No Worries in the Garden

 

 The chilly spring weather hasn't affected the bloom time of the wild flowers or the spring bulbs.
The dogtooth violets are blooming and the trilliums will open up next week as per usual.

 The windflowers are low to the ground and gradually spread around.

 The drumstick primrose is quite tough although I lost one to a chipmunk.

 Blue scillas are popping up everywhere.

Daffodils are great as the squirrels and chipmunks don't eat them.  They will multiply but you usually have to divide them to get good blooming over the years.

 This bright yellow primrose always blooms before the other primroses.  It's really vigorous and a bit unusual in that it has multiple centers .

 I planted a small pan of microgreens.  A youtube video suggested including some radish in with the lettuces.  I also tossed in some basil seeds.  The young radish leaves are quite tasty.

The pink Chinese celery got planted outside yesterday. I find it quite decorative.

Bougainvillea

The bougainvillea is blooming again.  I thought it was going to die as it had some kind of blight or virus that was making brown spots on the leaves and they were dropping off. I let it really dry out in February and it has been better since. I gave it some fertilizer when I saw it was making buds. It is not as vigourous as last year but hopefully it will stay alive. It's a nice cheerful flower to have at the end of winter and the flowers last for quite a while. The flowers dry very well and keep their bright colour for months if they are kept out of direct sunlight.

Hope everyone is well.

Connect Disconnect

In this time of Covid19, there are so many contrasts. The front line health care staff, grocery and drugstore staff, the truck drivers  and other essential workers risk getting the virus every day. On top of that, nurses and doctors and long-term care staff deal with the trauma of suffering and death every day. Yet here we are, my husband and I, snug in our little house in the bush with nothing more demanding to do than to stay home. Stay home, plant seeds, knit, cook, read, do puzzles. A life with fewer risks than we normally have.

The loss of work is very uneven. Dentists, optometrists, physiotherapists who normally always have work are suddenly needing government support to buy food and other necessities. Random businesses can work remotely so their workers are still paid and also saving on commuting expenses.
Some restaurants have begun selling groceries to try to stay in business. AirBnB is crashing (yeah!)

Some cities have manageable numbers of infected people, other similar cities are overwhelmed.
One thing that is certain is that life is never safe  and no one is guaranteed a long and healthy life even without Covid19.

As we who are quarantined at home pause, I am so thankful for the natural world that keeps singing, growing and reassuring us that this is just another season in history. It's not the first time our world has been shaken.

Hope you are all well

Pine Siskins calling

A flock of pine siskins arrived for breakfast.  They are always noisy.

Special Potting Soil

A couple of weeks ago I made a quick stop at a hardware store to get potting soil and fertilizer as I was concerned that it might be difficult to get them later on.  I didn't want to take any longer than necessary and grabbed a couple of bags of the first potting soil I saw.  A few days ago, I went to use it and looked more closely at the label :  "for all your weed needs"?  Then I noticed the "POT" at the top. So now I get it.  This is premium soil to grow your own pot at home since it is now legal in Canada. Very funny.  Anyway it seems like really nice potting soil and they claim it has extra minerals in it for a more bountiful crop. I'm sure my veggies will appreciate it.

Pink Chinese Celery and more

 The pink Chinese celery is coming along well. There are several plants that could be potted separately I don't want to fill up my windowsills with celery so it will have to stay crowded until I can plant it outside.

 Many echinacea varieties are hybrids or patented but I was able to buy Green Twister echinacea seeds. So far about ten have sprouted so I'm pretty pleased. I saw individual plants selling for $8 so my packet at $3.50 is quite the bargain.  They may not have time to mature enough to bloom this summer but hopefully most of them will survive until next summer.

This is black-eyed Susan vine, a cheerful annual vine that blooms in shades of yellow, orange, and peach. These seedlings were starting to show roots at the bottom of the pot so I put them in a larger pot  To save some potting soil, I thought I would try just putting soil half-way up the peat pot. The vine doesn't seem to be making much in the way of side roots, and  if roots start poking out the sides, I can put more soil in then.

Years ago I bought some salpiglossis plants from a local nursery.  I loved the metallic veining and rich colours of the petunia-shaped flowers. They struggle with strong summer heat but I felt I wanted to give them a try again so I bought some seeds. The seeds are very small but they have sprouted like crazy. I have 7  2-1/2" peat pots of them and each one must have about 20 seedlings. Yikes, that's a lot of salpiglossis! They are not small plants like lobelia; they are more like pansies or petunias. I will try them where they get morning sun and afternoon shade where the sweet peas were happy last year.

I made some red lentil soup for lunch and it was quite tasty. I like making soup because it's not something you have to be precise about.  I used about 2 cups red lentils, 1 large sweet potato, 3 sticks celery, a small onion,  a third of a yellow pepper and seasoned it with salt, pepper, ginger, dried parsley. I put enough water in the pot to cover everything by 2" and simmered for 40 minutes. It made a thick, hearty soup. Other ingredients that would have worked with the lentils: squash, carrots, green beans, ground beef, chicken.

Hope you all stay well.

Fancy Rocks - Museum of Nature

 Some rocks and crystals from the wonderful collection at the Museum of Nature in Ottawa.

I hope you are all keeping healthy. Every day brings changes here. The nursing homes are on lock-down which is sad but necessary. My mother can't read a letter or work a phone by herself, so I am left with messages given to the workers in the home to be passed on to her. We are cutting back on socializing and outings. At least the weather is sunny and going for a walk or a drive is pleasant. The people in the cities will have a rougher time of it.