budget has meant figuring out what work I intend to complete in the garden. Starting at the far end of the property is the crescent garden. This year I planted it with dahlias, amaranthus and sunflowers and the easiest thing to do is to continue just as it is. Next spring I'll put the

Garden Budget

2011-12-09T22:23:00.000-04:00

Considering we have some serious house repair bills coming up I've decided to put the garden on a budget this coming year. Well, truth be told, I was considering a cut back in gardening this year anyway. After two seasons working in the yard many of my major goals have been met. I have a compost bin, a veggie garden, some flower beds and lots of trees planted. My big plans in the upcoming

The Realities of owning a Historic Home

2011-12-04T21:33:00.000-04:00

In addition to cleaning up the orchard and preparing for Christmas we've been doing a little house work lately. We bought this old girl knowing there would be work ahead of us. Not to say she's in bad condition as there many good things about her. Considering some of the old farm houses we had seen, this house was in great condition. But her maintenance had faltered prior to our purchase and

An End to Fall and a Start to Christmas

2011-11-26T20:40:00.000-04:00

My apologies to my blogging friends as I have been terribly neglectful lately reading others posts. I had thought that fall would bring some respite but my schedule is busier than ever. Even the garden still has chores that need doing. We have been deluged with apples to the point that even today at the end of November I found myself working in the orchard picking up fallen fruit. Even as

November Bouquet

2011-11-23T20:22:00.000-04:00

This might look like a re-post but it isn't. I just liked last November's bouquet so much that I decided to recreate it this November. I picked these dried flower heads just in time as today we had our first legitimate dump of snow this season. 15 - 20 centimeters of the white stuff (that's 6 or 7 inches for those using Imperial) is now coating the garden. Same vase as last year. This is one

Landscaping Inspiration

2011-11-19T20:06:00.000-04:00

I've been very focused on landscaping and designing beds this season. The process has come about in different ways. I began by considering what kind of garden I prefer. I like a cottage look with lots of flowering perennials packed in together. But I also like the straight lines and clean shapes of a more formal area. There are so many styles I like and for different areas and different

Collecting Gaillardia Seed

2011-11-16T19:57:00.000-04:00

Earlier this year I received some unknown seed from my mother-in-law. Her labels were somewhat vague - yellow flower - red flower - but I decided to plant those seeds in the ground and see what surprises were in store for me. This bag of fluffy seeds below was planted indoors under grow lights and to my delight, they grew with ease. Once the weather grew warm I planted them in a container

PEI Sky Shots

2011-11-14T19:34:00.000-04:00

I've been sifting through photographs the last couple weeks. Ever since I started blogging it seems the number of photographs I take has exploded. Literally thousands of images clutter my hard drive and so it is time to do a little clean up. But as I sort and delete I've been finding some great gems that I haven't yet shared. This particular series is for Joy who often shares her love of

2011 Vegetable Garden Tragedies

2011-11-11T15:26:00.000-04:00

Although there were hits in the garden this year there were a lot of misses. The spring started off with a whimper. While I wanted to be digging new beds and working on the soil the weather just would not cooperate. It was cold and rained continuously allowing little time to be outdoors. Even when the weather warmed up enough to start planting it wasn't regularly warm enough to properly

2011 Vegetable Garden Triumphs

2011-11-05T21:51:00.000-03:00

Vegetable gardens never fail to amaze me. What works so well one year is a complete mess the next. So I am trying to keep a record of what happens each year and hopefully I'll learn a few things along the way. Last season I tried the Square Foot Gardening method which encourages really tight planting but discovered it didn't work for me at all. Lettuce particularly became very cramped and

The Entrance Garden

2011-11-02T20:34:00.000-03:00

The final leg of my garden tour ends at the Entrance Garden. I worked on this bed all summer and, somewhat shamefully, never completed it. The initial bed when the sod was removed (as seen through dirty window screen) This garden has been a lesson - do only one task at a time. Pick a spot, complete it and then move on to the next area. I didn't do that. I removed the sod and then wandered

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:37:00.000-03:00

A Dahlia of Two Colours

2011-10-29T20:17:00.000-03:00

October is almost over and I completely forgot to pick a bouquet of flowers this month! Luckily I was out in the garden today cutting down dahlias to store the tubers for the winter. Because our weather has been so mild up to now the dahlias were still blooming despite a little frost damage. So as I cut the plants down I also picked the last of the flowers and created a bouquet for October.

Wildflower Wednesday - High Bush Cranberry

2011-10-26T07:53:00.000-03:00

Our first spring in the garden we purchased a number of trees and shrubs with a mind to begin filling in the vast amount of lawn we had. I hadn't anticipated purchasing High Bush Cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) but a kind lady at the nursery suggested this would be a really nice addition and so two specimens came home with us. Since then I have thought countless times how lucky I was that this

Summer Wants to Stay

2011-10-22T23:22:00.001-03:00

The weather this October has been nothing short of spectacular. There's been some rain, well a lot of rain actually, and wind, but this has been tempered with plenty of days like today. Warm and sunny, blue skies, perfect gardening weather. Only the blush of colour on the birches betrays this as a fall day instead of mid-summer I've been taking advantage of this long drawn out fall to get