The days are lengthening and the ticks are back in full force.  The mosquito's have not returned as of yet but I am sure they will be here soon.  Most of the birds are back.  Caught a glimpse of he Baltimore Oriole the other day.  They are so shy and hardly ever allow us to see them.We have a pair of owls nesting in our valley again and the baby is often squawking letting the parents know of being hungry.  

We are finally able to plant out a few more things.  The weather was wet and cool so we are delayed this year.  The hoophouse above is full of plants waiting to be planted as opposed to flowers being planted in it.  The Tulip season is almost complete.  We have a few Charming Beauty's yet to be harvested.  There definitely were more disadvantages as opposed to advantages again this year in tulip growing.We will have to weigh the pros and cons and make a decision whether we will grow them again next year.

Mulching our newly transplanted babies.

We are at the Saskatoon Farmers Market this weekend, Saturday and Sunday with lots of green plants.  We have over 40 varieties of Dahlia plants again this year and shade and sun loving perennials.  Anemone and Ranunculus along with our assortment of succulents.  The succulents are sold singly or in decorative containers along with a few hypertufa planters again this year.

The tomato plants are stocky and healthy.  We have a few extra Black Krim tomatoes we will be sharing along with our Jalapeno and Cayenne pepper plants.  Cucumber, zucchini and spaghetti squash also available.

Perennials potted up for sales at the Saskatoon Farmers Market.

Black Hero Tulip.  One of the specialty tulips we grew this year.

The Sounds of Spring

Since we last posted we have been very busy getting our flower growing season off to a start.  April 1st we opened the greenhouses and started moving seedlings and Dahlias out of the basement under lights to the pure sunshine.  This is the earliest date yet opening the greenhouses, since we started flower farming.  The weather was so beautiful we could not see any reason not too.  Right now we are experiencing a cold trend.  The night time temps are going down to -10C, but the heaters have been able to keep the greenhouses above zero.  An extremely positive thing because they are bursting with plants inside, and their are so many yet to be moved out.  As soon as the weather levels off again and stays regular we will start shuffling the cold hardy annuals outdoors to make room for the babies and Dahlias germinating in the basement.

There are signs of Spring everywhere.  The Sandhill Cranes are floating over the farm everyday right now.  We are on their migration route to the North and they stop in the area for a few weeks to a month before they move further north.  They are a huge bird and make this very unique sound.  You often can hear them before you see them as they tend to float about, very high above, and catching a glimpse of them when they are that high can be difficult.  There are Robins frolicking and Sparrows flitting around and a couple of Bluebirds are back checking out the birdhouses Pat has built.  Every year we have many new birds visiting and staying to raise their young.  We keep a log book of dates when the different species are sighted for the first time in Spring every year.

The Beavers are out and about in the pasture slough and the geese and ducks are joining them and hanging out.  Hopefully we will have a lot of water fowl taking up residence this summer.

It really is a wonderful time to be living in the country.  Watching the flora and fauna embracing the warmer temps and waking up never ceases to amaze us.  

The grandkids are off from school this week so we will have sleepovers at the farm, which means picnics in the pasture, skipping rocks in the sloughs, crocus hunting, getting the bikes dusted off and tuned up, and playing on the swings and in the sandbox.  

Succulent assortment we will have available this Spring at the Saskatoon Farmers Market.  More info to come. 

Seed Starting

We have officially started our flower growing season this week.  Seeding has begun.  There are many flowers and vegetables that either take a long time to grow or are cold tolerant, meaning they can be transplanted outdoors before the last frost with a bit of protection after being fully hardened off.
Flowers classified as cool flowers, meaning they prefer the cooler temperatures as to the heat of mid summer, are Snapdragons, Dianthus, Icelandic Poppies, Dusty Miller, Stock, Feverfew, and Sweetpeas etc.  These can be transplanted outside before our last frost date.

Verbena Bonariensis and Daucus Carota (Chocolate Lace), like to have a cold period once they are seeded.  So those are placed in our garage where it gets below freezing.  Some seeds need to be surface sown, as light aids germination and others require complete darkness.  Other varieties require a temperature of 20C to germinate so a lot of our seeded trays are placed on a heat mat to get the temperature of the soil up to the correct temperature.  Generally they say the soil temperature is 5C degrees below the room temperature without a heat mat.

I use 128 plug tray for most of the seeding.  I use larger plugs if they are fast growing.  I fill the trays with a seed starting mix with added coir and tamp the trays so the soil settles in each plug.  Hence no air space in the soil.  Roots do not like pockets of air in the soil. 

My seeder preference is this little green device pictured above.  I am able to control the number of seeds that go into each plug with ease.  The tiny seeds are the most challenging, so much patience is required.  The soil is moist before going into the trays and once the soil is in, I water each plug again to settle the soil.  Not too much though as you do not want the soil to be dripping wet.  Then the seeds are seeded and depending on the variety they are either covered with soil or left on the surface without any cover.  I also use vermiculite when the seeds only want a light covering.  The vermiculite also holds the moisture consistently on the surface where the seed is.

Then a humidity dome is placed over the trays and they are placed on the heat mat which is in the warmest room in our house.  Most seeds will germinate within a few days, whereby some take a little longer.

Here are a couple of links to seed starting info to specific seed varieties.  Most seed packages have this info printed on them, but you may need further information on some types of flowers or vegetables.

http://tomclothier.hort.net/

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-library/growing-center.html

Happy Seeding!!!!!

February Spurs the Gardener in us All

As soon as February rolls in you immediately notice the light becoming stronger and lasting longer.  This seems to trigger an internal clock in all gardeners and we all start becoming alert to the anticipation of growing again.  Mid February is our first seed starting of artichoke, celery and a few flowers, Icelandic Poppies, Snapdragons, Dusty Miller, Stock and Dianthus.  Flowers that like cool weather will tolerate the cold nights in the greenhouse.  Hardened off properly they will tolerate light frosts once they are transplanted in the garden.  We can use row covers to protect them after they are planted if the temperatures really drop in April and May.  We also plant cool season flowers early in our small hoopouse after the tulips have all been harvested.  Once the cool flowers have finished we plant row cover like oats or buckwheat to incorporate green manure for nutrients for the tulips we plant in the fall.

We have also started waking up a few varieties of Dahlias and have placed them on a heat mat covered in a peat mix.  Once they start sending up shoots we will take cuttings and root on the heat mat to increase our stock of plants for the growing season.

Babette Dahlia

Elma Elizabeth Dahlia

We have a Dahlia Tubers listing available for purchase.  Click on the highlighted/underlined link.  Shipping across Canada or other arrangements can be made.

Feels like Spring

The weather has been so beautiful lately so we have been taking a lot of walks to our pasture.  Max loves it out there and he has a companion, Daisy, for a few weeks. 

When we first moved out to this location we had many bluffs of Trembling Aspen/Poplar scattered throughout the land.  In the past six years many of these bluffs have accumulated large amounts of water that does not drain away.  Hence we have large bluffs of trees that are now dead, still standing in the water, but the trees have all drowned.  Once the water freezes thick enough we start exploring these areas, walking amongst all the dead trees observing the various changes that are taking place in the trees.  At some point in their decay different types of fungi start growing, woodpeckers peck holes in the trees looking for insects and there are some birds that excavate cavities in the dead trees and raise their young in them.  We even found a large egg in one of the cavities.  

You can see the frozen water around the base of this tree.

Beautiful fungus

The beavers have also moved into this bluff and have built two huts. The picture above is of all the trees they have taken down over the last couple of years.

The landscape is forever changing and I am sure over time when the water dries up again, the beavers will move on and new trees will grow once again.

A nest cavity perhaps or the birds may hang out in the hole when the weather is at it's worst.