January Thaw

         This was the post-Christmas snowfall - a festive look in the front yard. However it is all gone now, as we are having a break from the wintry weather. A bit of rain and quite a lot of wind, but warm. I looked out in the afternoon and the sky was blue! And the solar water heater was cranking out hot water in the basement.         
          Decided to go for a walk, up the hill as far as the golf course. In our sheltered corner there was not much evidence of the wind, but it was still blowing up on the hill, on my back as I walked. I was a bit worried about the return journey but it was not too bad - a function of the +5 degree temperature! However it started to rain a bit as I neared home.
               I stopped in at the polytunnel to give it a bit of a face-lift. It had popped a few clips on the Southeast corner in the wind before Christmas, and then of course the clips were under the snow so I couldn't do anything about it. However! The snow has disappeared and the clips were just where I thought they'd be so I got it all put back together again. It's a bit damp inside but warm. I wish I could grow out there! But I am not deceived. The cold will return.
            The cold frame was bare as well, and everything inside looks great. A bit dry but I don't want to water, as there's cold coming tomorrow - and snow on Wednesday. And as I look out now there are flurries. It's been nice to have the break, though.

Welcome to 2015

   

      Just checking in to report progress, especially on all of those Veseys great buys last year. Garden time is here and I can't be spending time indoors!!

After a record-breaking snowy winter (almost  550 cm. in total) spring arrived sluggishly. It was very chilly long into April, but the snow FINALLY all went (people were still finding snowbanks in June in some places) and I got the plants, started in the house, out into the poly-tunnel at last. While the snow lasted we took advantage of our extra height (on snowshoes) to do some pruning up high. Fred did the spruce hedge and I tackled the apple tree. This will be the big fruit year for the Golden Delicious so I didn't think it would affect the fruit production. I never get to harvest the ones at the top of the tree anyway.

     These are striped squills, from Veseys, never had these before. Anne has the blue ones, Siberian, we think, and they are amazing. Very bright and visible blue. These were lovely, though. They are in the south corner of the bed beside the house. The fritillarias did really well there this year, and the spring anemonies have spread in an amazing fashion. I love that their seed heads are almost as attractive as their blooms.

       I dug this bed by the lilac hedge about a foot wider and put in a lot of the tulips and grape hyacinths I had bought at Veseys there. (Next fall I shall prepare ahead of time!) But they did well, in spite of the fact that they went in in November. I had bought quite a few daffodils, but there weren't many of those in evidence this spring. It may have been too late for them. I am pleased that only one of the peonies didn't make it. I am looking forward to a bloom on the "Callie's Memory", it is an Itoh and was listed in the catalogue at $59.00.  My 3 bearded iris "Immortality" has one bloom between them, but the 3 "Ziggy" German ones don't have any. They are alive, however! There are many perennials I haven't yet seen - pink buttercups, Petrovska, baby's breath. I may have spotted the papaver "Harlem". Fingers crossed.

     I am planning to make a "woodland" garden in the area to the north of the shed - the trees are mainly evergreens, unfortunately, but there are larches, which allow in some Spring sunshine from the east. I need to beef up the evergreens at the back because the spruces are getting on in age and their lower branches are dying back, so the chilly northerlies are getting in. I am thinking cedar as it is quite dark back there.
     Anyway I planted a clump of Erithroniums at the edge (Veseys, $2 for 5) and they were the sorry-est-looking bulbs you've ever seen. But look! They bloomed! and they are doing well. I have bought a spurge at the Flower Patch, and I may move my geums in there as well. Then the oranges and yellows will be together. I have to build up some beds for plants along the edge by the fence, and then a path to a seat at the back, in front of the cedars. It would be a great place for rhododendrons on the other side of the path.  I have a couple of cornus alternafolia there too, bird-planted I think. One for sure is a keeper.

     Anne was over for a couple of days to help shore up the poly-tunnel - we put a frame around the bottom and a 2x4 ridge, and plastic doors front and back. It seems to be holding up against the wind, though I don't know if it will be able to withstand snow load. I should be able to stick a couple of posts up under the ridge, though, and that might help. Of course,  I don't know if it will be enough, if we get the amount of snow we had last winter!

To this

From this

Much better!!!

Even more wintry weather!

     We've had a daddy of a snowstorm and now can boast quite a covering of snow. It was followed by a couple of days of -15 degrees with real wind chill so the snow has solidified, even though it was followed by a daytime temperature of +7 - down to a more reasonable -3 today but still lovely for going for a walk outside.

   While walking, I listened to a couple of "Gardener's Corner" podcasts from January, 2011, where they (amusingly) talked about the winter being nearly over - and flowering winter shrubs! No wonder our ancestors found Canada such a harsh environment. No, winter is not nearly over. We sometimes say that during the St. Patrick's Day snowstorm, but that's a month away yet.
     My poor greenhouse (polytunnel really) is still a sad sight, with lots of snow covering the plastic, pulling it down, the ends blown out, and many of the plastic conduit poles down - I fear to go out and see how bad it is. Obviously it's not sturdy enough for our dreadful winters. I should have taken the cover off, and then the structure would have been safe. A harsh lesson.
     Knitting continues apace. I have been making felted slippers again, and have rediscovered a couple of felted bags made a couple of years ago and never finished. I'm thinking seriously of embellishment, and have signed up to the "Ambrosia Cottage" group on Ravelry - the owner sells hat patterns to knit and felt, and posts pictures of the embellished results. This could be where my beading skills will come in handy.

The slippers are made of Patons Soy Wool, which I bought in large supply a couple of years ago in pound bags from the mill. They start out quite big and baggy - these ones are sized to end up at 7-1/2 - but they felt down quite quickly. I put them in a hot wash and they just needed to go through one cycle. 
I've been needle-felting insoles in my slippers (after they have been are felted) and that's quite satisfying, as well as being a great decoration method. Quite quick as well.  I am just using some carded locks, which I have had ever since I learned to spindle-spin many years ago (in the first crafts revival of the Seventies). Ah the memories.

  The soles needle-felt right down to a cozy and fluffy insole. Now, to figure out what to do to make the soles wear...having tried the caulking gun (and discovering that the stuff wears off quite quickly, or doesn't penetrate the fibre and picks off) I think for this time I'm going for something sewn on. Recommendations range from shelf- or rug-liner to suede or untrasuede (purchased second-hand). I do have a tube of puffy paint too, and I suppose I might try it - it's black, though, so I won't be doing it on these babies.

This are the 7-1/2s with insole, and the red-orange ones will end up at size 9-9-1/2. I have another bigger pair with black soles and another stripey yarn on the tops. I like the little semi-circle of sole that comes to the top of the toe - they look like old-timey rubber-soled sneakers.
      I should say that the pattern for these slippers is "Duffers - revisited" and I bought it from the designer, Mindie Tallack, on Ravelry. I am becoming a true fan of this online buying of patterns - just click and it's in your email - or, if you buy through Ravelry, it's in your Ravelry Library.  I am sure people have been doing this for years for music and movies on iTunes, but it's new and thrilling for me. 
   We finally got to  go to dance again - Fred's work and snowstorms kept us away for three weeks, so it was great to get back. Work at the fabric store has kept me from ballroom dance, however (three weeks of being scheduled for 5-9 on Thursday nights!) but this week I'm on for Sunday afternoon (so as to miss dancing at the pub!) and all day Wednesday instead. I may not have the energy to dance at Irish after being on my feet for 8 hours! But it is simply great to not have any responsibility. And there are plenty of fabrics to drool over - and buy - as well.  I got a big bolt of lambswool interlining - regularly priced at $21.99/metre - for $10 the lot. I don't know what the future holds for it, but it will make many warm things. Or perhaps many things warmer.