February Spurs the Gardener in us All

As soon as February rolls in you immediately notice the light becoming stronger and lasting longer.  This seems to trigger an internal clock in all gardeners and we all start becoming alert to the anticipation of growing again.  Mid February is our first seed starting of artichoke, celery and a few flowers, Icelandic Poppies, Snapdragons, Dusty Miller, Stock and Dianthus.  Flowers that like cool weather will tolerate the cold nights in the greenhouse.  Hardened off properly they will tolerate light frosts once they are transplanted in the garden.  We can use row covers to protect them after they are planted if the temperatures really drop in April and May.  We also plant cool season flowers early in our small hoopouse after the tulips have all been harvested.  Once the cool flowers have finished we plant row cover like oats or buckwheat to incorporate green manure for nutrients for the tulips we plant in the fall.

We have also started waking up a few varieties of Dahlias and have placed them on a heat mat covered in a peat mix.  Once they start sending up shoots we will take cuttings and root on the heat mat to increase our stock of plants for the growing season.

Babette Dahlia

Elma Elizabeth Dahlia

We have a Dahlia Tubers listing available for purchase.  Click on the highlighted/underlined link.  Shipping across Canada or other arrangements can be made.

Feels like Spring

The weather has been so beautiful lately so we have been taking a lot of walks to our pasture.  Max loves it out there and he has a companion, Daisy, for a few weeks. 

When we first moved out to this location we had many bluffs of Trembling Aspen/Poplar scattered throughout the land.  In the past six years many of these bluffs have accumulated large amounts of water that does not drain away.  Hence we have large bluffs of trees that are now dead, still standing in the water, but the trees have all drowned.  Once the water freezes thick enough we start exploring these areas, walking amongst all the dead trees observing the various changes that are taking place in the trees.  At some point in their decay different types of fungi start growing, woodpeckers peck holes in the trees looking for insects and there are some birds that excavate cavities in the dead trees and raise their young in them.  We even found a large egg in one of the cavities.  

You can see the frozen water around the base of this tree.

Beautiful fungus

The beavers have also moved into this bluff and have built two huts. The picture above is of all the trees they have taken down over the last couple of years.

The landscape is forever changing and I am sure over time when the water dries up again, the beavers will move on and new trees will grow once again.

A nest cavity perhaps or the birds may hang out in the hole when the weather is at it's worst.

Spring update!

Spring is clipping along at breakneck speed.  Not enough time in the day to get all the tasks completed.  It has been frustrating lately as we have had to hold off transplanting anything frost sensitive due to the cold front that moved into the province yesterday and is hanging around for another day or two.  But we have focused on transplanting all the snapdragons, stock, dianthus, forget me nots, annual phlox, lupines, sweet peas, icelandic poppies and campunala. 

The anemone and ranunculus corms are all starting to grow.  We soaked them and covered them with mulch this week so now will patiently wait to see those lovely blooms.

All the birds are now back to the yard as well as the bats have taken up residence in the bat houses again.  Pat had to put up more houses for the Tree Swallows again this year so we are probably up to about 60 pairs of birds on our land.  

We are really looking forward  to this growing season as we have an extra pair of hands to assist us with the production of the flowers.  We would like to welcome Sara Kuleza to the farm.  She volunteered at the farm last year and was interested in helping us out this year on a regular basis. 

I had a telephone call from Edna Manning this morning to let me know that the article she wrote for Grainews about our flower farm has been published.  The link is below to read the article.   http://www.grainews.ca/digital-edition/grainews-  She always writes great articles.  Thanks again Edna.  We sure appreciate it.

The greenhouses are stuffed due to the cold temps last night.  Everything that was being hardened off was brought indoors.

Lilies are in crates this year.

The water truck.  Have had to haul a lot of water already this Spring.

A few of the Dahlia's starting to bloom.

The Clematis's we bought and planted last fall are growing like crazy.  I think we will be cutting those this summer.

Cafe au Lait Dahlia

Ice Cube Dahlia

Both of the above Dahlias will be available at the Saskatoon Farmers Market Saturday May 30th.  These two particular varieties will be on sale at 50% off.  Regular price is $10.00 each.  If you still have room in your garden come on down and pick yourself up a few plants.  We will also have a large selection of Dahlias at regular price as well.

Dahlia Plants

We have a large selection of Dahlia plants available for purchase this Spring.  Starting Saturday May 16th we will be at the Saskatoon Farmers Market with the plants in tow.  The following plants will be available till the end of May or until we are sold out.  Some varieties are limited quantities.

Cafe au Lait

Summer Night

Worton Blue Streak

Babylon Bronze

Ice Cube

Boom Boom

Darkarin

Babylon Purple

Maarten Zwaan

Sylvia

Ferncliff Tropics

Lauren Michelle

Wyns King Salmon

Camano Buzz

David Digweed

Thomas Edison

Elsie Huston

For detailed information about each variety go to our facebook page at  www.facebook.com/mistik.acres.

Tidbits of Spring

I love Spring!!  Right now the Sandhill Cranes are floating overhead serenading us with their talk and beating of their wings.  Their wings produce this whooosh whoosh sound you can hear if they are flying low enough.  The afternoon they disappear and then evening they head back to their night resting grounds.  There are many Robins flitting about and singing.  Probably starting to pair up and begin nest building.  Noticed a few Tree Swallows yesterday and the Cat birds.  We sighted a male Bluebird a couple of times but have not seen a female yet.  Hope he brings a mate back to the farm as we love to see them throughout the yard all summer with their babies.  The resident rabbits are turning brown from their white winter coats.

The Delphiniums are starting to show growth along with the Angelica.  They are always the first to spring to life.  The greenhouses are filling up and soon we will have to spill into the hoophouse.  The following are a few photos of springtime at Mistik Acres.

Rudbeckia, three varieties.  

We have a fan running at all times circulating the air over the seedlings,  developing strong sturdy stems and helping prevent bugs from infesting the plants.

The Dahlias are looking great.

Scented Geranium

Max my helper

Anemone corms ready to soak

Planting the Anemone corms.  Notice the helper in the photo again.

Not much of a help.  Lays on the newly planted flowers.

We used a bottle to make the depressions for the corms.  Worked real slick.

In no time we had them planted along with the overwintered Ranunculus corms.

Hoophouse is ready for planting.

The second hoophouse under construction.  Will be ready to plant within a couple of weeks.

The crates I use to sprout the Dahlia tubers.  I like to see sprouts before I pot up the Dahlia tubers.

After danger of frost is past we transplant them into the gardens.

Coconut coir ready to be soaked.  I use this in my potting soil to help prevent my seedling soil from turning green and to add moisture holding matter to the soil.  It doubles in size once the water is added and absorbed. 

I use an old basin to mix up the soil with the coir and fertilizer prior to seeding and transplanting.

I water all the plants with warm water.  This is my heating probe I use in the greenhouse.  When the weather starts heating up the sun warms the water.

Angelica plants coming to life.  They are such an awesome plant for attracting beneficial insects to the gardens.

We have a couple of sets of Magpies nesting in the yard this year.  This is one of the nests.