Spring has finally Sprung

It's been so long I don't even know where to start.  How about with a big thank you to those of you who have stopped by and left a comment to encourage me to come back to writing.  I missed you too!  This winter was the longest and snowiest we have experienced since moving to PEI.  I shoveled, then shoveled some more, did my school work, and split firewood.  All by myself.

I saw this view many times this winter

I haven't mentioned that Jody was away in British Columbia for 3 months working.  Only just returning a couple weeks ago.  At the time he decided to leave we did not anticipate how bad the winter would get.

I wouldn't want to take care of this house by myself on a permanent basis but the good news is I managed just fine for a couple months.  A lengthy vacation home to BC helped too.  I walked away from the constant storms and stepped off the plane to this.

I can't tell you how relieved I was to see my husband and green grass all at the same time.  Vancouver is about two months ahead of PEI when it comes to spring.

I made good use of my time in Vancouver ....  shopping, eating and..... looking at flowers... of course!  A day was spent at Van Dusen Botanical Gardens.  I stopped by various community gardens, shopped for seeds and plants and took copious amounts of photos.  But that will be another post.

When I finally did come home the snow had almost completely disappeared.  There was grass.  It was brown but still .....  I could SEE the grass in my lawn for the first time in months...  and there was work to be done.

I immediately set to work planting seeds.  I was several weeks behind schedule due to my vacation so there was no time to lose.

The dining table looked like this for a few weeks

Tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, pumpkins, and zucchini all had to be seeded.  I cut back a bit on my seeding this year since I was so late starting but regardless I still managed to plant 9 varieties of tomatoes.  I met the most fabulous man in December at a seed swap and he had HUNDREDS of tomato varieties to trade.  So really, planting 9 varieties was quite restrained of me.

After the seeding I went directly to the great outdoors.  I surveyed the damage.  Lots of chewed and broken branches from heavy snows and voles.  In retaliation I planted trees.  Hemlock, larch, spruce, birch and ... a magnolia!  While we were in Vancouver THIS caught my attention.

So very pretty, and yellow.

Jody took note and brought me home a Yellow Bird magnolia from a local nursery.  Of course now I'm planning a whole new bed around this tree.  More work to come!

After the trees came the vegetable garden.  Currently I'm still working away on getting the beds ready but I did manage to get my spring veggies in.  Claytonia, arugula, mustard, lettuce, garlic, spinach and kale don't mind some chilly temperatures and it means we'll have spring salads in no time at all. 

One half of this veggie plot is dug over but there's a lot more to do yet...

The flower garden is the biggest chore to tackle this year.  After 3?  4? years the flower garden is still not complete.  At least a quarter of the space is completely covered in weeds.  I swear, this is the year I completely dig over and plant up that garden.  You have that in writing.

This flower bed may be my undoing ....

I have started work cutting back last years perennials and digging weeds.  Making discoveries along the way.  The lamb's ear has grown so large the center has died out.  However, the sweet woodruff has decided it will happily take it's place.

Look to the left and you can see sweet woodruff growing under and around the stump

While some areas of this garden haven't been planted at all, the plants in other spots have grown too large.  As I clean up the debris I'm also dividing.  That's a good thing as the Canoe Cove Plant Sale is coming up quick on Saturday, May 31, 2014.  We need all the plants we can get.  If you're local and reading this, please consider donating any extra perennials you might have.  Plants can be brought to Inman Park in Canoe Cove on Friday, May 30 at 6pm.  All proceeds from the sale go toward maintaining the Canoe Cove Schoolhouse.

A sample of the plants I have dug for the sale so far 

For those of you wanting to attend the plant sale we have already bagged a trailer full of mushroom compost for you.  There will also be manure, the canteen will be open serving coffee and baked goodies, there's a raffle and of course, plants!

In short, I'm a busy bee these days.  There's much more to catch up on and I hope to get back into blogging as much as I can throughout the summer.  I have taken a semester off school and have until September to garden to my heart's content.  Hope everyone is well and I will attempt to visit you at your blogs soon.  Until then, happy gardening!