GROWING LITTLE THINGS: spring

Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts

Hello Spring!

"With the coming of spring, I am calm again." - Gustav Mahler

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Welcome, spring...and a fresh bunch of tulips for my table.

It's always fun to begin plotting out your garden once the snow melts away. This year I've decided to grow a majority of my kitchen/cutting garden from seed -- mainly to stay within my budget, but also to make the garden more exciting for Ari!

I have two 4x8 foot raised garden beds and want to try the square foot gardening method this year. I've never done it before, but think it could make for a very full and bountiful garden if it works! I downloaded these square foot garden planner templates to help map out my garden with flowers, herbs and vegetables. I also looked up companion planting to take that into consideration in planning plant placements.

I just came across the seed company, Heritage Harvest Seeds this year! They have a beautiful illustrated catalogue and specialize in rare and heirloom varieties. The best part is that they are located in Carman, MB...very close to my hometown! I enjoyed reading through the catalogue and making my selections.

It's only April, so it will be a few weeks until I can sow my seeds outside (I am not starting any indoors to transplant), but I'm looking forward to it!

Here's a list of what will go in my garden:

Tomatoes (buy plants)
Cucumbers
Mesclun mix
Arugula
Mini pumpkins
Carrots
Radishes
Peas
Pole beans
Basil
Chives
Parsley
Cilantro
Marigolds
Nasturtium
Zinnias
Dwarf sunflowers
Cosmos

Here is a helpful chart from Sage Garden Greenhouse with guidelines for sowing seeds in Zone 3.

The Duck Pond

On Thursday both kids woke up with a miserable cold and I knew they would both need a lot of sleep for the day to be passable for me. I decided to go for a drive with them in the morning so they could nap and ended up heading to Winnipeg (about 1.5 hours away). Since the day was sunny and warm I took them to a park with a duck pond for a picnic to pass the time until they were ready for afternoon naps on the drive home. We had a great time watching the ducks and geese!

What could have been a wasted sick day at home turned out to be our best day of the week. I feel like I turned lemons into lemonade! We had so much fun that I think we'll try little day trips like this more often -- it's refreshing to have a change of scenery.

Things to do this Spring

It's April! Time to embrace spring and all of its glory. Here's a little bucket list of things to do...
(Inspired partly from this)

Go for a hike once the trails are dry
Play at the park and take a picnic along
Plant the garden (and, clean up after winter)
Knit this tunic for Maris
Make a bird feeder and/or house
Go for bike rides
Make a designated digging spot in the backyard for Ari
Return to Vancouver with Maris in May
Finish my decluttering challenge and have my first ever garage sale!
Enjoy the sunshine

All photos taken Spring 2016...before Maris came along. This year there are two garden helpers!

Life Marches On

Another month has passed us by. March is always my least favourite month - long and too cold when all you're waiting for is spring to arrive! We are finally having some warmer days and our snow is just about gone. I have a feeling that April will be much more enjoyable! Here are a few pictures to recap our month...

The greenhouses have opened and I visited New Leaf Garden Centre (pictured) and Shelmerdine's this month. I have spent some time planning my garden and bought seeds to direct sow when it's warm enough.