A bit more planting....

It was a gorgeous weekend here in the aspen parkland biome of Alberta. What a joy it was to go outside and dig in the dirt! Brown is still the predominant color in the landscape, but bits of green are poking through here and there. Under the straw I had put over the strawberries, a few green leaves were visible. I cleared away the wet straw and, after calling out to Gord that the strawberries had lived through the winter, covered them back up with some dry straw - we won't be frost-free at night for another month or so yet.

After that, I chose which seeds I would be planting in my half-whiskey barrel planters this year. I decided a while ago to plant edible or otherwise useful plants wherever I could this year, even in the planters usually used for annual decorative flowers. I will still plant some pansies here and there (they are edible after all, and inspirational too!) but this year I planted Rainbow Chard, Kale and Leaf Beets in the planters at the top of the driveway.

In two similar planters along the sides of the driveway, where there is more shade, I've planted a variety of lettuces. Well, in one of the planters anyway. When I was loosening the soil in the other planter I was getting run over by ants, who also loved the very warm Spring weather. I am a bit less freaked out by all the ants we have around here these days, but I still don't like them crawling on me in large numbers, say, 2 or more! I'll have to move that planter away from the ant hill.

I also tidied up the area where we had our little garden last year, taking the pallets off the 4X4 raised bed and just raking and sorting and such. I stirred up the compost, which has now thawed out enough to be stir-able, and found that I don't have a lot of ready compost in there this year. I will have buy some I guess.

A day outside, coupled with a nice family campfire the night before, made for a perfect weekend!