Posy Gang Grower's Diary II: March-April

Guys, spring is here in earnest! Every place I look there is new life. Today's high: 20 degrees! Time to go outside and stay there. Let's have a tour, shall we? 

Sedum. Stalwart and trusty.

There will be the scent of lilac here soon.

The narcissus are happy and all the wildlife leave them alone. Good bulbs. They deserve a pat on the head.

​I've been afraid the squirrels won't leave the tulips alone though, so at first I kept them under row cover. The owl scarecrow is mostly for aesthetics as I remain highly skeptical of its effectiveness.

Then it got too wet and some tulips showed signs of tulip fire, so off came the row cover again. Tulip fire... such a good name should refer to something way cooler than a fungal infection, no?!

Oh hello, you! I planted only the fancy tulips - doubles, parrots. I can't wait!!!

My winter-sown seeds are waking up too! If you squint really hard, you can see a couple of specks of green - more sweet pea babies.

Meanwhile, seeding continues indoors. It's been a learning curve for sure. With each succession I'm adjusting how deep to sow each variety of seed, how humid to keep them, when to water them, when to move them off the heat mat and under the lights to keep them stocky and strong. As a very small scale grower, soil blocking has definitely been worth the space saving.

It's now time to plant all the hardy annuals I sowed in March, which I've just started to harden off in these warmer temperatures. 

These sweet peas are just begging to get in the ground. Strawflower, statice, scabiosa, snapdragons (say it out loud - so much sibilance!) - they're ready to go out too.

One of my biggest hurdles is going to be getting the new big bed prepped in time. I gotta get it done soon. Over the winter I tried my best to make the lawn melt away under layers of newsprint, leaves, compost, and snow, but it turned out to be mostly wishful thinking, ha! So with a few sighs and what I hope is an endless well of determination, I'm going to break ground and remove the sod myself. And double dig and amend with compost. I promise to use my legs, not my back, and take lots of breaks.

That's it for now - I'm certain the next set of pictures will be more colourful! Until then, stay tuned to Instagram as I've got some exciting news for you all in the next couple of weeks!