Here and there I’ve been able to get out in the garden and do a bit of cleaning. As I said, I’m not cleaning all the stuff on the ground yet. I leave that until it gets warmer so I don’t hurt any overwintering moths, or fireflies, who hibernate in leaf litter, etc.

Mostly, I’ve been trimming down dead stems and such….

Like on this Sedum. The new growth is really robust so it helps to get the old stuff cut away to let in light and air and help the new leaves flourish.

Though it drives Dave crazy, I leave the cuttings in piles on the lawn for about a week or so…

This way nesting birds can come and take their fill of nest-building supplies.

This weekend I plan to plant my spinach seeds.

I’ve got this raised big bed filled and prepped for it. The spinach can grow in here until it gets too hot for the crop. Then I will used this bed as a cutting bed for annual flowers (I’ve got a pile of seeds including snap dragons, zinnias, and sooo much more)

I’ll also be planting some seeds indoors. Last weekend I got my new propagation station set up and ready to go.

And you might be thinking “new??? I thought you built one of those a couple years ago”. You’re right – I did. But after the seeds were done I filled it with house plants (mostly cacti and succulents) and well….. I had no room for seeds.

And this is a very inexpensive way of building a little indoor grow station (“Real” ones can be quite pricy) I got the shelving unit from Canadian Tire for $30 (actually, I think I got it on sale for $25…. but it’s regularly $30). It’s easy to assemble and lightweight so it’s easy to move around, and can be disassembled for storage.

Then I got some grow lights from Amazon for another $30. I buy these particular ones because it’s three separate strips on one control. They attached to the top of the shelf with double sided tape (though they do come with screws if you prefer). Easy Peasy! They have a timer too. There are definitely more expensive lights, and probably better quality, but these get the job done.

So that’s a grow station for $60 instead of $200 or upward for the ready made ones.

This weekend I’ll be starting tomatoes, cantebury bells, Venidium, Sweet peas, Snapdragons, Milkweed and Delphiniums… and maybe some more.

In the meantime, the weather has still be pretty cool (we had snow on and off yesterday) but there’s still new blooms in the garden

The big hyacinths are starting to put on on show. For some reason almost all my big hyacinths are in the catio (that’s on me, since I do all the planting). And that means these ones are in the real danger of being runover by a certain maniac ginger. I’ll have to remember to plant some throughout the other gardens in the fall.

And as for daffodils… things look about the same as last week. I brought a few to enjoy inside…

They were also Lemmy casualties from the catio. And I’ll probably be getting a few more soon. Oh… and like my wee snail?

I picked him up on a whim last year, and I like to move him to random places around the livingroom.