#yeggarden — Public Fediverse posts

Update: One of the dwarf tulips was closer to opening than I thought a few hours ago.

#YEGgarden

Over in the veggie patch, the radishes I planted 3 weeks ago are finally up, as are the peas I put in one snowstorm later, after they'd fully sprouted indoors (the plan had only to be to soak the seeds for a couple days, but then snow). The spinach I might need to replant.

I still need to clean up the front-yard veggie patch, get some more peas in, carrot & kale seeds, as well as the onion & broccoli transplants I have waiting on the porch.

And as I mentioned elsewhere, I have tomato transplants waiting. Lots of tomatoes. More than I have room for really. I was planting old seed & did so generously thinking they wouldn't all sprout, but they did! If any local mutuals are interested in a 6-pack, let me know. They're all from saved seeds selected for early harvest, separated into plum vs round/beefy, but beyond that no guarantees on what you'll get.

I could also part with one 6-pack of coleus & begonias if you need some colour for shady garden or planters (those are also not at all frost hardy).

#YEGgarden

Well, as the saying goes, ❄️April snow-ers bring May flow-ers 🌼, so now that it's May we should check in on the #YEGgarden, yes?

The striped squill are as usual the first to full blossom. There's a house down the block with a huge patch of these in their front garden; they were up a couple weeks ago & seem to have survived the last snowstorm. But mine are in areas that take a little longer to thaw out, so they're just starting to open.

On my warm west-facing flower plot, however, things are much farther along. The checkered lilies are starting to show their fancy colours even if they're not fully open yet, and the full-sized tulips are racing the dwarf ones for who will open first. Even daffodils aren't far behind. The alternating warmth & freezes are really going to condense the bulb-blooming season in gardens that thawed out early!

And in the flower boxes, a couple of the pansies I started indoors in early February (a couple weeks later than usual for me) are starting to open up.

Snowing outdoors.
Growing indoors.

#YEGwx #YEGgarden

Hey, #YegGarden Folks, Holding onto a rusty or dull set of pruners? Spade not spading like it used to? Swing by Alberta Ave on April 22nd for a free Tool Maintenance Workshop. luma.com/fbjv79xz #YEG

Garden Tool Maintenance Worksh...

Last week was the start of gardening season here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (sort of)

I filled up a bunch of trays (mostly old clear plastic egg cartons) with potting soil last Wednesday, when the outdoor temperatures were close to 10°C. Didn't actually get the seeds into the trays until last Friday. They're now on the shelf in front of the big south-facing window, except for a couple that I've left on the porch to experience a week of day-night thaw-freeze cycles (which help trigger germination in some plants that are native to places with cold winters).

The chrysanthemums were the first seedlings up & at 'em, 4 days after planting. But a week in there are now lots of little growing green things heralding spring.

Outdoors, real winter temperatures are due to return next week (highs in the minus teens, lows in the minus 20s). We're still nearly 2 months from any outdoor gardening — I usually get peas, spinach, and radish seeds into the sunniest garden in late March or early April.

#garden #YEGgarden

First snow means last garden flower photos of the season! Pink yarrow, orange calendula, and red snapdragons.

#YEGwx #YEGgarden

I haven't really been posting garden photos this summer. (Maybe I should post them in the middle of winter for inspiration? Although I haven't even been taking a lot, either!) But here are some end-of-summer shots.

These are before-and-after frost views of one of the front gardens, Oct 4 vs Oct 13. Nasturtiums mostly gone now, but still a few sheltered survivors. The other main change (beyond the addition of fallen leaves) is that I dug up the carrots that had grown from seeds of ones I planted last year for flowers. I'd lost a lot of plants in this garden the previous winter so there are a number of new ones last year, including that pink bayberry bush. The bare rocks (both pics) are where I tore back a lot of the Lamium maculatum (Orchid frost nettles, visible with the white-splashed leaves in the backdrop to that bright orange nasturium) that were completely taking over.

#garden #YEGgarden

We have a volunteer lily in a rather wild shrubby corner of our garden. My kids have dubbed it the “night lily” (as opposed to the day lilies we have plenty of) or alternately the “miss kim” after a quirky and vivacious choir director they all sang under. Probably seeded from a neighbours garden who was much into asiatic lilies, may be a wild cross (?)

Interestingly, one of the them grew a spare petal this year!

#BloomScrolling #YegGarden

So I think we have a verticillium wilt infection. 😞
Any other gardeners in the fediverse have experience with this?

The back story: several years ago we planted a pair of laceleaf elderberry to frame our front door. One did lovely, the other didn’t survive the winter so we replaced it. The new one did fine until suddenly it didn’t. We replaced again, and this one thrived, budded this spring but then promptly wilted before they were fully open…

1/
#Garden #Gardening #YEGGarden #ABGarden

Eating home grown radishes & green onions for lunch (er, lupper?), fried up with some of that unexpectedly expensive asparagus I bought, huh, a whole week ago. (That explains why the tips were all getting slimey.)

Also ate some baby spinach thinnings, but those just get popped straight in my mouth. No need to complicate things.

#yeggarden

Very much enjoying our yard this morning, especially the little woodland corner…

#yeg #yegGarden #BloomScrolling

So, #YEGgarden ers, how many of you weren't watching the #YEGwx forecast (or trusted in the forecast +1 low too much) & got caught by frost this morning?

I thankfully decided to hold off on transplanting my tomatoes this week, and brought the tray of transplants in yesterday. Then after I walked home in +3°C temps at midnight, I brought in the planter which I'd moved from the bedroom to the porch during the early May heat wave.

But my downstairs neighbours likely have lost tomatoes & peppers.

Seems like a good day for a bit of #BloomScrolling

#FunFact, all of these particular blooms come from my #garden. I'll take photos of #WildFlowers anywhere, but there's a special delight in seeing a rainbow of colours in of my own back yard every #summer.

#Edmonton #YEGPhotographer #YEGGarden #Macro #MacroPhotography

This most amazing volunteer parked itself in this unlikely place and has thrived, and now has survived a frost that has mostly done in its ‘legitimate’ kin in more exposed flower beds.

#BloomScrolling #YEGGarden #Marigold

15lb of carrots into the freezer… I’m done.
The carrots aren’t done, but I’m done.
… there’s more carrots, but they’ll have to wait for another day

#YegGarden #Carrots #Veggie #Gardening

Frosty #garden photos from Saturday morning:

Forecast is for +20°C this afternoon, before getting back to chilly days & frosty nights later in the week. The covered tomato plants were mostly OK, but I will be picking all the green (and a few half-ripe) fruit tomorrow.

#YEGwx #YEGgarden

First frost of fall 2024 here on the southside of Edmonton, and it's a solid one. A few hours below -1°C & enough humidity for actual frost crystals on everything, only just starting to melt where direct sun was shining at 9am when I was out taking photos.

I'll post some pics later when mstdn.ca is running better. Maybe by then I'll know if my sheet of plastic was enough to keep some tomato plants alive to see the 20°C temperatures forecast for tomorrow & Monday.

#YEGwx #YEGgarden #garden

Update: It seems yesterday afternoon's sun & yesterday evening's light rain were enough to stave off an early morning frost. Looks like we only went down to around 3°C. Even the airport stayed safely above freezing (although that station had their first frost in September).

The tomatoes & zucchini linger on to ripen a little more on the vine, and the begonias & coleus are still as colourful as yesterday.

#YEGgarden #YEGwx

PS, #YEGgarden folks: If you haven't been paying attention to the forecast, we're expecting frost throughout the city tonight (Wednesday Oct 2). No frost warnings now that we're in October.

With lows for the rest of the week back in the 5 or 6°C range, I've decided to cover up the tomatoes that are against the wall & see if they can survive. But most of other sensitive plants will probably be gone by morning.

Our tomato harvest got well ahead of us which means today is salsa day! Yum!

#Garden #Tomato #Salsa #YegGarden

I purchased two ninebark shrubs (Physocarpus opulifolius) maybe two months ago, and I am 99% sure that BOTH have fire blight. I am unhappy with this development. 😡

I've already had one ninebark in a different area of the garden, and he's happy and healthy.

Any advice from #gardening #gardeners other than prune affected branches during dormant period, sanitize all tools used, dispose of diseased material, and pray the shrubs come back next year?

#yeg #Edmonton #yegGarden

I just thought this hoverfly looked really cool on this poppy.

#yeg #yegGarden #garden #flower #poppy #HoverFly #BloomScrolling

For #YEGgarden / prairie gardening folks in Canada:

If you're looking to plant a lot of tulips this year, I can recommend bulbs from McKenzie Seeds, which is having a sale this weekend ($10 off a $50 order, plus free shipping on orders over $35). They've got some of the best prices for large packs ($18 for 30 bulbs), and they ship earlier than any other mail-order bulb company I've tried, so you can get them in the ground before it freezes.

https://mckenzieseeds.com/collections/fall-planting-bulbs-roots (website broken in Firefox)

Hummingbird!

Gone too fast to take a photo, but it was taste-testing the petunias on the porch. Which meant it was close enough to see clearly, unlike the one other time I saw one & wasn't sure if maybe it was just a giant dragonfly or moth.

It was all brown, so probably a Rufous hummingbird, which also have the closest normal range to Edmonton.

#YEGgarden

Out checking the gardens in the evening and found a dozen bumblebees, each tucked into a hollyhock flower for a bed as the temperature dropped and they got slow and drowsy.

#Bee #BloomScrolling #yegGarden #Bumblebee

I don't normally cut my flowers for vases indoors. Especially not after my houseguest leaves town.

But, well: See that over-the-railing planter in the background? The one with the bad haircut? The one that is held together with duct tape? On windy days, if the plants are big & bushy and the soil isn't soaked through & heavy, it likes to see if it can fly.

It can't. But it can apparently jump up & land flat on its face, squashing and snapping all the big plants. 😔

#garden #YEGwx #YEGgarden