All of the productivity of a summer can seem to disappear in the blink of an eye. And we did have a mostly busy and productive summer, almost right up to the end (I think most of us consider summer over when school starts, even if it’ll be warm for a while yet). Our Rottweiler, Artemis, had to have emergency…
Back in 2008, in my very first garden blog post, I said that I hated weeding. And that was true for a lot of years. Weeding is not easy on the body, for all the tools available, it requires hard work on the part of your back, shoulders, elbows, hands, knees…. usually all of the above. It’s also often tedious,…
Today was lovely with a thin cloud cover keeping the sun from baking everything, so after work I hit the garden for an hour before dinner. I couldn’t tell if we had seedlings with all the grass and oats coming up! For lack of another option (other than a rototiller, and I haven’t decided exactly which one I want yet),…
Less work = more posting. More work = less posting. Funny how that works. I prefer more frequently posting little bits of news, it’s easier to look back on and see a better timeline of what’s happened, but I can’t complain. I’m finally getting to do all the things I’ve been dreaming about! It’s sitting at a toasty 31c/88f so…
Here we have Tomatoes: Round 2, after I inadvertently murdered half of Round 1 by leaving them outside, defenseless against the upcoming below freezing temperatures. Moms know all about pregnancy brain and baby brain… I guess puppy brain is a thing too *sigh* I meant to bring them in…. combined with -3c that night, meant a bunch of limp, dead…
Last year we put in the new compost bin that we picked up at Costco. It’s made in Canada from recycled plastic and not very pretty to look at, but that’s ok. Functional is good enough, pretty is just a bonus. I left it alone for a full year, only adding material. It has been nearing full, so it was…
I fell in love with Rottweilers longer ago than I want to think about, but only started caring for one, 6 years ago. Our Artemis is a wonderful companion – loyal and stubborn and smart and gives not one care that she’s too big to be a lapdog. Once she got passed her land-shark stage, we started keeping an eye…
The plants were quickly running out of room, I think the tomatoes are plotting world domination. So, today’s supply run to Grande Prairie included a new set of shelves (only $35 from Costco) and the last 2, 3ft lights from Home Depot (I wanted to buy 4). This gives me 5 out of 7 possible shelves with lighting for my…
I up-potted the tomatoes and cabbages on the 8th, and in 5 short days, they recovered from the transplant shock and are growing very well. It’s amazing how much heat and humidity this plastic wrapped shelving “greenhouse” keeps in! This photo is from the 8th, after just being transplanted (the onions, peppers, and artichokes haven’t been up-potted yet) and they’re…
Well, they took their time, but bell peppers are fickle little beasts and it’s only barely warm enough in my little make-shift indoor greenhouse. Day 15 and I was starting to wonder if I needed to get a heat mat, but the first one peeked up this evening. My little onion starts look a little….. sad, but they’re a nice,…
If you’re tossing all your scraps into your compost pile, read this before you toss any more! Here’s some of my favourite things to regrow, though many more plants can be regrown. Potatoes Romaine Lettuce & Cabbage Celery Celery is very easy to regrow. Take the base/root end and place in a glass of water for a few days, once…