plants

Springing into life… arg.

by

Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;

Everything is currently trying to reproduce and I’m not a fan. My allergies have been really bad, which means I’m extra tired and weak on top of cold-like symptoms. Not fun. But I’ve already written about that: It’s Just Allergies and Allergies, Life, and Writing.

Every year, I try to distract myself from all these allergens by creating more and gardening.

This year I’ve added two planters and I’m planning on growing: beans, peas, zucchini, chives, rhubarb, cherry tomatoes, large tomatoes, pumpkins, dill, lemon thyme, hot and sweet peppers, and rosemary. As if that’s not enough, I’m planning on getting a purple flowering raspberry bush, an elderberry bush, citronella, and as much milkweed as I possibly can.

I’m hoping to grow the pumpkins along a trellis and get little baby hanging pumpkins.

With the fatigue though, it’s hard to motivate myself. I’m trying to do a little each day and try to avoid burning out. I’m so happy that Jen, Dragon, and Pegasus are willing to help.

This partial shade plot with have our raspberry bush and elderberry bush.
This new planter will have yellow and green beans.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Backyard transformation

by

Hello My Imaginary Friends,

I have a bad habit. I like to feed the local wildlife every year. This is my eighth year gardening and other than a few times, I haven’t been extremely successful.

Dragon with a massive zucchini from 2017

That was the last year we were able to grow more than a few zucchini.

So I decided to completely revamp my garden and backyard.

Dragon modelling where we’re going to put the new pear tree.
Arial shot of my backyard.

I took apart all my boxes and spread the dirt across the yard before seeding white clover. I’d like a “lawn” of clover, mint, and dandelions.

Dragon and Pegasus lying in the bed. I guess they helped make it so…

We bought and built 3 new garden beds and set them up, re-purposing our old beds in new places.

The garden boxes are placed, now I just needed plants, dirt, and a tree.

I ordered dirt and a tree and then I just had to wait. I ordered a Flemish Beauty from Peter Knipple Garden Centre. I’m extremely happy with their work.

Our new tree, called Agent P or Peary the Pear Tree

Agent P looked a little sad to start with, but has perked up since. Maybe he knew that we were in for a severe thunderstorm later that afternoon.

With dirt and tree, I spent two weekends moving and planting and then everything was in.

A lot changed and I was still not done. Another arial view of an almost finished back yard.

The last part was adding the potatoes and I also added a chickenwire fence around the tree to protect it from the large rodents.

Final arial view of the back yard.

Now everything is in place. I’ve seeded more white clover and all I need now it to weed, wait, and water.

Let’s hope I’ll be able to harvest and eat things this year. At the very least, the herbs, spices, a chives, and rhubarb are killing it.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Garden help!

by

Hello My Imaginary Friends,

The temperatures are so cold I think I just saw Elsa and Jack Frost boarding a plane south.

So obviously my mind is turning to gardening. My old cedar box is both two low for my aging limbs and much too wide. I can’t bend over and weed without being in the darn thing. It’s also a little worse for wear after 8 years.

Our garden las year before the bugs and squirrels got to the zucchini.

I was thinking of getting something like the VegTrug, but they’re pretty pricey. I have about 4 metres along the fence and I will definitely have to have a cage over it. I plan on growing zucchini, beans, peas, garlic, dill, tomatoes, and maybe some rosemary and catnip.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thank you,

Éric