Spring prep in the garden
April and May are busy months in the garden, and mine is no exception! It’s busy indoors and outdoors, and every weekend there are “jobs for the weekend” (ala Monty Don and BBC’s Gardeners’ World fame, although of course over here in the colonies we are a few weeks behind, so I have to adjust my jobs based on the weather) let’s get into it.
Seedlings- I started my seedlings late March depending on the germination time and advice on the packet. Some seedlings like tomatoes need like 8 weeks before the last frost date to be ready to plant out. When is the last frost date? God knows, over here in 6b downtown toronto they say May 4th but my mum swears by the long weekend in May, so somewhere in there? Anyways, this year I’ve tried a few new approaches with some success and failures.
Trays, wow in a pandemic you have to be flexible, after very few options online, I decided to try biodegradable trays, which look cool but they’ve been crumbling and getting super moldey. Not sure if I would do that again. I also got some thicker fibre tubs from Veseys, and so far I am a fan, although they require more dirt than the cube trays. See photo for details
Lights- I have a couple of grow lights, but once you get to 6 trays you need to branch out. So I bought grow light bulbs, and they are really not great. Two of my sun blaster bulbs burnt out in less than a week, I don’t have the ability to tweak the height as I would like, so things are a bit leggy.
Types of seedlings. Well I have outdone myself this year. Let’s blame it in a stay at home order, or the fact that as a person when I am in I am ALL in. I am trying to grow flowers (zinnia, Tithonia, dahlias) for the first real time vegetables (cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, patty pan squash, kale, shallots, pole beans, snow peas, and many types of lettuce), and finally cucamelons, for the sole reason that since the pandemic began I have started to appreciate the taste of a good gin & tonic and a tiny melon (some people call them mouse melons) that tastes like a cross between a melon & a cucumber makes them the best cocktail garnish going. And last but definitely not least luffah. Why? Because I can ;)
Soil Prep- every year I ammend the soil in my garden with compost of some sort, it keeps things growing well and nutrients in the soil. I don’t use any chemical fertiliser in my garden so I want the soil to be as healthy as possible. I do throw some seaweed fertiliser on the flowering plants to give them a boost but that’s about it. This year was no exception, but I was really trying to not use peat. Did you know that peat is a non renewable resource? Anyways so instead I got 35 bags of worm castings. For those in the cheap seats, that means worm poop, flung onto the garden at a couple inches deep. We will see how it goes. I did this project April 15, I couldn’t wait any longer. The goal is to wait til its warm enough out so that if you cleanup you don’t interrupt insects in the leaves etc in your garden. I could always go longer without cleaning up, but I am an impatient sort.
New experiments- this year I am taking on a few new projects in the garden. First a vegetable garden, then a pergola, then a new shade garden out front.
Vegetable Garden, for those who’ve seen my garden I am all about the flowers, I want to make a beautiful space where I can hang out with friends and really relish in it, but I’ve always wanted to grow food. So this year I am getting serious. I got a long trough made (by a roofing company in town, thanks to the advice of the toronto Gardeners group on Facebook) and Brian is boxing it in, and I have built a collection of gorgeous terracotta pots. The best sun in the yard is on the deck, so that’s where they will be! With the irrigation system now being expanded to 6 zones out back, I am ready to keep these veggies alive! Stay tuned as I fight off critters big and small.
Pergola- well last year, a big storm ripped through our neighbourhood and took down my neighbours’ tree, so my lovely dappled shade corner is no longer, so instead we and the plants bake. We will be installing a pergola this summer to provide some much needed shade. Can you say climbing vines??
Front Shade Garden- I’ve decided now that the little kids to the left and right of my are big enough to see reason, I can finally have a front garden. (In years past they’ve used it as their own end zone) it’s north facing so I had to accept the fact that it’s a shade garden. I’ve ordered an upright Japanese maple, and plan to split a lot of my shade plants from the backyard and really take over the front.
So that’s where I am at, things are growing in nicely, I am pruning, planning and planting. I have a whole schedule, that with a pandemic I religiously am keeping to (first time ever frankly ;) ) if you want to see my plants, jobs and diary commentary answers are a bit tech savvy you can check out my airtable here, yes, I built this over the last year. What else am I doing with my time ;)
