Fires, Feet, and plants... So close, and yet so far! :) + :(

Well our weather has sure been something! Hot and dry. VERY unusual for our spring. Usually we end up with cold and wet... which results in standing water, floods and mosquitoes! But not this year. I'm not sure I like dry any better, since it puts us at risk for forest fires. Especially since last summer was dry, and we didn't get much snow over this past winter. I believe we're officially in a drought. There are burn bans all over. Not just for farmers burning their fields but for private citizens in their own fire pits. I for one, am glad. We live close enough to Bird's Hill Park, that I am slightly unsettled at the idea of a forest fire. It could affect us in a very real way.

new growth after a forest fire

On the other hand, all of our Manitoba forests are well overdue for a good fire. Fire sounds bad, but forest fires are actually very cleansing for a forest!

New growth after a fire

What happens when a forest goes too long without an occasional burn, is that dead trees accumulate, not decomposing as fast as preferable. fungus can overgrow, and old trees simply clog up the space, never making room for new growth. Forest fires are actually very good for a forest. They are just horribly dangerous and inconvenient. And unfortunately here in Manitoba we have gotten VERY good at preventing the natural fires from occurring... as a result all of our forests are basically dry matches, waiting for a spark right now... not fun... we have rain in the forecast now at least. Lets hope that continues!! I'm spouting the benefits of forest fires as though I'd like one. I'm genuinely fearful of it happening and hope it doesn't! I can feel my anxiety rise any time I smell smoke in the air. I'm just also aware that there ought to be a natural cycle to the forest... and you need only drive through an inter-lake forest to see for yourself that all the trees are old and haggard. The tornado 2 years ago ripped out a bunch of old ones in some spots, but only in one path... the reality of nature is a bit undeniable at this point.

AND ON THAT HAPPY NOTE! LOL!

Yes, it is garden-foot season already! I swear... I inherited my brother's feet... I don't know how, but I did. There's just nothing I can do about it. As soon as they touch garden soil, my feet literally fall apart like a bonded-leather sofa 2 months past the warranty...  This year, I shall need to invest in proper "gardening shoes" I think. Maybe that'll make a difference! Does anyone else get garden feet, or is it just me!? All winter they are fine. But as soon as they hit the soil, this happens. It's not even from being in flip flops! I don't do that yet! :P Oh well, them's the breaks!

PLANTS FOR GRABS!

various tomato plants, all free for the taking to a good home! Come before Thursday or miss out

Yup! You read that right. You have until Thursday this week to show up and steal some of these tomato plants. After that they are going to mom's group to be snatched up!! :) So come now or miss out. I've selected and transplanted the ones I want to keep, and this is what's leftover. I don't feel the need to care for other people's plants at this point in the season lol! And I can't just toss them in the trash...that's green-thumb heresy!
I thought I'd have extra cucumbers and peppers, but I don't think I do. I may have excess of them and flowers AFTER I've planted everything... we shall see! I can also get rid of some lupines. I have tonnes of those! So just ask! :)

THE OL' UPDATE ON THE PLANTS!
I'll spare you photos of every single tray of plants. Suffice to say all the flowers are slightly more hearty, and larger. No blooms on anything yet, but most greenhouse plants barely have flowers either so I'm not worried at all.

Like I said, I set apart the tomatoes I am keeping. I transplanted them into 1 Litre milk cartons i've been saving up. I have about 55-60 tomato plants for this year! Last year I did 44 which was plenty, but I never really ended up giving any away. And I like to be a generous gardener. So I wanna make my salsa and let others do likewise! :)

My cucumbers are also hardened off. I do lose one or two here and there because I leave them outside on the 5 degree nights. It's still a little cold for them... But again, that's where survival of the fittest comes in! If it's below 5 degrees, then the plants all go into the garage for the night!

Yup! It's exercise Hauling them back and forth! lol!

My peppers... what do I say... they are so so SO SO SOOOOO overdue for a transplant... but at this point i'd have to go out and buy containers, and it's for what...1-2 weeks... it's like... ya they'd be happier, but would the growth be substantial enough to merit the effort? someone feel free to chime in! I'm sure they are just gigantic root balls at this point. But hey! most greenhouse plants are too when you transplant them. Someone tell me what to do here!!!

I bought some succulents from IKEA for my outdoor patio table! Those also need to come in at night still until its at least 10-15 overnight regularely. I just thought they were cute and would make a nice houseplant after summer ends! (And on a little sneak-peek note, I purchased some succulent seeds and sensitive plant seeds from amazon to try out over the winter months! goody goody!)

Here's that sunset that was behind the succulents ;)

 I seeded all my squash just over a week ago, and everything is starting to pop up! :) squash, like cucumbers, do not like having their roots disturbed. This is why their suggested seeding date is quite close to the frost date. You don't want to be transplanting them more than once... into the ground. So these are still under a grow light (they need 10-15 degrees at night, and shouldn't go into the ground until 2 weeks AFTER the frost date).

 The pumpkin seeds are seeds I saved from last year's pumkins! I'd say I'm at about a 25% seed-saver garden rate at this point! :) I'm definitely gonna try saving tomato seeds this year, and I may try a cucumber or two (which requires a lot of forward thinking to accomplish actually)

 Spagetti squash seeds, also seed-saved from last year's garden. :)

 So last fall when Josiah's class went to the corn maze, I purchased two locally grow gourds that were really cute. Funny shaped multi-colored warty things. The kind you display at thanksgiving! Anyways, apparently their seeds sprouted! :) So i'll have to stick those somewhere and see what they do. I might do it in the out-back since I'm getting a bit selfish with my garden space ;)

 Last year my butternut squash didn't do much, then died off. So we shall see what happens. These are seeds from a sobeys butternut squash from the fall (AKA in-season seed saved). So I have no idea if it'll grow! The germination rate wasn't amazing.

The only other thing I can share is that I've been battling with these weeds in my front flower bed! We only tilled in this garden last summer. So it's not in great shape yet. But I have parennials in it, so I can't simply till it up again (unless I first risk the perennials lives to do so). So I took big buckets, covered my perennials, and went in there with a spray bottle of round up. Once these are all more sickly, I'll walk around with my parents hand-tiller (a hand-crank spiky looking thing) and just loosen up the soil and pull out the weeds properly. I have a tonne of gladiolas and dahlias I want to get in here yet!! :) It should be a very pretty garden by mid-summer.

Well, that's all for now! I haven't put anything new in the veggie garden since my last update. I could likely put in all my other seed items at this point, but I've got enough to do. I'll wait till the may-long now! and plants will get put in, 1-2 weeks AFTER may long weekend.