Monday 14 April 2008

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!

8 comments:

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

"What a joy it was to go outside and dig in the dirt!"- it was this which made me keep reading not just this post but other parts of your blog, and I'm glad I did.
Your writing seems gently wise and full of the joys of life :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Theresa -- unrelated to this post, but I didn't want to clutter up Chile's blog (no clutter for her, get it? hehe :)

Anyway I did not receive your email that you sent. sueb1997 at yahoo dot com

try again?

thanks

sue

Theresa said...

Thank you theelementary. :) I do have moments of ranting and whining as well! But I try to remember the joy of the little things.

Sue - hmm..I wonder what I did wrong - must've goofed up the translation somehow. I will re-email you!

DC said...

We had our first real spring day today. It was wonderful. I love watching the seasons change. It makes me think of a poem by Saisho:

Earth, mountains, rivers – hidden in this nothingness.
In this nothingness – earth, mountains, rivers revealed.
Spring flowers, winter snows:
There’s no being or non-being, nor denial itself.


I am also now pondering your whiskey barrel planters and wondering how long it took you to consume all that whiskey so you could cut the barrels in half and grow things in them. It must have been a fun winter ;-)

Simply Authentic said...

Oh neat! I absolutely love pansies and i had forgotten that they are edible so thanks for reminding me! Glad you could get out into the dirt! I was pretty excited to see little green starts from the oregano seeds popping out of the soil yesterday. I've started some window boxes on my kitchen table currently. :-) The peppers and such aren't starting as well as the oregano though!

Theresa said...

Mmmm...that is a beautiful poem, dc! Concise, yet expansive.

Ah yes, the whiskey barrels! Unfortunately, the contents were consumed and the barrels carved in half long before we got them! Not even a drop of 'swish' to be had! ;)

I have yet to plant any oregano seeds, Simply A, but I do have a packet ready to go when I get my act together. Oregano is my favorite herb!

Anonymous said...

Your post made me look up "BC Biomes" to find out what region I live in! Is that your land you showed in the photo? Beautiful!

Theresa said...

Until writing this post I didn't know what biome I lived in either, RA! Yes it is our land in that picture and those are the aspen trees in the background. We are fortunate to have a little acreage to take care of - so far it has been very patient with us. :)

Oh, and all the pictures I put up in the header/title bar are from our land as well - I try to record the changing of the seasons in those pictures as well as the variety of plants and bugs and things that abound in a relatively small area.