While there may be no frogs in my yard (though as many of you guessed… we’ve got plans…), we’ve still got plenty of birds.
The brown-headed cowbirds are showing up in force this year. They may not be the showiest bird, but the have a very pretty call.
We’ve got the blue jays whenever the peanut ring is full of course, but this Red Bellied Woodpecker is a fairly regular visitor.
Another regular visitor this year is the Red-Winged Blackbird, I hear them frequently, but normally, I don’t really see them.
This one, however has been visiting quite often. Many people say robins are the harbinger of spring, but for me, it’s always these guys. As soon as I hear them, I know spring is around the corner. However, he was not keen on the idea of getting picture taken, and as soon as he caught sight of me he’d take off.
These were the best I could get.
The same can’t be said for the Blue Jays. They are pretty used to me now, and as long as I’m not moving around too much, they don’t worry about my presence. That allows me to get shots like this!
Sunday morning, Dave and I headed over to the neighbour’s around the corner. She was demolishing a 200-year-old outbuilding… (it was dilapidated and falling down) and well… it’s probably the most exciting thing to happen in the town for a while. There was quite a crowd watching a guy with a backhoe take it down bit by bit.
To be honest, I thought it was a little anti-climatic. I was more excited by her pond. I’ve visited her little pond many times, but never with my long-lens. She has some pretty Koi, but what I really liked was the frogs!
And boy, were there a lot of frogs!!!
We have toads a-plenty in our yard, but we are decidedly short on frogs. I guess that’s because they all live around the corner!
While most of the weekend was spent outside (as mentioned yesterday). I did dedicate the evening hours to my stitching. And as a result, Block 16 is done!
There were no French Knots, and the satin stitch was minimal, so I think that’s why this one went so quick. Whatever the reason, I’m happy with it. I’m off to Mom’s this weekend, so I’ll have to wait until next to start block 17. But I’m definitely getting closer to the end of this project!
It was another, nice sunny weekend, so there wasn’t much indoor time, but Burton and did manage to sneak in an hour before dinner to bang out Block 2 for the Blockhead sew-along.
It was a fairly simple one, though we did change out the original quarter-square triangle in the centre, for a fussy cut centre. Burton does love a good fussy cut.
And you may remember that last week’s block had a black background…
We decided to do this one just like we did for Blockhead 4 in 2022. This one is going to be just as fun!
It’s time to check in on the edibles in the garden…
Most advanced, of course is the lettuce and spinach.
We’ve already had some of the spinach, and I’ll probably cut some more to throw in a salad this weekend. I’m hoping the weather doesn’t get too hot too fast (though we’ve already had a couple scorchers). I’d like to get the lettuce a little bigger before I try harvesting. Right now the biggest head is probably only big enough for a personal-sized salad.
All of my onion-family are doing fantastic. In the first pic, we have Leeks and Green Onions. they look almost the same right now, but the Leeks will get much thicker. In the second, we have Shallots and Garlic. And as you can see, both have taken off beautifully. I noticed scapes just starting on the garlic – we’ll be harvesting in about six weeks! Hard to believe it!
My experiment of using grocery store potatoes as seed potatoes seems to be working. Those bare patches are a few that have been slower to sprout… but they are starting!
My carrots had me a little worried… but it was probably just impatience. They have all sprouted now and are starting to get true leaves. I planted a whole bed this time, instead of just half. These are Dave’s favourite treat from the garden, so I need to have LOTS!
His other favourite is the beans, but I went smaller on those this year. The past two years, I’ve planted up and entire raised bed with them and we end up with way, way too many. We found this big plastic tub while thrifting this year. It’s probably 1/3 of the size of the raised bed, and I think it will be the perfect amount of beans. They just started to sprout this week, but if you know beans… they will grow FAST!.
A new treat for Dave this year is sweet Green Peppers. I wasn’t planning on it, but he noticed them at the garden centre so I said we could give them a try. I’ve tried before with poor success… but our neighbour grows beautiful sweet peppers so maybe I can get some tips from him.
Honestly, most of the edibles in the garden are grown for Dave…
I’m glad I planted out multiple of my tomato seedlings because as you can see… one is doing much better than the others. It was a good way of hedging my bets. I will probably pull the smaller ones once I’m sure that one in the middle is going to take off. I don’t need more than one tomato plant as I don’t eat them at all. While Dave likes them, he eats them sparingly because the acid bothers him. These are yellow pear tomatoes to help with that… but he still won’t eat a billion of them.
Almost all my cucurbits have sprouted…. on the left we have gourds at the top, and cucumbers at the bottom. We have two types of cucumbers this year…. Summer Dance, which I grew last year, and a new one I picked up a garden centre – Lemon Cucumber! They don’t taste like Lemons, but they look like them. I thought they were fun.
On the top right, we have baby pumpkins (in white, black and orange just like last year), and Celebration squash, also like last year. I’m hoping I can stay ahead of the squash bugs this year and actually get some squash I can eat!
Elsewhere…
We have one teeny tiny Cucamelon sprout. You will remember my Cucamelons from last year. I had so much fun picking them, I decided to plant them again. However, like beans, we were also overrun with them, so I planted few plants, in a smaller pot with a little wire trellis. They need more heat to really get going, but it’s nice to see a sprout regardless.
The only thin that hasn’t sprouted are my zucchini. But I planted them a little later than everything else so I’m not panicking yet.
My Sugar Baby melons are slow to progress, but like the cucamelon, they need a lot of heat. I’m optimistic they will take off in the next few weeks.
My snap peas, however, are romping away. On my to-do list is getting their strings up so they can climb nice and tall. The peas I plant for me. Dave rarely gets any because they don’t make it in the house.
Of course, it’s not just veggies.
The raspberries seem especially lush this year and are already covered in buds.
The blackberries are too. I planted them late summer last year, so this is the first year we will have an berries.
And as for the strawberries
Both the plants in the raised beds and new fence planters are covered in flowers and berries. In fact, they are already starting to ripen….
The foxgloves are just starting to come out. They are definitely among my absolute favourite flowers, and I’ve planted a whole pile of seeds last week- though I’m still waiting for them to germinate.
This gorgeous salmon coloured one is out front. And those flowers are HUGE!
That’s my hand beside it. And the funny part – I don’t even remember buying this particular poppy. I thought I bought a red one!
Out back, I do have a red poppy. And a white one.
And apparently they’ve been making whoopie and spreading their seeds because I now also have…
I know also have a pale pink one mixed in! These one’s aren’t quite as big as the ones out front, but they are close.
Here they are all together. A happy little family.
I have several colours of Salvia, and they are all starting to bloom. Though none of the others are in bloom quite like this white one (though they will be soon).
These teeny little dianthans are just starting to bloom. I’m guessing eventually they will be covered in flowers like their bigger cousins.
Just stunning!
The purple lupin are in full bloom and as rich and beautiful as ever.
I bought a little hibiscus on clearance. It was pretty sad looking but I was sure I could bring it back. I did, and now it’s blooming beautifully! The frog planter came from one of our recent thrifting adventures. I think they pair perfectly
And last…
Prairie Princess wins the honour of being the first rose to bloom! I think it’s going to be the beginning of a wonderful rose season!
This may look like a sweet innocent picture of an angelic ginger cat on a quilt… but look a little closer at that background…
I did not leave that pincushion on the bed. Nor did I pull out a pile of those pins and scatter them all over the blanket so someone could enjoy a pointy scavenger hunt….
After my company left on Sunday, I got out to the garden. There was a big job I’d been meaning to tackle for weeks.
Since planting them, I’ve learned that if you want to keep pussywillows looking good in a small space, you need to chop them back periodically. As you can see if the picture above, I was well past that point. (and also my birdbath was in need of cleaning.
I went at it with the pruners and about an hour later…
It looks a little drastic – especially on the willow in the corner, but I can guarantee you – in a month or so, it will be be all filled in and reaching for the sky again. I also cleaned my birdbath and planted it up with some portulaca. I sometimes forget to keep it watered, so the portulaca should be able to take the drier conditions.
In addition, I also gave a pile of perennials (hyssop, false sunflowers, asters, and sneezeweed) the Chelsea chop. It means they will flower a little later, but it should keep them a little tidier later in the season.
But progress is on the slow side – just three stripes completed on the leg. The weather has just been too nice to stay inside and knit. We’ve got rain moving in today, so maybe I can get through the rest of that leg tonight.
I didn’t think I’d have Tiny Needle post for you this week. Good friend Aneesha came to stay for the weekend, and I wasn’t sure I’d have the time to stitch. But she brought her crochet project, so in the evening, she worked with her hook and I worked with my needle while we chatted and watched old episodes of Antiques Roadshow.
As a result…
Block 15 is complete! This one was quite labour intensive with all that satin stitch and French knots. But it’s done and I only have four more to make!
Wandering Cat Studio 