Green Thumb (& Black Nose) Sunday

Photos of the gardener’s helper adding removing worm compost to from the containers this afternoon:

Sniffing the black gold

Living up to his reputation as an earth dog

No wonder cleaning up takes more time than any other gardening activity.
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The fairest tulips of them all

Yesterday morning — a weekday off work plus three more blissful things, all before breakfast:

1) Sunshine
2) An easy drive from city to country (ie, light traffic, no roadwork, no construction zones — this is rare)
3) A greeting from exuberant ‘Angelique’ when I pulled into Mom’s driveway:

No surprise that my favourite tulips are the same colour as cherry blossoms. You can see a close-up of another Angelique’s beautiful face here.

So if you were limited to just one tulip in your garden, which one would you grow and why?

Today’s most encouraging news headline:

‘Zero Mile Diet’ Blooms in BC

Source: The Tyee

Good news for gardeners, farmers, locavores, seed savers and seed vendors who manage sustainable supply and demand in the new home garden and small farm based economy. (OK, I’m just dreaming with this last statement.)

Green Thumb Sunday

I’ve spent the last week of evenings and several hours today dividing tangled root balls, repotting and potting on, amending soil, pruning, trimming and shaping — in other words, dealing with previous seasons’ plants — and tending to seedlings — oh where will I put them all? But my focus in this post will be simple enjoyment and appreciation of the oldest plant on my balcony (12+ years): Inaba Shidare’, “Cascading Leaves of Rice“:

I didn’t know the meaning of its name until today. Quite lovely and it makes me enjoy and value my favourite plant even more — and it has nothing to do with the price of rice.

You read more about the tree with ricelike leaves here.

What’s up?

Seedlings trying very hard to grow tall and strong in this cool weather.

Nasturtiums: Vanilla, Cherry Jubliee, Creamsicle

Lettuce: Looseleaf, Romaine, Butterhead

Lavender, Parsley, Basil, Alpine Strawberry ‘Mignonette’

Stay or go; read or sow

Should I stay or should I go; should I blog or should I sow?

Monday through Friday, my first afterwork activity is predetermined. By my Westie. And today if he hadn’t, as usual, nudged me with his nose toward the door, the early evening sunshine would have pulled me outside for a long walk.

Now that I’m home I’m left with the other two options: blog (ie. read old favourites and new finds, comment, write my Earth Day post) or sow. Again, the choice is easy. This awaits me:

I’ve sown about 1/4 of these seeds and am ahead of schedule compared to last year, on time compared to 10-12 years ago, but very late (for indoor sowing of herbs and flowers) according to last frost dates for zone 8. My garden is an experiment in pushing all kinds of limits, including space and time. I do have to follow a calendar of some sort, though, and need to sow the sweet peas NOW or wait until fall. Credit goes to Thomas Hobbs for this late and spontaneous addition of sweet peas to the balcony garden. He featured them in hanging baskets this past Saturday on the morning news gardening feature.

“Think of me”

Blooming on my balcony and illuminated by the sun this afternoon:

In the language of flowers, a yellow pansy = “think of me” (source: A Handful of Flowers)

Addendum (April 21st): Yes, a yellow pansy (Viola x wittrockiana) does mean “think of me” but this flower is a yellow violet (Viola), which means “rural happiness.” My goof. I did a bit more research based on Tess’s comment. Thanks, Tess!

A bit of a beautiful distraction because I’m supposed to be sowing the rest of my seeds this afternoon. I’m both late and on time with this task — late according to the West Coast gardener’s calendar for indoor seed starting but on time with my own journals from past years. I spent a little too much time in the urban garden this month and not enough my own. Blame it on hanami and sakura intoxication.

after the April showers…

Lemony-buttery hyacinths in our condominium’s courtyard garden. A daily dose of spring colour.

Photos and lists

Ribes sanguineum (?cultivar) seen on yesterday evening’s walk

…[P]erhaps the key to a happy life is when one has good memories to look back on and great plans to look forward to….a simple line of advice that keeps ringing in my ears—take pictures and make plans.

from Tracey Clark’s post Word to Fly By on Shutter Sisters

Yesterday, inspired and energized by sunshine (in the sky and in a pot), I took photos. Today, inspired and energized by a growing collection of “stars” in my Google Reader, I’m working on the plans. A work-in-progress that I need to begin NOW so I have a happily productive spring gardening vacation.

1. Make a planting plan. (Guides: 1, 2)
2. Take sowing lessons. (Guides: 1, 2)
3. …then sow the seeds! Follow with TLC, of course.
4. Study garden photography techniques. (Guide: 1)
5. Prune the 800+ photos in on my computer.
6. Nominate my favourite gardening blogs for a Mouse & Trowel award.
7. View the spring-flowering shrubs at Queen Elizabeth Park.

Maybe a bit ambitious for today, but if I focus, achievable in two-and-a-half weeks of vacation. Tomorrow, I set priorities! This morning…I’m starting with #7.

Use all your senses in the garden

The first thing I read yesterday morning was Kelly Rossiter’s lovely post on Planet Green. I thank her for reminding me to use my hearing — not just sight, smell, taste and touch — to experience the Spring garden. And not feel strange about going out in the middle of the night to witness the remarkable.