Wednesday, 27 April, 2016

Completely finished weeding Asparagus Bed #4. Very wet. Lots of moss on the surface of the bed which I have removed.

Began to lay down paper, fabric and stone on the new pathway behind the Raspberry border.

Tuesday, 26 April, 2016

Laid down the paper, fabric and pea stone between Bed 10 in row 2 and the Asparagus bed. Looks great.

Began to weed out Asparagus Bed #4.

Spend a bit of time checking all the veg beds and the cleared Asparagus beds and the area in the Raspberry border that is already cleared looking for regrowth of weeds.

Monday, 25 April, 2016

Unsettled weather today. Occasionally sunny, some clouds, bit of wind, threat of rain which never actually came.

Filled Asparagus bed #3 with triple mix. 3 done, 2 to go.

Laid down lots of newspaper, landscape fabric and pea stone in the pathways between the beds in Row 2 and the pathway between Row 1 and Row 2. I had been hoping to get the pathway done between Bed 10 in Row 2 and the Asparagus bed but I finally ran out of steam to keep working.

Just to do something a bit different I started to weed Asparagus Bed #4.

The garlic is doing quite well and looks great.

3 of the Rhubarb plants are doing really well, one of them is somewhat slow.

The two Black Currants are way too large and about to achieve bud break.

One of the Gooseberries has fully opened, the other looks like it is trying hard to open.

Nothing yet from the Red and the White Currant bushes.

The Daffodils under the 4 Apple trees are doing really well, about to bloom.

Sunday, 24 April, 2016

Finished filling the last veg bed that we had built last year.

Finally finished weeding out Asparagus bed #3. The weeds were horrendous.

Side dressed all the garlic with wood ash. Replaced the straw mulch around the garlic.

Used the leftover straw, since I did not need all of it for the garlic, and applied it to the strawberry beds.

Frank worked on the Chicken Coop, principally the feed room area floor. He laid larger stones on the bottom and then topped them with a couple barrows of pea stone and leveled it off. Now we need patio slabs to complete the floor.

Saturday, 23 April, 2016

Beautiful sunny day but the wind is so strong it could carry you away.

We did a bit of work on the foundation of the chicken coop. Got it squared up and used huge nails to connect the pieces. As it is made of 6 x 6 cedar, it is not going anywhere. 
Frank started gathering largish stones to put in the bottom of the feed room side to begin to fill it up. We will then top off with  stone and finally patio slabs so nothing can tunnel in.

Tried to get a bit of work done in the garden. I want to sprinkle wood ash around the garlic, and I tried, but it was just too windy.

Did manage to get about a 1/4 of Asparagus bed number 3 weeded but, again, the wind just kept blowing dirt into my face and after an hour or so I gave up.

Quickly went all around all the veg and fruit beds and weeded them which amounted to about 6 weeds all told.

Daffodils that I planted in the raspberry border (transferred from out old house and they had to go somewhere) are now in bloom and look lovely.

Daffodils I planted last fall under the 4 apple trees are growing a treat. I cannot wait until they all bloom. It will look wonderful.

Friday, 22 April, 2016

Rain most of the day today. Actually felt almost a wee bit humid and the temperature dropped as the day went along. We have not needed a fire for the last couple of nights but the house is cooling down so we decided to give in, build a fire and be comfortable.

Could not work outside today so Frank and I made venison sausages from the last of the venison in the freezer along with some leftover bacon from last years pig order. Had them for dinner. Yum.

Did some seed starting as well. Started Spinach, Swiss Chard and Rainbow Chard, Cucumbers (two varieties), Lettuce (three varieties), Celeriac (first time trying to grow this for me) and two varieties of Courgette.

Thursday, 21 April, 2016

Finished weeding out Asparagus bed #2 and then topped it up with Triple Mix.

Quickly weeded out all the 13 veg beds. Nothing much to it. Only took 5 minutes.

Finished weeding out and clearing the path behind the raspberries up to end of first fence panel. 

Frank has almost completed the base for the chicken coop. It just needs to be squared up and nailed together.

Pulled any grass coming up in the cleared circles under the apple trees where I planted the daffodils. That couch grass is wicked to deal with.

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Much needed day off. Did absolutely nothing in the garden other than watering all my little seedlings. Sometimes you just need to take a wee bit of time to recharge the batteries. Will be back at it tomorrow with renewed enthusiasm. 

Monday, 18 April, 2016

Productive day in the garden. Weather was perfect... sunny but with a good breeze.

Frank leveled up Bed 10 in Row 2 and he filled it with Triple Mix for me.

I laid down the landscape fabric on the wide path between Bed 10 in Row 1 and Asparagus Bed #1. Shoveled about 15 barrows of pea stone. Very tiring but it looks great. Neat and tidy.

Began to weed out Asparagus bed #2... got about 1/2 done.

Continued to work on the pathway behind the raspberry border. Got 1/2 way done to end of first fence panel. Miserable job digging out all the weeds but will eventually cover the path with fabric and stone and will never have to do it again.

The daffodils I planted under four of the apple trees are all up and looking great. Cannot wait until they bloom.

Some yellow crocus in bloom in the nursery border. I think they were a gift with an order and they are just lovely.

Have ordered the Hemlock wood 2" x 8"s for the next phase of the beds. This will complete Row 2 and Row 3 which will look great and give me much more growing space.

Sunday, 17 April, 2016

Completely filled Asparagus bed #1 with Triple Mix after a thorough weeding.

Finished weeding Raspberry border to the end of fence panel #1. What a job this is going to be! 

Have started to clear the pathway behind the raspberry border which will be covered with pea stone.

Finished cutting down all last years Asparagus fronds. To the compost pile.

All four Rhubarb plants showing signs of life. Lovely little pink buds.

Garlic is doing well after removing the straw mulch. Will give them another week to have the soil in the bed warmed up and then will replace the straw to keep in moisture and suppress the weeds.

Friday, 15 April, 2016

Cleaned out all the veggie beds of spent plant material and the very few weeds that had popped up.

Removed almost all the straw from the garlic beds to allow the soil to warm up a bit and give the garlic a few days in the sunshine. Will replace it shortly to help to conserve moisture and as weed control.

Removed damaged tarps that had been used to smother weeds in the garden.

Completely cleaned up the north side of the raspberry border by cutting all the canes to ground level. After entire bed is cleared, will go back and give thorough weeding.

Beautiful sunny day today. Slight wind and quite warm.

Thursday, 14 April, 2016

Beautiful sunny day.

Yesterday Frank cut down area where new chicken coop will go. Today we raked up all the debris and carted away. Laid out shape of coop ( 8 x 12 ).

Huge compost pile of leaves has dropped by about 2 feet so we added all the reserved bags of leaves into the pile. In a couple of years we will have an amazing pile of leaf mould to use.

Daffodils coming up under the 4 Apple trees where I planted them last fall.

A few yellow crocus are now in bloom.

Rhubarb crowns showing some signs of life, little pink spots.

Nothing from strawberries yet. As we did not have time to mulch them for the winter, I am hoping they are still alive. Will cut back the leaves and see.

Garlic is up. We will remove the straw mulch to let it grow a bit and then replace the mulch to keep the soil moist and weed free around the plants.

Have laid out the plan of work for this Spring for the garden. Should not be as bad or as hard as last year. Lots of new beds going in but the ground has been under tarps for three years so cleaning the soil of weeds should be easier.

12 April, 2016

Weather is off and on. We still have some snow here and there and it is still quite windy. The temperature is not too bad but the wind does bite so not pleasant to be outside for very long. Wanted to get into the garden to do some work but better weather in the forecast so will wait for another day.

The leek variety that I am growing this year, "Large Musselburg", is doing extremely well. They are close to 10" - 12" high and now thicker than a piece of spaghetti. I have begun to harden them off.

The tomatoes are also doing well and took all the transplanting with no checks.

Started a 4" pot of Kale and only one seed germinated. Will start more.

Started several 4" pots of 3 varieties of beets. All have germinated well. I am now going to start to put them outside daily. I want them hardened off so when I prick them out, they will go directly into the garden rather than into pots.