A Glorious First Working Day

Today was a very lovely spring day, so I made my first foray to do a bit of garden work. I find doing a few necessary pruning jobs and some raking reminds my body it hasn't done this sort of thing for awhile. I take quite a casual approach. It is sort of pretending I am really not working!
Bill has started his annual debris raking and will soon get the tractor and wagon going.
Even though there are still some snowy spots, things are drying up very well. It was dry enough to sit on the ground and give a patch of lavender a bit of a trimming. It always looks a bit pitiful at first.
The long bed beside the driveway got most of my attention. The buddleia, and roses got a good cutback. The roses don't appear to have much winter damage other than some serious bending. They all got quite serious haircuts. Our rose thicket isn't very refined at the best of times. These hardy shrub roses will take quite a lot of abuse.
We have a rather out of control Dorothy Perkins on the front arbor that needs some attention soon. Canes are flapping around and will have to be aimed to the actual structure.
It is heartening to see the many little shoots of the Glory of the Snow starting here. They will be out in a few more days.
The only one fully out is in close to the foundation.

The crocus and snowdrops are most prominent now. It is interesting how they spread themselves from year to year. These pastel toned ones are among the crowd under the PeeGee hydrangea at the front. There are still a lot of deep purple ones to come along.

This big patch of white crocus really should be in another spot, but I am not about to move them.

We're sure there are patches each year where there were none the year before. Some of the nicer snowdrops are in the little bed in the front yard.

We saw the first robins yesterday and a flock of red polls came to visit this morning. As long as we have the bird feeder set up outside the dining room window we have squirrel visitors. They are cute, but we are always concerned they may decide to take up residence somewhere we don't want them to be. 
























Some persuasion to relocate may be in order.
A sure sign of spring is actually having water in the pond. Most of the ice has gone. I think I heard a small sound of a frog or toad today, but we need a few more warm days before there will be the usual activity and noise.

We have a perennial supply of duckweed in our pond. It is, perhaps, the result of too much organic debris. The Hellebores are pushing up their spring blooms. Both the patch of purple and the pink and white ones seem okay. 

The leaves are very flat, but at least are not black.

The sap was still running some today, James may get one more "boil" done. We finished about a litre or so of syrup yesterday.
The time is fast approaching to get started with Plant Sale preparations. If all goes well, we will have our sale the weekend of May 14 & 15. It is all quite weather dependent.

Spring has Sprung

Spring is officially here as of Sunday past, but it has been a very cool few days and nights. The snow is slowly receding. 

The snowdrops have fulfilled their role as the first harbingers of spring, with some crocus in a snow-free bed not far behind.

James has decided to tap a few maple trees and make a little maple syrup. The theory being that Ava should know from whence the syrup for pancakes comes.

The sap flow hasn't been too speedy with all the cold days, but enough for one "boiling down" session.

An old metal barrel was found to house the fire, a metal grate for the top, and lots of wood to keep it going.
We are finishing the first syrup in the house. 
We strained the boiled down sap through a rinsed J-cloth before finishing the boil.

Here is some of the finished product, ready for Ava's pancakes.

I expect it is almost time to pay a spring visit to the Sugar Moon Maple Farm up in Earltown. Their procedures are a bit more refined than ours!

A Whoosh of Spring

High winds and rain have magically brought us a glimpse of "real" spring. Part of this day was spent doing a little transplant job of the first seedlings under the lights. Basil, parsley, petunias, thyme and Buddleia were moved to bigger quarters. Jodi and I had our first real walk about in the back garden areas. The lovely little patch of Crocus Tricolor are in full bloom. It is about 15degrees Celsius today.

It is now possible to walk on some of the garden paths without wading through snow. The little Crocus ancyrensis are always ready to leap into bloom the instant the snow has receded. It is amazing how much warmth is felt on the leafy debris here on these beds. Some of the paths are still very snowpacked, but that should change in the next few days.The snow has left the potato pit, so we can access that anytime we feel inclined. There are many Snowdrops anywhere the snow has left their beds.Even the noses of the Crown Imperial Fritillaria are poking up. We were wondering what had become our the planter barrel at the bottom of the driveway.... it was slightly upended by the snowplowing efforts. No harm done, it seems. I always hope to see signs of the Hellebores in the early spring, but they are never very swift. This little hint is all we were able to see for now. The other patch is still snow-covered. There is always a lot of debris lying about, so nothing looks very tidy. Bill will be out with his rake any day now!

At least we have "technical" Spring

Not the "springiest" sight on earth. March 20th has come and gone. Spring has to be more of a state of mind than a state of weather here at the Willow Garden.

There has been enough sun and a few moderate days to partly rid the driveway and part of our pathway of treacherous ice.

There is still a heavy layer on the path at the front which never gets enough sun to help in its demise. Time and higher temperatures will have to do the deed.

The snow has receded here and there, so the typical spots where some snowdrops appear are getting uncovered.

I saw a few little crocus shoots in the bed by the corner of the house. 

Inside we have some seedlings emerging, and the various peppers got planted today. The prospect of Hot Peppers should warm us up a bit. 

We always grow a nice hot one called 'Ring of Fire'. They do quite well, but I have been growing them in big pots or planters for several years. I think they get a btter chance at heat than when in the ground. At the end of the season we can bring them into the sunporch where they continue to ripen to a beautiful red. Dried, they can be used as is or ground up to make a VERY potent chili powder.

I have saved a bunch of the seeds from these, and they do grow into a good pepper, although they are a bit different from the parent. If anyone wants to try some, let me know.

This week we gave a "sharing talk" to the local Garden Club on seed starting. While we there we tried to pawn off some seed for some annual red poppies that were sent to us by a seed recipient. He sent us MANY seeds he had collected last season.

I don't usually DO annual poppies, so these were and are still up for grabs.

This week we also attended an interesting talk on Greenhouses given by Henri Steeghs from Pleasant Valley Nurseries. It was the first of a short series of talks to be given. The next is outlined below.

Gardening Workshops - Using Nature in the LandscapeThursday, April 16, 7:30 p.m. at the Town Council Chambers, 274 Main Street.

The Antigonish Public Library will present the second in a three part series on gardening in partnership with Antigonish Sustainable Development and the Fresh Air Society.  Topics to be covered will include comparisons between human built and natural landscapes, plant communities, plant establishment and more.

Our plans to give a couple of classes in the Spring Line-up for County Recreation are getting underway. 

A Computer Basics (The sequel) course is to start March30, 7PM at St. Andrews Junior School. There are still a few spaces open for that one.

The two session Gardening Course is slated for May and will be here at our garden.

There is info about these courses on our website.