Bloomin' Wednesday

Ack! We are drowning! There has been so much rain this year and it is cold! I wish it was summer. Well, at least I don't need to water. I thought that I would show some more pictures of my annuals since they are pretty much the only things bloomin' at the moment. Well, I do also have a most fantastic tulip blooming. It is called Angelique and it is angelic. Most of the others have faded. I'll have to plant something so she'll have more company next year...maybe siberian iris? Do they come in pale yellow? Hmmm, I'll have to think about it. But on to my annuals...

Most of them are in pots as I've mentioned before. Here are the two window boxes:




Then I have my hanging baskets. They are looking a little droopy from the rain we've had lately. I know we should be happy for what rain we get here in the "high and dry", but I gotta admit, even I am wishing for a bit of dry. Hopefully it'll warm up a bit and then everything will start growing. The cold weather just seems to cause a standstill in the garden.


Then I have my vegetable garden. I barely have carrot and beet sprouts and I'm worried that the corn we planted will rot because of all the cold. But the peas are doing ok. I have to get my trellis out.



And the cosmos are blooming! So pretty! I love the delicate foliage almost as much as the flowers!



Of course, while it is raining, it is still no excuse not to get work done in the yard. My dear Handy Man has been fantastic. He spread compost on the front yard and spread some more shade tolerant grass seed (maybe this will give us the natural, lush lawn we dream of?).
He also built me this awesome new rain barrel! Looks so great! And he built a ledge for it to sit on, so that I can fit my watering cans under the spigot! Now if only we could get the fence painted...

The secrets to achieving happiness in the garden...

I just found these series of posts. I love the author and these posts! I am going to try to live by these secrets this garden season.

Secret introduction: click here

Secret 1: click here

Secret 2: click here

Secret 3: click here

Secret 4: click here

Secret 5: click here

Secrets conclusion: click here

Finally!

It has finally been warm enough to get my annuals planted. It's not as late in the season as you might think since it was snowing just two weeks ago and it has been rainy, rainy, rainy!. Plus, as usual, I buy way too my annuals and when you combine that with the ones I start from seed, it takes a while to get it all planted.

I've gotten into the habit of planting my annuals in pots, initially so that I could bring them inside at a moments notice (Calgary in the spring is a bit like a spring...bouncing from winter to summer), but now I like the ease with which I can decorate my patio and enjoy lots of flowers at the same time. I am still experimenting with an arrangement that I like, but this is the closest I've come to so far. Our patio is quite big, which the kids like since it is good for bike riding, hop scotch and skipping, but it does seem to make it difficult to find a pot/seating arrangement that I like. But I am getting closer.



The other thing that I am excited about is all my hanging baskets! We got a whole bunch from Handy Man's grandmother's garden. I have never had so many! I am trying out some fushia. Hopefully they are as excited to be in my yard as I am to have them!

Finally I planted up my window boxes. The super kids and I painted them last year. I really like the idea of kids helping in the garden and handprints on window boxes seemed like a perfect way to show this. I grow mostly tried-and-true annuals in these since I'm more likely to get that lush look. I really like the colour combinations this year. Another month and they should look great.



The other thing I did this past weekend was to get most of my seeds planted. I have three raised garden beds. One is just for strawberries - there are lots of flowers already...Yum!

The middle one I have rhubarb. It is already huge! I tell ya, rhubarb likes the snow! We also planted some carrots and peas here.

The last one we planted beets and then some corn and beans. The corn we usually plant with beans and squash ( a three-sisters garden). Then we got some tomato plants from a friend so we squeezed them in the middle. I meant to check one of those charts to say what should be grown with what, but the tomatoes will just have to play nicely with the beets and squash.


Fireboy loves planting seeds, especially when they are nice and big, so he helped me with the corn and beans. There is something almost magical about how excited kids get when they realize that the corn we eat is actually a seed! And nothing emphasizes that more than planting the corn and seeing it turn into a plant. Of course, Fireboy's main duty is that of garden waterer! He is very thorough, I just have to make sure nothing gets too flooded.