Sunday 8 April 2018

Whats with this weather

We in the 7th April and had snow on Friday and a high of 2 degrees Celsius expected today.  Frost last night froze the ground and everything is way slower than normal.

Th greenhouse is crammed full and by now I expected the plants to be bigger in the beds, but at lest the temps in there have not dropped below zero in a few weeks. The shelves are lined with seeings waiting for last frost, or for the cold hardy, till bed soil temperature gets to around 10 degrees Celsius. The two large pots in the middle of the floor are my ginger and turmeric pots and as you can see its a little crowded with the extra Ikea shelf and the pots. The kale and mustard in the beds is about 4 weeks old, but growing slowly with the soil temperature at arround 8 degrees. It generally hits the high teens to mid twenties still every afternoon, but nights it can drop down low single digits.

Although for things like tomatoes and peppers, I started them indoors and moved them out.  This year I have some interesting tree and shrub seeds that I am trying, and along with some squash etc, I planted them and left them to sprout when the temperature in the greenhouse naturally attains the right temperature for sprouting. This I hope will allow for any more weird unseasonal delays better than my own planning.

The second half of next week though, looks a little warmer in the forecast and the miracle of spring temps will hopefully allow me to move some of this out, and accelerate the growth inside it.

Monday 2 April 2018

Its a wild life!

I have a few guests, that I never invited. The first is a cutiest little chipmunk. Well I have only seen one, but my neighbours saw a pair. Last summer I was surprised a how little fruit I got from berry bushes. As it turns out, chippy probably enjoyed it. Now I have holes in the raised beds and compost heap (must have wanted warmth). I love the little guy and its being years since I have seen one in the city, but this digging everywhere has to stop, never mind my berries and whatever.

Second guest is a Bunny. No not the Easter bunny.  Now I am not sure how much is chippy vs Bugs but I scared him a few times while working in the garden. He is beauty, all sleek and shinny and quite large. He is also dug in a burrow under the bath pond.

I love the fact that the local wild life is moving back. This is true permiculture and nothing shows it more than them moving in. The birds and squirrels first, but now bunnies and chippies. Its a small yard and I expected to share, but I think I am going to have relocate these guys/girls.