The week of wild weather.

We had another storm roll through here this week which brought lots of wind, about an inch of rain, and left us without power for about 40 hours.  No tornado activity in our area, which we are thankful for.  We pulled out the generator and kept our fridge, freezer and cooler running.  The gardens all fared very well and everything looks very green.

Angelica

The flowers of this biennial attract parasitic wasps which help us control thrips and aphids.

The Monarch butterfly eggs have hatched already and they are busy munching the milkweed plants.  I do not have too many plants and they show growth later in the spring, so there are not a lot of leaves for these little fellas to eat.  Hopefully the plants will start growing with the moisture and warm weather ahead. 

Progress in the garden.

Peonies

The peonies are now being cut so we will have lots of stems at the market on Saturday along with Sweet William, Bellflower, Yarrow and more.  We will also be offering green onions and fresh herbs.

We experienced our first storm last week with strong winds and heavy rain.  We had almost two inches of rain in about half an hour.  The plants all seemed to take it in stride, except for the cucumbers.  Some of them  could not tolerate the soggy cold soil, so we planted a few more seeds.
Our lilac bushes are so beautiful this year and this morning they were all a buzz with honey bees, bumble bees and butterflies.  We have observed several Monarch butterflies and I started checking the milkweed plants and sure enough, there are eggs laid all over the various milkweeds we grow.  The male Tiger Swallowtail is back now enjoying the lilac blossoms.  Will try and keep our eyes peeled for the female.  The females look totally different than the males.

Since the soil is very wet we have stayed out of the gardens until today.  Started weeding and mulching and I transplanted in the rock garden and in front of the house.  Should be able to proceed with planting into one or two other gardens tomorrow.  Have a good two days of transplanting to do yet.  Checked out the raspberry patch today and I have never seen so many large bumblebees in one place.  There had to have been in excess of a hundred bees all busy pollinating the raspberry flowers.  Thanks to them we should have another bumper crop of fruit.

The Bluebird family is in the yard.  The young ones have fledged the nest and we think that one or two Tree Swallow families is also out and about now.  While weeding today I was watching a Yellow Canary land on a peony stem close to the bud and eating the insects on the buds.  Our natural pesticides.

Speaking of peonies they are looking so grand right now, starting to show colour in the buds.  Will have some stems cut for the market this Saturday along with several other flower bouquets, onions and plants.

Transplanting into the gardens.

Last week we transplanted approximately half of the plants into the gardens.  One of the gardens is now planted with Dahlia's, Ageratum, Zinnia's and some of the heirloom tomato plants, seeds which were so graciously offered to us by a friend in Alvena.  Looking forward to observing them over the summer and tasting the fruit, which will be various colours and sizes.  One variety dates back to 1889, called Matt's Wild.  The seed company describes it as possibly an originator of the modern tomato which can grow up to 10-12' producing small tomato's, like eating raspberries.

Decorative corn planted as windbreak.

Valley garden

The valley garden is my favourite garden because the birds hang out in the trees adjacent to the garden.  We are serenaded with their songs while we tend to the plants and this is where we see a lot of the antics of the birds.  We planted the Beefstake, Brandy Wine, and Early Girl tomato's in this garden along with Crocosmia, Craspedia (Drumstick flower), Dianthus (annual neon purple and cherry), Dahlias, Scabiosa, Orlaya, and Icelandic Poppies.  We also seeded corn, zinnias, sunflowers and amaranthus.  Once the soil dries somewhat we will finish the transplanting in this garden with Gomphrena's and whatever else we can stuff in. We received an inch and a half in this weekends two day rain, so the transplants will settle in nicely. 

Shooting Star, one of my favourite perennials.

Delphiniums in the valley garden.

The valley garden is home to all of the perennials, Peonies, Monskhood, Heliposis, Sweet William, Red Feather, Delphiniums, Yarrow, Veronica, Mums, Echinops, Campunala Freya,  plus many more.  A wide variety of plants, with a lot of birds taking care of the insects for us.  This year we are laying onion peels around the Delphiniums to deter aphids.  This Spring there were a couple of Delphiniums that were hosting the aphids so I cut those plants down and put them in a pail of water to drown the aphids.  We have had a few more on other plants but I keep picking off the foliage and placing it in the water, and maybe along with the onion peels it may be keeping them under control.  Would love to hear feedback if you are going to try this in your Delphinium garden.

The birds are busy tending to their eggs and feeding the young ones.  The Raven family have fledged the nest and are visiting the yard area.  The young ones are very vocal, so they always catch your attention whenever they are around.  They are very interesting to observe.

This weekend at the Saskatoon farmers Market we will have fresh green onions available along with the selection of plants and cut flowers.  The purple Allium's were very popular this past Saturday in the flower bouquets.

Saskatoon Farmers Market

Unusual items available at the market this weekend at our booth.

Funky plant containers.

Herb Planter.

We also have fresh flower bouquets available made with Freesia, Lilacs and Trollius.

Times are very busy right now as we have started transplanting into the gardens, gambling on the long range forecast, predicting the lows to be well above freezing.  Usually we only start at the first week of June so a few days ahead this year.  The soil is nice and moist and the flower and vegetable seeds are all starting to germinate.  We have been feasting on fresh radishes and onions and tonight we had our first lettuce salad from our garden.  

No Robin antics to post about this week as they are busy building their nest in the trees.  Sure hope it works out well for them.  I came across a Sparrow nest on the ground in our rock garden, under a perennial leaf, with two eggs in it.  We have identified a Cat Bird in the yard, which has a very lovely song.  It was here last summer as well but we did not get many good looks at it, as they seem to stay in the trees when we are out and about.  The song always intrigued us and we thought it was the Baltimore Oriole, but this week the Catbird was perched in a tree singing away, where it was visible to us.  So out came the bird book right away.  Later in the day we saw & heard the Oriole, and their song is different.  Similar but different.

We enjoyed an early morning view of a mother moose and her baby wandering around the front of our property this week.  Such impressive creatures.

Robin Antics

Agave

We believe we have Mr./Mrs. Stubborn Robin back this year.  If you recall the posts from last Spring about the Robin whom was determined to build his/her nest on the top of our back tire on the truck.  Eventually we had to park the truck in the garage so it would find a new site for nest building.  Anyway this year it decided to build it's nest on top of the propane tank of the barbecue.  One day last week Pat barbecued, and the next morning a nest was built right on top of the propane tank.  We dismantled the nest, but felt sorry for the bird when it came back to the location with nest building material in his mouth, and no nest to be found.  It hopped on the barbecue looking around, and then on the ground and then back on the barbecue and so on.  Within a few days it decided that the eavestrough right over our front door would be a good location.  Again we cleaned out the nest building material.  As of today, it has not attempted another location close to humans, but there's always tomorrow.

This week we are receiving a good soaking of rain, which also allows us a breather to do other chores around the area.  We planted some of the new perennials for cutting on Monday, so they will settle in nice with the rain.  We have been having busy days at the Farmer's Market.  We have ten varieties of tomato plants along with three types of green peppers and several hot peppers.  The vegetable plants include celery, summer squash, winter squash, cucumbers, and pumpkins.   Several new annual plants, including Cerinthe (Pride of Gibralta), Fireworks Grass, Passion Flower vine, Castor Beans (red and green), Rudbeckia, Sweet Peas, ten different colours of Dahlias.  Lots of new perennials and the old favorites, culinary herbs, Hydrangea, Oso Easy Rose bush, and three types of shrubs.  Lots of selection, but never enough room on our market tables.

Flower Fields & Plant Sale

Relatives of ours were in California in April and they visited a flower farm at Carlsbad.  Wanted to share some of the photos they took.

The yard is full of birds again this month.  The American Goldfinch's are back and we spotted a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak while we were in the pasture last week.  The Eastern Bluebird has not been seen again, so it probably moved on, but we have been listening to the Northern Oriole sing this week.  The Mountain Bluebirds claimed a new nest box in the pasture and Pat has added two more nest boxes for the Tree Swallows and is going to add two more today so we will be up to forty four birdhouses.  

The potatoes, radish and onions that were planted last week have poked out of the ground.  Have been busy tending to the plants in the greenhouse and digging perennials for the plant sale.  This year we thought we would host a Plant Sale at the farm.  It is on Friday May 18th from 10:00am to 8:00pm.  We are located 4 kms east of Alvena on grid 777.  There will be signs to guide you our way.  We will have on display bee, bird and bat houses, and the hypertufa planters.  The plants will include, shrubs, roses, perennials, annuals, vegetables, herbs and succulents.

We will be at the Saskatoon Farmers Market on Saturday and Sunday this weekend.  Have a great long weekend and happy planting.

May Happenings

May is really a wonderful month.  Everything in nature is so busy.  The trees, shrubs and perennials are all signaled to start growing with the warm weather.  The birds are busy building nests and finding mates.  The sky is very active in our yard right now, with all the different birds flying about.  It so nice to have some company in the yard.
The greenhouses are really filling up, so we are starting to adjust some of the annuals to the higher light levels outdoors.  Every day we allow them to bask in the full sun for a little longer.  Soon they will be tolerant of the sun for the entire day and at the end of May we will start planting them in the ground.  We have halted seeding for now as we received some much appreciated moisture this past weekend, so in a few days we can continue with that schedule.
Today we are showcasing a couple of annuals we have available this year for sales at the Saskatoon Farmer's Market.  The first is a vine called Blue Passion Flower.  It is very fast growing with exotic looking flowers.  It is great for pots or beds and grows up to 12'.  Allow it to grow in full sun for best flowering.  Hardy to Zone 6.

Passiflora caerulea

Pennisetum Fireworks

Another annual we have is the Proven Winners Fireworks grass.  Grows to 24-30" tall and is variegated with reds, pinks and greens.  Likes full sun and can be grown in the landscape or in a pot.

This weekend at the Saskatoon Farmers Market we are going to have some interesting gifts for Mother's Day.  They will include our hypertufa containers potted up with succulents or herbs, decorative containers, rubber boots,  vinyl records re-purposed into plant containers, and the most fun item will be a pair of red high heels all planted up.  Stop by early to check it all out.  We will be selling the pepper and tomato plants along with celery plants, annual flowers, dahlias, shrubs, lots of new perennials and our selection of culinary herbs.   I will be posting pictures of our unusual plantings available on our facebook page this week.  Search Mistik Acres and like our page.  We will be participating in the Sunday market this weekend, but we will be outside due to a celebration all about Mom's, taking place indoors from 11:30-2:30.  Pamper yourself or your Mom with a mini manicure, massage, facial or yoga instruction.  There will be live entertainment and lots of food.