Sunday, April 20, 2014

Spring seems to be here

Spring was very tardy this year. Ignoring the calendar seemed the best approach. This last week we were blessed with a Nova Scotia version of a Chinook. Three days of strong, warm, southerly winds coupled with some rain succeeded in removing most of our miserable remnants of snow. Both daytime and nighttime temperatures were well above the norm.
As in usual springs, the minute the snow recedes there are flowers waiting to bloom. Snowdrops and crocus were ready. We saw honey bees from next door which bodes well.
snowdrops




The annual walk to the far back garden didn't happen until April 14th. Our Witch Hazel may have been blooming for some time, but we didn't get to see and smell  it until that day. It would be a lot smarter to have that plant closer to the house!
Enjoy the discovery


There is still quite a lot of ice on the pond plus cool temperature means we haven't heard any Spring Peppers yet.
The spring seedlings are pretty well doing their normal thing. Peppers, petunias, parsley, basil, salvia and a few others have sprouted  and been transplanted. Tomatoes and Impatiens are just coming up. The Begonia grandis and regular tuberous Begonias are planted . We ordered  a few new Begonias this year. Some of the old ones seem very poor. It doesn't take long to fill up the three shelves of my planting cabinet. The overflow will migrate to Bill's units, since he doesn't have as many plants as some years.
The sun porch off the kitchen actually got a bit of a clean up one day, as well. The overwintering plants there will hopefully be able to go outside quite soon.
Bill got the tractor going on Saturday, so he will be anxious to have some warmish days to do outdoor work. The annual "pick -up-sticks" is looming.

We have decided not to have our Spring Plant Sale this year; or at least not the regular public version.
We do hope to do a bit of a survey to find out what plants we would really like to find homes for and invite gardeners in our "domain" to order some. It will be quite a truncation of our usual plant list. Perhaps our energy and priority shift will benefit the garden. There are always many tasks that seem to get postponed.



1 comment:

Woodlands and Meadows said...

You still have snow. I am happy to say our snow has finally left and spring is here. Now I hope it doesn't rain too much so our road dries up.

Jane