Possibly Not Spring Quite Yet...

     The snow has (mostly) gone, and quite quickly, too, considering how much of it there was. But Spring is still being a bit coy. Today, for example, we have light freezing drizzle and a minus one big degree outdoors. I had erected my poly tunnel and put out some seedlings a few days ago but I brought them all back indoors yesterday. I suppose I could run a power cord and put the electric heater out there, but it seems like a recipe for conflagration or other disaster...  

     The crocus are doing their best to cheer me up, coming up everywhere under the viburnums - as soon as the snow cleared away they bloomed, the brave things. Some of the daffs and the tulips are poking up as well, but no sign of blooms as yet. Very sensible of them, I'm sure.
Some slugs of unmarried parents have nipped off my hellebore beside the front path - I saw the buds unfurling, went back the next day to trim off the last year's leaves and the buds were gone. I don't have slug pellets but I put down grit, and then put it around the new hellebores I planted in the front yard as well. (I hope the slugs are enjoying the freezing drizzle.) I am planning a trip to Veseys this afternoon and hope to get slug pellets there - or somewhere. They don't deserve beer.
    I have quite a few varieties of tomatoes started - I am going to try to beat the dreaded blight spores this year, including growing them in the poly tunnel in pots. If the Brits can do it, so can I! I got "Defiant" and "Sweet Million" at Veseys, "Sasha's Pride" and "Super Italian Paste" at West Coast Seeds, and Anne sent "Legend" and "Stupice". I have pricked out most of them, and have about a dozen of each. Anne will have to take quite a few - or we'll have to plough up the lawn.  I also have sweet peppers up, and am trying to grow quinoa - the first seeds I planted have germinated, but they got quite stretched indoors. I tried to pot some of them on, but they didn't have their first true leaves yet, and, combined with low light, they have all expired. I have started a few more!
    Anne has sent me some seeds of white plants from VanDusen Garden and I am putting two of them into the cold frame - now that it is out from under the snow. One of them needs 16 degrees ("Asarina procumbens") so I'll keep it in, but the other two are OK for outdoors - "Aquillegia alpina 'alba'" and "Cardiocrinum giganteum". Fingers crossed.

Happy spring 2014

    This has been a winter to end all - snowstorms began in December and came along quite regularly afterwards, at a rate of one or two - occasionally three - a week thereafter. We have a lot of snow piled up around us - a couple of thaws have reduced them a bit, but then more storms come and the levels are restored, or built up even further. The City is in even worse shape - the practice has been to truck snow away from parking lots, but I think this must have gotten steadily more expensive; so this year they are just piling and going on piling. The big WalMart lot has a HyMac earth-mover in the middle of the pile, and it is heaping the snow up even higher than the bulldozers can get it. Parking spaces are becoming more and more limited, and in some lots you dare not go down certain lanes, because there's no exit at the end and you may have to back out.

       Spring has brought no respite - this past two weeks schools were cancelled for five days in a row, making 12 days in all this winter. I seem to remember that, last year, we had garden preparation going on by now, and some vegetables planted by the end of the month. Not so this year. The garden is buried, the polytunnel is collapsed under the snow (as it has been since December) and it never gets thawed out enough to even *try* to clear it off and pop it up again. I *wish* I had  thought to de-skin it last fall - it is the only way it will survive, especially with snow like this.  I just checked with the government weather site and they have recorded 400+ cm of snow from December to the end of March. and 25+ in April - so far. Today is foggy and +2 degrees, so there is melting, but this stuff is going to take a *while* to go away.
    The iPhoto app has a "last 12 months" photo list. Last April 11 I was photographing my very first hellebore, unfurling. This year - it is somewhere under that snowbank, just on the right. Not unfurling, if it knows what's good for it.
    It has been a good year to get work done indoors, however. We got the sink and tub in the laundry/bathroom hooked up and I spent a couple of messy days tiling and grouting. I think they look pretty good now. We still need a tall book-case to put beside the washer, to hide all the plumbing and stuff behind it, and hold a few towels and so on. I have an IKEA one picked out, but IKEA is just too far!

Sink, nearly finished

Tub, in the mudpie phase (grouting)

Tub, complete with "Bathsheba" print

     There are just a couple of things left to do - seal the grout, fill in some cracks around the tub with expanding foam, and then silicone seal between the tile and the tub and sink, and, if I can manage it, a tiny bead between the tile and the wall. Our sink installer suggested a bead around the pedestal and the floor tile too. And I think, once all that is done, I'd like to spray expanding foam around the tub, to insulate it and also to firm it up a bit. Oh, and build the cupboard doors for the linen closet, and the panels for under the tub. How many years did this project take? I really love it, though.
     But I would love Spring more.

Shedding

     The shed build has begun! I wonder why we didn't start this when the weather was better - we have spend a few days out there in the rain and fog so far - but it is coming along fine. I have made a few calculation errors so far, but (I hope) have learned from them.
     We have made progress from this picture, as we have the end wall (to the east) built and almost all sided. Then we will raise it and start on the south wall... the tall one, as this shed will have a shed roof. The idea is to add a greenhouse to the south side, taking advantage of the shelter the shed will provide to the north.
     We have to add some more supports under the long wall (it is 8 feet by 16 feet) before we add any more weight to the floor ;-) and then I have to think about where the floor of the greenhouse will be - I have been planning for it to be on ground level, and right now the space under the shed floor (necessary for ventilation) will deliver some chilly north wind right into the greenhouse! I am hoping some interlocking styrofoam sheets will take care of the problem - and I suppose they could be removed when it gets hot, to provide additional ventilation.
     This has of course been taking up all our free time - in fact, between that and work I barely have time to cook. Must try to get some bread baked today, as we have been buying bread!

Winterizing

     I have harvested all my carrots from the garden now, and am trying the Pedersen method of keeping them...they are in a big pickle bucket, still dirty, and covered with dampish peat moss. The ones that didn't fit are washed and are going into another "Veseys" box - it is a plastic box this time, and I have yet to sew the liner so they're just in the garage for the moment. But all of this is so time-sensitive!
      It was almost 30 degrees in the polytunnel today, the sunshine makes a terrific difference. But it has frozen at night, there are a couple of plants there which have been 'touched' by frost. I may try to save them - they are actually house plants, so they might make a cheery addition indoors - if I can find them a spot somewhere. 

     This is the cold-frame, about half-full of perennials, trees and such to overwinter, we hope successfully. I am going to do more insulating around the sides and front. It still doesn't have hinges, but that it a small detail. Last year I just had a window and bags of wood pellets!
     This weekend we hope to get started on building our shed - we cut down a big double spruce on the site last weekend and it is amazing how much space there is now! Fred thinks we could make it BIGGER than 8 x 16. I'm not sure. Anyway it would be great to have a spot for all the summer furniture and stuff, and then I could concentrate on the food storage in the garage.
     Oh! and of course it's the Guy Fawkes party on Saturday. Remember, remember!

Thyme for Bulbs

      We have been collecting bulbs for the past weeks and I had nearly all of them in the ground... and then Veseys had their half-price sale, and now I have more! A great big bag of different ones I have to site somewhere. I bought a couple of huge plastic pots when Kent was moving to their new store (and selling off the stuff they didn't want to move) and I think I could put a lot of little ones in there - I am thinking the Hollandica Iris (I have 50!) on the bottom and the crocus on the top (Blue Pearl and Jeanne d'Arc). But the fritillaria Persica and Fox's Grape will have to go into the ground. (I seem to have a habit of planting bulbs on or near Hallowe'en!) But first I need some styrofoam peanuts for the bottom of the pots or I won't be able to move them around. They are that big.
     The ones which are already planted are Alliums - 4 Gladiator and 15 Aflatuenense, and pink assorted narcissus (I always fall for these) as well as fritillaria Meleagris. And a whole lot of tulips, pink and white doubles and some purple ones from Vanco. Spring will be glorious.
          I found a great mitten pattern on Ravelry in the free patterns. It is in DK with a lace pattern on the back of the hand, and I have made one pair and have another under way. They are very quick and quite cute, I think! And could be a great use for all the DK I have gathered and have in storage.
      I have been home, of course, and making time for domestic tasks as well as planting. Processed a pumpkin yesterday and made puree for the freezer ( and a pie) and I am thinking I will do the other pumpkin as well, today (instead of wasting it as a jack o'lantern). I may boil this one rather than roasting it. Roasting may be more flavorful but it takes more cooking time.
       Yesterday I finished off planting a big patch of thyme - we killed the grass with carpet and I have spot-planted thyme plants in the space.

I am mulching with newspaper and sawdust to keep the grass from coming back until the thyme has gotten a head start. I know we will probably still have to mow to keep the grass at bay, but I think having big patches of thyme will be a vast improvement over just grass alone. I gathered some of the plants at the beach, (wooly thyme) and some of them had white blooms, as well as the more common purple. My fingers are thoroughly crossed.

Harvest and storage time

I am already missing my wonderful tomatoes. I had plans to bring in a couple of plants and try to keep them producing for a bit longer, but - alas! - they were stricken with blight at the last and so came to quite an abrupt end. There are quite a few tomatoes in the freezer - the plants were quite productive when they were healthy - but it's not the same as going out and picking a few - or a lot - whenever you wanted to. I must try again with the blight-resistant varieties, and perhaps getting some growing in the greenhouse, next year.
I have closed in the ends of the greenhouse, and am moving annuals (that I think are worth saving) into pots and stashing them in there. And yesterday Anne and I constructed a cold frame, a veritable Rolls Royce of cold frames, with a cover made from poly-carbonate Tuftex. I have to stain it with Water Seal today, and then site it where the sun does shine, and fill it up. It's 5 feet by 3 (150 cm x 90 cm) and looks like it will house quite a bit.

I also made a vegetable storage bin - from jute and an old deep-freeze wire basket. It's full of carrots and damp sawdust, and is in the 'root cellar' - ie., the insulated garage.

Wire basket with jute bag, sewn to fit, inside. I got the jute as a remnant for $1. 

Carrots from a market, washed - and huge.

I used wood pellets for the sawdust - they were free as well.  I think I should look for more wire baskets!

Old Home Week

        This event is the big provincial exhibition, with animal judging, handcrafts, etc. We went to have a look on Wednesday, and were impressed with the rugs and quilts in particular. There are a couple of evenweave embroiderers who are making impressive things as well. The standards are quite high in those categories - but the older crafts are plugging along as they always have, and the same people are producing the same things... not *quite* crocheted acrylic ponchos but very, very close.
         One of my work-mates entered an apron - very elaborate, with black-and-white coordinated cottons, and jumbo ric-rac. She had made a prototype and wasn't happy with it so refined the pattern and made another. She won 3rd prize! ($2). The first-prize ($7!) winner was a typical "granny" apron with ruffles up the sides and along the straps, made of poly-cotton broadcloth, and fitting, at a guess, a 12-year-old. I am sure the same apron pattern wins every year. Most of the sewing and knitting was along the same lines. I am sure the same judges are looking for the same things, and so no progress is made. It's tempting to enter something! Maybe an elaborate lace shawl in silk - I must finish my "Print 'o the Wave" one!
           The animals were cute - ducks and chickens and sheep - many of the cattle were being shown while we were there, and frankly, watching that takes more expertise than I have. It was HOT for the animals on display, however. I am sure they will be happy to get home again. A highlight was going on a free horse-and-wagon ride around the racetrack - that's a view I've never seen before.