We interrupt these moodlings for gardening

As happens every year at this time, I realize that I have been neglecting my online moodlings. Never on purpose -- my head has moodling thoughts all the time -- it's just that life gets really busy with all that needs to happen outdoors. 

So you may not be hearing from me much over the next few weeks. If I get a chance, I'll post pictures of what's happening around the yard, but then again, maybe not.

In the meantime, here are a few images of our earliest blossoms to entertain you...

small yellow crocus

ever present violas

my favourites right now -- tulipa

and a few Dutch beauties

We worked very hard on Friday and Saturday to reduce the size of our lawn through lasagna gardening, also known as sheet mulching. Covered it with a layers of cardboard, compost, straw, and pine mulch. 

It involved a lot of rock wrestling, cardboard cutting, and wheel barrowing. I'll dig out my gardening books and figure out some good ground cover shrubs, and it will become more interesting over time. For now, it's a blank pallet with a lot of potential.

Our thanks to neighbours and friends who contributed cardboard and good will toward this future garden. If you have any ideas about what we should do with this space, I'd love to hear them! And if you don't hear from me for a while, you know where to find me -- out in the garden!

Garden dreaming

It gets to the point where a garden girl like me starts to get a little bit tired of winter. Especially when the days are getting longer, the fabulous February sun is rising higher, and the temperature in the greenhouse starts to reach up to 13 or 15 degrees Celcius in mid-afternoon. I've been dreaming of my tulips and spring bulbs having their own dreams about emerging from the dark into glorious Spring days!

It doesn't matter if the garden looks like this today...

because I go here and place a seed order 

and start planning what goes where 

for the Spring of 2018. 

Joy!

And then it's not long before this starts happening, 

almost against my will...

(but not really!)

Today I planted my leeks, a few red onions, some herbs and peppers, and set them on a seedling heat mat. You can bet that as soon as my seed order arrives in the next week or so, I'll be planting a few more things. Come March, the babies will all move out to the greenhouse.

Winter can't keep us garden girls down for too long!!