Let's Get Planting!

It's that time of year. The days are slowly getting longer, the sun is peaking out a wee bit more and I feel the bloom of spring just itching to burst forth from the soil *grin*.

I know, it's barely the middle of February and we could get snow and frozen temperatures at any minute but I can't help myself but want to will spring to come now. So to fill the time until it finally does appear I pulled out my box of seed packets to see what I had, what is needed and to sort out all of my tomato seeds because it's time to get planting :)

Our growing season is wet, cool and rather short so anything I can do to help things speed along a little quicker before it's time to get things in the ground outdoors is always welcome. Last summer you probably remember that Hubby built me a little greenhouse and it will be perfect for growing an early crop of tomatoes in. So I pulled out what I had left of my little jiffy seven peat pots and soaked them in some nice hot water to puff them up for planting.

I planted Bonny Best, Italian Paste, German Red Strawberry, Polish Paste, and Rocket so far but I also need to start some Black Krim which is a wonderful meaty heirloom variety that we love for sandwiches.

You can find some of them in my favorite seed catalogues like West Coast Seeds, Seeds of Victoria, Salt Spring Seeds and of course all of the wonderful ones I find every year at the various Seedy Saturdays (click for listings) scattered over the island :)

With my little seeds tucked away in a nice dark spot itching to sprout they will be all ready to harden off in the greenhouse nice and early so we can make the most of this summer. I can't wait!

Hugs,
Rosina

Gardening in the Rain

The rain continues to fall here but it wasn't able to deter us from heading out into the garden again to get more of the much needed work done so that we can finish planting.

I must confess that while I do like the sun I would rather work in the rain any day of the week instead of the scorching heat *grin*. I'm so fair skinned that I burn to a crisp under it's rays. To give you an example of just how touchy more poor skin is, I actually got 1st & 2nd degree burns on my shoulders at my sisters wedding while we paraded around for hours in the afternoon sun for photos. All I can say is OUCH!!



We bundled up in our coats and boots and headed down to the pond to collect a wheel barrow full of manure so that we could pop the last of our broccoli and cabbage plants into the garden.

Big brother must have been feeling a little sluggish today as he requested a push up the hill from little brother *grin*.

L was quite content to stare over the field below while we shoveled :) I'm not quite sure what she found so intriguing over there behind the flower bed. Perhaps she was just avoiding us so that we wouldn't rope her into any manual labor *grin*.

On our way back to the garden we saved this giant snail from a squishy death under the wheel barrow tire. He didn't even attempt to pull himself back into his shell which gave the kids a good chance to give him a very thorough once over before we placed him safely in the grass again :)

My tomatoes seem to like their new hanging planter to! They perked right up after the shock of transplanting and are already starting to climb upwards. I can't wait to see how this little experiment turns out :)

Hope all of my Canadian bloggy friends had a lovely Victoria Day today and had a chance to take part in some of the many festivities and parades that took place across our great nation today :)

~ Rosina

Seedy Saturday Is Upon Us

1. seedy saturday, 2. Runner beans, 3. Seedy Saturday, 4. packets 1

Okay spring fever has officially hit *grin*. There are seed displays in every garden market, grocery store, hardware shop, dollorama... you name it and they've probably got some. Not to mention the half dozen seed catalogues that have arrived in the last month :)

You can't escape it! Not that I really want to as it's so rewarding to grow your own vegetables but the cost can become astronomical if you don't watch your pocket book. That's where the 'Seedy Saturday' comes in!

Seedy Saturdays are a fantastic way to get heirloom, organic, untreated, non GMO seeds at great prices or for free if you have saved seeds of your own to swap with others :) The wealth of information is unbeatable to! These seeds are tried, true & tested and the guy or gal behind the table can give you the ultimate low down on how to raise up some mighty fine veggies *grin*.

This weekend there are nearly a dozen different swaps that I know of going on across Canada and I'm heading out to one in hopes of finding some new potatoes to plant, a few strawberry runners and whatever else catches my eye :)

Have a peek at the Seeds of Diversity website and see if you are close to one of the many swaps happening this weekend and on through the month. You won't be disappointed and even if you don't buy anything check out some of the seminars they're hosting or pick the brain of your local seed savers chapter and find out how you can hang onto some of your favorite seeds to.

See you out there!
~ Rosina

Gardening Catalogues

We just had to stop and take a photo the other day when we went down island of this great Inukshuk atop the big rock in Campbell River :) Someone was definitely bitten by the spirit of the Olympics *grin*.

Gone is that beautiful blue sky that was in the above photo and it's raining again but I've been cheering myself up with thoughts of planting my garden! I've been ordering from West Coast Seeds out of Delta, BC for quite a few years now and I've got my new 2010 catalogue dog eared already with my new favorites and old faithfuls :)



All of their seeds are untreated & GMO free and there are some new certified organic seeds as well. Quick note though, it appears when you do a quick glance through the first pages that all of their seeds would be organic with all the certified organic stamps and write up flashed but only seeds listings that specifically say they are organic actually are. I was really hoping that all of the seeds were now organic but some is better than none!

If you're in Europe, specifically England I just received a fabulous seed catalogue from a company called Sarah Raven's Kitchen & Garden and it is just chocked full of organic seeds!! So many interesting and very different vegetables to choose from.



I was particularly interested in the organic bean seeds that they have. We live in a colder climate and there is a cool climate pole bean named Borlotti Lingua de Fuocco that can be planted in April which is nearly 2 months ahead of when we can plant our usual bean seeds and another broad bean named Super Aquadulce that can be sown in February or September for a fall/winter crop. Sadly though it appears that they don't ship outside the European union so I guess my crazy winter bean dreams will have to be put on hold LOL.

Do you have a favorite seed company that sells organic seeds in Canada or ships to Canada that you could share?

~ Rosina

Garden Fever

It has finally warmed up enough here to start planting the garden, hooray!! It's hard to believe that we have only been snow free for 3 weeks but the bitter cold frosty mornings are still hanging on :) My oldest two are really into the garden this year and want to help out with ever aspect which is wonderful. I hope the enthusiasm holds out through the weeding season! LOL.



When we were down island last week I cheated a bit and picked up some veggie starter packs to plant along with our seedlings to give us a bit of an earlier harvest on some of the veggies. The kids picked out cabbage, broccoli, artichokes, lettuce and some sweet peas to grow up the garden fence.



Teamwork, you gotta love it! One to scoop the horse manure into the holes and another to plunk in the plants :)

And what would a day of digging in the dirt be without worms! Thank goodness there was no taste testing. Well there may have been a little dirt munching at one point, but definitely no worms made it into my 3 year olds mouth :) Now we just have to keep the slugs at bay until we can plant our warmer crops after May 24th. The danger of any frost will have passed by then and I am so looking forward to beans.

~ Rosina