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More rain in the forecast for the whole week. It's too wet to plant most things out, so my flats of seedlings are backing up all over the place. The trees and shrubs are greening up beautifully though. ;)

I 💚 compost. Here we use three of the big black lidded plastic compost bins. I like that the bin tapers at the top and has no bottom, so when it's time to flip the compost the bin just lifts off. That feature makes it really easy and even kind of fun to flip. No heavy lifting involved. :)

Good images of the horsetail root structure flowerbug. It's an interesting plant!

Yesterday I noticed a tiny green fruit on one of my Honey Nail tomato plants. The first one of the season. 😍

I think in our gardens we tend to stay on top of them, which helps. My friend and I are trying to help out a neighbour who has solid horsetails in lousy dirt. We are on year three of amending the soil, and that is definitely making a difference. We work together to try to gently lift them out...

Thanks so much! 🥕🥕🥕

Musical plants. Moved some pansies and echinacea to spots where they'll have more room to stretch out. There were also some curly endive plants and a Red Mizuna that over-wintered, so they got new homes as well. It would be nice to save seed from the mizuna if it survives the transplant...

So true...if a deep freeze presents they will need extra protection. Sadly all we have is rain and more rain, with one grey day after another. So little sun. When spring finally arrives it may be too hot all at once. These climate extremes are a big challenge.

Not a fun task, Heirloomgal. Tags are an important piece of the gardening puzzle. I've tried multiple methods and found myself frustrated as well. So far my recycled slats of aluminum blinds, cut to size, are functioning well for at least a couple of seasons. After trying multiple pens...

One of the local big box stores is selling 1 gallon containers of perennial pink Scabiosa for just $9.95CAD, which is a very good price-- especially given how long it takes to grow these plants from seed. I could not resist buying one. Once the plant is established I will try to propagate it...

My quest for early, cold-tolerant tomatoes continues with the first test subjects moving to 2-gallon or larger pots placed close to the house and out of the rain. This bold move is kind of nuts and clearly impossible. No one in our area puts their tomatoes out in March. But rather than looking...

I planted out tulip bulbs in November, and must have had the brilliant idea to cover the patch with a large pot to keep the bulbs drier in our wet Pacific Northwest climate. After planting them I promptly forgot about them, until yesterday (when they were kind of hard to miss!) Who knew that...

A warm welcome from British Columbia! :)

Must say that I love the old mechanical washing machines that can be easily repaired if you find the right parts. The new electronic ones don't seem to last nearly as well, so we're holding on to our vintage washer as long as we can. We picked it up second hand for $100 and it's been a work...

Love it-- congratulations Shades-of-Oregon! 😍

And finally lettuce. Some have survived in tiny 3/4" peat blocks for over a month, which is kind of interesting. If I have time I may bump them up to 2" blocks, for sharing. My preference is to start lettuce seed on coarse vermiculite, and then at about 2 weeks I prick out them out to 1 1/2"...

Sweet Peas are stalling with this long cold stretch of soggy weather. Most of these ones were started in mid-February. Hopefully it will dry out enough to plant a few of them in the garden later this week. I find sweet peas tricky to get established, so I would hate to have these perish.

Dill and cilantro can be a bit of a challenge to grow indoors, so I'm trialling sowing small pinches of seed in 1 1/2" soil blocks. Cruiser Coriander and Ella Dill were each started on March 11th at cool room temperature. Once they sprouted I moved them under lights to continue growing cool...

Sunflowers Sunrich Gold and Sunrich Lime had good germination in 1 1/2" blocks, and are now ready to move out to the deck for some fresh air. If I keep them indoors they'll get weak and leggy; I'm hoping the wind will toughen them so so I'll have nice stocky seedlings. These little guys are...

Dijon Mustard and other cool brassicas such as Golden Frills mustard, Bare Necessities Kale, and a funky Italian broccoli called Spigariello Riccio-- all sown on March 17th. These all need to stay where it's kind of warm for now, or they may think they've gone through winter and bolt. They are...