Fourth Year SFG in Canada

@trolleydriver wrote:

@sanderson wrote:The photo looks like nature waking up from a long winter nap.

There is a lot of ice between the house and the SFG. I'm afraid to go out there with my already bad knee.

The garden can wait until it is safe to walk out there.

Can see more of the SFG beds as the snow and ice recede. Photo taken from second floor of the house.

I put out five more Winter Sowing containers today. They are all together in a basket. That makes a total of 29 containers (26 flowers and 3 vegetables). The vegetables are Kale, Spinach and Swiss Chard. I'll do more vegetable containers.

Snow and ice continue to recede but Environment Canada has issued a warning for freezing rain, wet snow and high winds for tonight and into tomorrow morning. Even so there are signs of new life in Mrs TD's flower beds.

Yeah! Flower noses! (my kids name for the first signs of emerging bulbs etc)

I got 7 more Winter Sowing containers (all vegetables) outside today for a total of 36.  I had to move the containers into a more sheltered location due to the very high winds we are getting.




The indoor sown Peppers are doing well except for a couple that I transplanted and are looking wilted.





These are the Leeks sown indoors in February and kept trimmed.


And these are the Green Bunching Onions, also sown indoors in February and kept trimmed.

They look great, TD!

@AtlantaMarie wrote:They look great, TD!

Thanks AM.

What to start next is the question. Too many seeds of too many things vying for limited space on the heat mat and under the lights. Prioritize ... must prioritize. Resistance is futile.

And then we have these Canada Crooknecks taking over the living room.

Oh, my! Looks like it's going to take over whether Mrs. TD likes it or not, lol!

TD, if I could grow squash indoors, I would... simply to laugh in the faces of squash bugs and borers.
 

On Thursday April 5, I sowed the following seeds indoors:

• Lobelia (flower)
  
• Eggplant - Purple Fingerling
  
• Tomato - Yellow Plum - 1 cell
  
• Tomato - Black Vernissage - 1 cell
  
• Tomato - Rapunzel - 1 cell
  
• Tomato - Campari - 1 cell
  
• Tomato - Yellow Giant Belgium - 1 cell
  
• Tomato - Purple Bumblebee - 1 cell
  
• Tomato - Black Cherry - 1 cell
  
• Tomato - Yellow Ruffle - 1 cell
  
• Tomato - True Black Brandywine - 1 cell
  
• Tomato - Big Beef Hybrid - 3 cells
  
• Tomato - Roma (determinate) - 3 cells
  
• Tomato - Bonny Best - 3 cells
  

Plus I have more Bonny Best Tomatoes outside in a Winter Sowing container.

If all of the tomatoes grow into transplants I am going to have a problem. I do not have enough room for them.

It's cold here today (around the freezing mark) but the sun is shining beautifully. I heard what I think is my first  robin of the year singing (the robin not me) in the neighbour's backyard. I took advantage of the nice day to get out the SFG and other parts of the garden. Except for a thin top layer the Mel's Mix is still frozen solid.

There is still some snow around but these SFG beds are clear.



This is something that sanderson has been waiting to see. It's the lasagna bed that I started last Fall. It's gone down a lot in height but looks like there is a lot more work to be done to breakdown the materials.



The temperature in the middle of the lasagna bed is still around the freezing mark.



I moved the Winter Sowing containers to main SFG area.



I removed the wood cover from the Table Top so that the MM can warm up. Right now it is still a frozen block.



One day late last year I noticed that most of the water in our goldfish pond had disappeared. Today I discovered why. There is a pump in the pond that pumps the water through a pipe and up to the back of the small waterfall.  The pipe has split. We had a some cold freezing weather and I wonder if the end of the pipe froze up and then the pressure from the pump split it.



One more look at the main SFG beds.

My husband came in when I was looking at the photos and wondered why a photo of one of my table tops was in your post!

The lasagna pile looks good. Now that it is "warming up" the microbes and worms should be going to town. I'm betting that in 2 months there will be some good compost. Is the top dry? Maybe spray the top?

@sanderson wrote:My husband came in when I was looking at the photos and wondered why a photo of one of my table tops was in your post!  

The lasagna pile looks good.  Now that it is "warming up" the microbes and worms should be going to town.  I'm betting that in 2 months there will be some good compost.  Is the top dry?  Maybe spray the top?

Did you tell your DH where I got the plan from for my TT?

The outside layer is dry but it is damp underneath. It's not easy to water it at the present time since the hoses are put away for the cold weather and I don't want to turn on the outside tap yet. Maybe if we have some light rain I;ll uncover it for a while.

Yep. We have the same red bricks on our patio so at first glance, it looked like our place.

Nice set-up, TD. I think this is the 1st time I've actually seen it...

On this day last year we had just got back from my cleaning out my Mother's house after she passed away. I just checked some photos from last year that I took when got back and there is a big difference with this year.

Last year on April 10-11 the rhubarb was coming up ... no sign of it this year.

Last year the pond was thawed out and the fish were swimming around ... this year the pond is still full of snow and ice.

Last year some of my Winter Sowing containers had seeds that had germinated ... this year nothing.

Last year the high temps on April 9, 10 and 11 were +16C (61F), +24C (75F) and +9C (48F) respectively ... this year +1C (34F), +5C (41F), +7C (45F) ... looks like a new mini ice age to me.

Everything looks like its coming together
Interesting on the Leeks I never knew you could trim them

I feel your pain on the pond hoses, I have been switching out all my pond hoses with a translucent silicone hosing.

@trolleydriver wrote:
Last year some of my Winter Sowing containers had seeds that had germinated ... this year nothing.

Last year the high temps on April 9, 10 and 11 were +16C (61F), +24C (75F) and +9C (48F) respectively ... this year +1C (34F), +5C (41F), +7C (45F) ... looks like a new mini ice age to me.

Our winter weather seems to be lingering this year, too.  So many things are so far behind...including me starting seeds.  I haven't even planted out sugar snap peas yet and this time last year I was on the 3rd planting.
Crazy!

I am definitely a month behind this year. I look at last year's spring photos and it's depressing.

@sanderson wrote:I am definitely a month behind this year.  I look at last year's spring photos and it's depressing.

Same here and it's doubly depressing since I got started a month early. Mother Nature is definitely in a bad mood. 

@countrynaturals wrote:

@sanderson wrote:I am definitely a month behind this year.  I look at last year's spring photos and it's depressing.

Same here and it's doubly depressing since I got started a month early. Mother Nature is definitely in a bad mood. 

As for me I have this to look forward to: 

"Every kind of nasty weather – snow, ice pellets and freezing rain – will team up in a “messy mix” this weekend and maybe even into Monday, Environment Canada warns in a special weather statement for Ottawa ."

Spent a few minutes in the garden today and opened the shed for the first time this year.  Late last year the pond became almost empty. Turned out the pump hose that goes to the waterfall had split. Today I managed to push that hose far enough into the waterfall so that it would not leak (I will replace it later). Then I turned on the power for the pump which is in the bottom of the pond. It works!!!  The pond still has a huge ball of ice in it.

This is the veggie garden today. Tomorrow it will be covered in 10 centimetres of snow plus freezing rain to follow. There are 42 Winter Sowing containers in the SFG paths.



Overview of the backyard from the patio. Still looks drab and dreary.



The pond with lots of ice and the little waterfall in action.





Life in the front garden as the bulbs are pushing up.



These are the Pepper seedlings doing really well.



And finally the Tomato seedlings (many varieties) were started well after the Peppers.





I also have eggplant seedlings that are just starting and my bunching onions and leeks continue to do well. The Canada Crookneck Squash in the living are hanging in there.

I always enjoy photos of your garden.