Feeling Sluggish and an Update

So I thought I would post an update on how the season is progressing around these parts.  One word:  Cold.  I'll add two more words to that:  Windy and rainy.

Some plants, however, are loving the cool weather including the hellebore I purchased at Canada Blooms.  I can't believe that it's been blooming for almost 2 full months now!

The blooms start off deep pink, then lighten as they mature - so gorgeous!

It's been a rough start to the season, weather wise, with relatively few good gardening days.  But it looks like we are FINALLY turning the corner - and I couldn't be more ready.  Sort of.

The past couple of days have been lovely - the perfect gardening weather.  And I've tried to take advantage of it, but I'll be honest.  I haven't been motivated lately as I've been perpetually tired for the past few weeks.  There's nothing going on, really, it's simply a matter of not getting enough sleep.  Why?  Because the kids are going to bed late every night (one of the "ugh" factors of having teenagers, I guess) and I need at least a couple of hours of unwinding afterwards.

One of the only shows that we actually watch as each episode is aired.

There are just too many spoilers to wait until the end of the season

Photo Credit:  Wikipedia

This is when hubby and I get in some tv watching time and then I like to do a bit of reading before bed as well (how much of a "bit" depends on how far past midnight it is 🙄).  Then I have to get up early to get the kids off to school.  Now, if I was one of those 6-hours-sleep per night people, there would be no problem.  The thing is I'm more of an 8-9 hour a night person.  To top it off, I've been trying to cut down on caffeine & switched up my black morning coffee to half-decalf about a year ago.  Not a problem if I have enough sleep, but when I'm tired, it's not enough to rev my engine so to speak.

And that's my tale of woe & why I haven't been raring to go lately.

Now, let's switch gears to what I HAVE done.  All of the beds were "composted" in April (that's my way of saying that I added compost to them 😁) and all they need now is individual amendments depending on which crop they will hold.  The lettuce, onions, kale and broccoli were finally transplanted late last week:

It always amazes me that these tiny, wispy onion seedlings

will turn into globes of goodness by August

Aspabroc

Merveille des Quatre Saisons Lettuce

Red Russian Kale

Of course, the day after I transplanted we had strong winds and rainy/chilly weather.  The seedlings were a little battered, but thankfully, they seem to have pulled through ok.

In April, I had also sown a few squares of spring crops that are now coming up.  These include radishes, beets, turnips, claytonia, arugula and mache.

Baby turnips finally making an appearance

What else?  Well, there is a WHOLE lot of hardening off happening:

The driveway is a busy place these days

In fact, I am hardening off everything that was under the lights, even if it won't be going into the garden until the end of the month.  I decided that it would be easier simply moving all the plants in and out of the garage (based on how amenable the weather was) rather than taking care of two separate groups of plants.  I'll simply not transplant the more fragile ones until the end of the month.

There has also been...drum roll please...a harvest!

First asparagus of the season!

There were issues with asparagus beetles last year and I'm hoping that this doesn't affect our harvest too much - it's looking good so far.

Also on the harvest front - or I should say "possible" harvest front - are the haskaps.  I have two varieties (for cross-pollination) and this is the first year when BOTH of them have bloomed.  The bushes are still rather tiny, but perhaps I'll actually taste a berry or two??

Fingers crossed we get some pollination action on the haskaps this year.

And lastly there's been a *little* bit of shopping going on.  I'm concentrating on one section of the border plus another bed in the backyard that currently has an ash tree that has succumbed to the emerald ash borer and has to be removed.  I was fairly disciplined when I wrote my list, limiting it to these two areas with a total of 29 plants.

Shopping trip number one.  Total haul:  26 plants.

My cart overfloweth…

Shopping trip number two.  Total haul:  30 plants including one tray of succulents.

My car overfloweth….

You would think I purchased everything on my list plus a "few" extras.  You would be wrong.  The number of plants left on my list?  Twenty.  Yup.  47 plants were obviously snuck onto my cart when I wasn't looking 😜.

This weekend looks like it will be quite nice, weather wise.  And I'll be missing it altogether.  In early April, we made plans to spend the Victoria Day weekend with my brother-in-law and his family. At that point, the garden was still sleeping and I optimistically thought "it's only a couple of days".  Well, as it turns out, that's quite a lot of time when good gardening days have been few and far between.  I should have known better.  BUT I know we'll have a great time so I'm going to put the garden out of my mind and not think of what I'll not be doing and simply enjoy the moment.

Next week the plan is two-fold:  (1)  Start unwinding earlier by getting the kids settled in at a reasonable hour and (2) temporarily switch to full caffeine (but just for next week!).  I'm hoping that more sleep and a bit more of a charge in the morning will make for a big dent in my "to do" list.