A Rundown of Winners in my Garden

It won't be long before folks are heading to the garden centres to see what’s what in the world of ornamentals.  I’ve already stopped in at a few nurseries, but around here in Southern Ontario, the droves don’t come out until mid-May and many garden centres, especially the smaller ones, are still closed or not fully stocked yet.

This family-run nursery near Elora, Ontario was an exception as it was well stocked in mid-April.
Their selection of sedums and coleus was incredible!

Last May, I received a variety of plants to trial from Proven Winners, all of which will be newly available at retail this year.  With our last frost date just around the corner, I thought now would be a good time to talk about some of the winners in my garden.  I’ve highlighted each of these on Instagram, but I’ll provide a few more details on my experiences in this post.  If you don’t follow me on Instagram fear not - all the info I posted there is also included here 😊

Before the Rain Set In...

They say April showers bring May flowers & we are certainly getting our fair share of rain.  We did have a few good days this past week, however, and I was busy getting the garden ready for planting.

Raindrops on spruce trees...

The task that was at the top of the list last week was spreading compost on all the beds.  Since I get compost in bulk using a utility trailer, it's a job that's dependent on the weather, as is the task of getting it from the trailer onto our beds.  Thankfully, I was able to finish up yesterday before the rains started.

Other than plant specific soil amendments such as manure,
the beds are all ready to go...

I still have about a quarter of a trailer full of compost left which is destined for the asparagus beds & fruit trees, but that will have to wait until the rain lets up.  In the meantime, the trailer has traded places with my car so it's safely in the garage waiting until our next dry day.

Getting Started....

This past Saturday, I spent an entire day in the garden....hurray!  Spring-like weather has been a long time coming this year.  It was a lovely day with no wind (which is always a biggie in my books when it comes to comfort) - perfect for getting out and doing a few things in the garden.

The ground is still rather soggy and there are sections on the north side of the house where the snow has not completely melted away, but we are getting there.  The first task on my list was removing the straw from the garlic and asparagus beds & I managed to get this done…sort of.

We had quite a lot of freezing rain and ice buildup this winter and that was evident when we peeled back the top layer of straw….the bottom layers were encased in ice and frozen solidly to the bed.

Each bed was left with a few inches of straw, frozen to the bed

I removed what straw I could & the rest of the ice will hopefully melt over the next week or so as we are expecting temperatures to be above freezing on most days.