Tag Archives: gardening

Little Gems

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I’ve been so happy that I have been showing up here almost every day. I’ve made it possible by keeping it simple and easy. No Pulitzer award writing from me. Rather it’s just some mumbling from my every day life. Now that it’s spring with summer not too far off, my days are busier and busier. Some days I am overwhelmed with all the clutter in my head with things to do. But this is May, my designated month of changing habits. I take a deep breath in, clearing head and lungs.

I harvested my first little French Breakfast radishes yesterday morning. What beautiful little gems they were. And delicious too. They remind me that a little effort goes a long way. I was not in a gardening mood this year but I could not just let everything go to pots. I have to try, give it some effort, every day no matter how small. Time passes whether we want it to or not. So here we are, weeks later,I got something beautiful to behold, something delicious to tease my taste buds. If I had not tried, none of this would happen.

Thus motivated, I’ve been to the greenhouse this morning. I harvested some lettuce and brought out the trays of seedlings for some fresh air. They showed their appreciation for my small effort. They’re perky and freed of aphids, nodding in the breeze. What more could I ask of them?

In Motion

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Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

A brighter Saturday morning. The sun finally came out after a few days of grey and rain. The rain was very welcomed. My water buckets for the greenhouse are full. I’m trying to keep my momentum going. If I can’t go fast, I’ll go slow. I don’t want the domino effect of going too strong and being totally wiped out in a whoosh. Slow and steady like the tortoise is my aim. Not that there’s any chance of me being a speedster. But there’s a possibility of me breaking some records when I’m 100 years old. That’s on the account of being the only one in that age category. Wouldn’t that be something, eh?

With that in mind, I’ve done my morning stretches. I have been working a little harder in the weightroom lately. I have a few stiff and achy muscles. Crowded and perched upon a high stool for a few hours at a music venue last night did not help matters. Post stretching, I’m feeling more relaxed and limber. Before giving in to relaxing with another cup of tea, I vacuumed the floor to fulfill my desire for order in my surroundings. One small deed. It will also help to clear my mind. A clear floor=a clear mind.

Some of my seedlings are outgrowing their pots. The broccoli are growing long and lanky. I think I will plant some of them in the raised bed and covered them with a crop cover. That will save me work of repotting them. It will also free up space in the greenhouse. They like the cool. I will plant some of the bigger cabbage seedlings, too. That will be enough gardening and moving for me today.

All in Good Time

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Friday morning coming down and it’s a cool one. Though the greenhouse temperatures are good, staying above freezing on its own even at night, things are not taking off just yet. I guess I’m impatient, wanting now, now, now! The snowpeas are growing tendrils. The seeded lettuce are poking their heads above the soil. The spinach is still skinny but the radish leaves are getting fatter as are the Gai Lan. They will burst forth all in good time.

The seedlings are doing well also. They are robust, thriving in the greenhouse. They get plenty of light in the day. The cool nights keep them from bolting and getting leggy. I can repot some while waiting for the other seeds to germinate. I can get swamp if I’m not careful. Even after all these years of gardening and starting my own seeds, I still have many doubts. It is still a miracle when I see them germinate and poke their heads above the soil. I do not take anything for granted. I tend to over seed – just in case.

This year I am being a little more bold and confident. I cut back a little. Prices have gone up and you get fewer seeds in a pack. I label the pots with the number of seeds I sow. That way I would know the germination rate. It would help for next year’s sowing. So far I’m pretty happy that it’s almost 100%. There are those seeds that’s too small to count. I’ve also started to date my seed packs so I know how old the seeds are. 3 years is supposed to be the best before date. But nothing is set in stone. Here is an interesting video about a seed grower in Saskatchewan. It’s inspiring me.

UBC Day 23 – Sunday Vibes

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If Sunday is suppose to be a day of rest, I didn’t get any. Not that I am complaining. I am enjoying this burst of energy while it lasts. Perhaps it’s the sun. Perhaps it’s the heat. Wherever it came from, I’m grateful and making good use of it. I hope it will last for a good while.

Being Sunday, it was a sourdough pancake breakfast to start the day off. Then it was out in the garden harvesting a little of this and a little of that. It turned out to be quite alot by the time I was finished – lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, bitter melons, raspberries and strawberries. Since I was still pumped, I thought I better head over to our community garden, harvest the snowpeas and water the plot. It was still relatively cool with a promise of a high of 29℃.

Our community garden plot is performing well. The snowpeas have done amazingly well. I’ve been harvesting every other day and they are still coming. I’ve been unable to grow them at home because of the birds. They love them, too. They get eaten as soon as the seeds germinate and poke their heads out of the ground. Same goes for beets. I do not know why the birds don’t go after them away from home dwellings.

snowpeas
cheyenne pepper
potatoes
slipper gourd
eggplant
Swedish beans
carrots
our plot

Sundays I have coffee with my mother and help her with a little vacuuming. She’s more frail this year but is still fiercely independent. I have to be ok with what little she will let me do. She’s not able to do much gardening this summer but likes to have her morning walk in the yard. She uses her long handled weeder as a cane to walk and weed as well. She is slow but steady. The yard is immaculate. My brother is the gardener now, as well as mowing and watering the lawn.

It was a very nice day. I felt happy and relaxed, satisfied with myself. Walking home from my mother’s I saw my yard from a passerby’s vantage point. It was very beautiful in dappled sunlight . I caught my breath and couldn’t help but tarry and linger amid the lilies awhile before going in.

UBC Day 10 – Resolves and Excuses

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I had intentions of showing up here in the morning. I had intentions of going to the gym this morning. I’ve done neither. So much for intentions and resolves. My desire for the gym dissolved quickly with thoughts of a day of cuppa and relaxing on the deck. I didn’t do that either. I stepped out to the garden and that was it. The morning was gone. It has been hot with no rain for awhile. The haskaps were drooping and looking poorly. We were fortunate our rain catchment still had enough water to water the 3 haskap and cherry bushes. Even though I took care with putting the netting over them, the birds can still get in. I found one flopping around in it and took a bit to help it out. Even though the berries are under the branches and not easily visible to us, they can still detect them. If not for the netting, there would be no fruit for us.

One thing always lead to another. I had to check the tomatoes for suckers and that they are clipped adequately to the trelis. The Big Beefs are big like their name and getting weighty. They must be in their sweet spot. Most of the plants are sporting 15 fruits so far. It’s a strange growing season. It’s still early July and they’re so advanced. I have one Roma tomato ripe and ready to eat. Meanwhile our garlic was harvested yesterday and drying in the shed.

Then I had to check the raised beds. The greens bed was overgrown with kale and Swiss Chard. There’s only so much 2 people can consume. It was hard but I thinned out quite a bit. They’re now compost. The spinach met the same fate as they’ve flowered and gone to seed. It all freed up some room for a second crop of cabbage. Meanwhile the new little gem lettuce is looking quite nice. I’m a happy camper.

New cabbage planted in with the lettle, kale and Swiss Chard
Little Gem Lettuce
Compost
first crop of cabbage

I could go on but it is almost 2 pm. I have laundry to hang and our plots in the community garden to water. Enough is enough. Tomorrow is another day.

UBC DAY 6 & 7 – It Will Work Out

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It pays to come to the keyboard daily. I took a day off yesterday and delayed today. Here I am finally with not a word or idea. But it will work out somehow because I can’t publish or share a blank post. My excuse was I was tired and a little off yesterday and still so today. It was easy to give in and lose myself in a John Grisham novel, Gray Mountain. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was an easy to read and hard to put down. I am quite surprised to find so many negative reviews on Goodreads.

I’m not sure taking a day off from my routine was a good idea. I felt more ‘off’ having done so. Routines are so grounding. I’m working to find my way back to them. When I’m feeling lost, I can always find myself in the garden. So that’s where I spent most of today. I have alot of garden. It took most of the morning just watering the tomatoes and squash, filling the 3 raised garden beds in the backyard and 3 in the front. I spent the afternoon watering and weeding the flower beds. Then there’s the greenhouse and the main garden. There’s no lack of work. I enjoy it all once I get started. There is satisfaction seeing the results and a guarantee of a good night’s sleep from the physical labour.

WEARING ME DOWN

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April 4. Winter seems never ending this year. Just when I think ok, I don’t have to worry about my plants in the greenhouse, I have to – again. The weatherman is forecasting a low of -21℃ tonight and -20℃ tomorrow night. At least it was sunny today and the temperature got up to almost 30℃ with the shade down. The thermal wall and the pails of water will help to moderate the cold tonight. Just to be safe, I threw a row cover over everything. Everything is looking too good to lose now.

Our funky weather is wearing me down. It’s hard to think of the possibility of a garden when I’m faced with high piles of snow and minus temperatures. I really have to push myself but I did seed 5 more kinds of tomatoes this afternoon – Long Keepers, Red Alerts, Sun Rise, Sun Gold, and Red Torch. Where the heck will I plant them all? But that’s a problem to be worked out later. Oh, yes, I do have some bitter melon seeds prepped, wrapped in wet paper towels in a plastic bag. It’s such an easy way to get them germinated that way.

Life is hard. The going is tough. I’m still chugging along though, a few tomatoes at a time, one drawing and one blog post a day. So far, so good.

JUST DO IT!

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I hate it that I’m such a clutter bug. I’m always misplacing things. I waste alot of time and get into such a snit searching for the lost. They eventually are found. I’ve made many vows on doing better, getting organized with a place for everything. I don’t vow any more because so far that hasn’t worked. What I want to do is just DO IT! I can succeed if I do it a little, even just an inch at a time.

I had lost the clipper that I use in the greenhouse 2 days ago. I looked high and low. No success. It’s so annoying but I try to let it go after each search. I do try to figure out why it is so irksome when I have 3 other pairs I could use. I searched again this morning with no success. I tried not to mutter my irritation. No success either. The guy heard. He came back in on his way to his workshop to tell me he found my clippers in the greenhouse. They were under my work gloves. Sometimes we just need a different pair of eyes. Now I wish he could spot my root stimulating powder. But I’m not wasting more time in searching. The plant cuttings will have to root or not in water.

It looks like we are heading into some frosty temperatures in a couple of days. I will have to get my ass in gear and plant my bulbs this afternoon. I have to remind myself not to order any more bulbs next year. They know what they are doing when they send out fall seed catalogues in middle of summer. I am enticed with all those flowering bulbs. It seems like a such good idea when it is warm. Come late September when I get my shipment, I’m disgusted with myself. What was I thinking of? I am tired from all that planting, watering, weeding, harvesting and perserving. Then there’s the cleanup of plant material, chopping them up and throwing them into the compost bins. What I dislike the most is gathering up all the plant containers, trays and pots to put away.

No point in wasting time and energy disliking and procrastinating either. I better save them for doing the jobs at hand. I’ve just harvested my cabbage and the rest of the cayenne peppers. I’m defrosting lunch while I’m sipping my cuppa and finishing up here. Have a good day.

MY EVERY DAY BATTLE

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It’s a grey cool Monday. I’m feeling the weather again. I’m sipping on a cup of decaf while contemplating what would be my best moves. I hate letting the weather get the better of me. But it might not be a bad idea to just take it easy for the rest of the day. I’ve already stormed out after breakfast and did a whole pile of work before 10. I planted the last 4 squashes between the haskap berries in the backyard and the rest of the celery in the squash bed. Yes, I got a little crazy with the squashes this year. I’m sure I’ve planted 30 for ourselves. Then there’s the giveaways. I will take an inventory of plants and produce in the fall for better planting next spring. It’s what I keep saying. Now I will have to do it.

I am feeling better for having started this tapping out. I sure felt like hell when I came in from the garden. I’ve done some work in the greenhouse, too. It’s nice and warm there, out of the cold and wind – a good place to clean up the pots and trays. I can put them up on the rock wall to dry. I am trying to have a better handle and not let them scatter all over the place. It’s hard to develop good work habits. So easy to just drop things drop wherever they are. But then there’s the hard part later picking them up.

Well, so much for taking it easy. We’ve had lunch and the dishes done. I find the cleaning up part the hardest. My mood drops and my energy deserts me. I have to talk myself through each step. It happens most days. You would think I could overcome this by now. No, I have to battle it every day but I do win every time. I’ve gone out again to the greenhouse to finish cleaning all the little pots and plant trays. The lettuce there are past their prime. It was hard but I’ve pulled them and planted 2 eggplants in their spot. I tend to wait and hang on to things too long, even lettuce. Well, no more of that!

It seems my keyboard is my best tool for working things/my moods out. It doesn’t give me any back talk either. I can talk myself out with no criticism. Sometimes I just need to put it out here on the page, sounding myself out. If I pay attention, I can hear/see wherein my problems and solutions lie. It’s worth it to make the effort of showing up on my self scheduled days.

IT IS ALL GOOD

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Here it is after 6 pm Monday. It is a write day. What do I have to say? My #100dayproject is done. Now that I have finished 100 little watercolour paintings, I can clear the dining room table and put all the paints, pens and brushes away. It’s a bit of a relief, freeing up my mind and energy to work on yard and garden. After weeks of cool and cloudy weather, the sun smiled on us today. It’s nice to have a little heat. I’ve been busy puttering in the greenhouse and the yard.

I concentrate on not overdoing, being over zealous and doing myself in. I got a little excited yesterday planting some of my many celery seedlings. Then I thought how much celery can we eat? I already have a bunch in the greenhouse and a dozen or 2 in the raised bed. So I stopped and thought I would seed some more lettuce and spinach instead to have successive crops. The only thing was I couldn’t find my seeds. I looked high and low to no avail. That’s what I get for being scatter brained and not putting things back in their place. I made a note to work on that. I made do by seeding some Chinese broccoli and green onions. They’re good alternatives.

It is Tuesday morning. I didn’t quite finish my post yesterday. That’s how it is. I’m giving myself some slack. My plate is small. I can handle only so much and no more. Otherwise I get into such a tizzy. Then I run around in circles like a chicken without a head. Now I try to stop myself and take a deep breath. I tell myself I can stop – if there’s no life or death emergency. And there isn’t. It is all good. I had a visit with my mom yesterday. I took over a few tomato, kohlrabi, cabbage, squash and celery seedlings for my father to plant. My mother is not strong enough for it any more. My father still likes to putter though mom thinks he kills most of what he plants. No matter, if it keeps him occupied, it is all good.

My mother still likes to tend to her flower beds just outside the house. She didn’t want me to start petunias or anything for her this year. Last year’s snapdragons and marigolds self seeds and that is good enough for her. For once I listened. If it is what she wants, it will also be easier for me. I did have a few petunias left over and she let me plant those for her. Her tulips have finished blooming and she had moved some of them around so that there’s some all around the house. She said that she doesn’t know how much time she has left but she looks forward to enjoy them next year.

She and my father used to do their own groceries before Covid. Now my siblings and I have been doing their shopping for them. They visit with their friends on the phone but no meetings for coffees or lunches. They have talked about meeting for coffee when things are better. Mom says she is not bored at tall. She says life is very good. She is still able to go outside and look at her flowers and yard. She is still able to keep her house spic, span and beautiful. It would be better still if she was stronger and able to do more. I can see that she means what she said and not just trying to make me feel better. I can see it in her face that it is all good.