I’ve been doing a little work in the garden each day this week, mostly weeding, so I don’t have as much to tackle on the weekend.
I’ve been coming across dozens of these guys….
They aren’t a surprise at all – ’tis the season of the toad!
But I was a little shocked to uncover this little dude as I was moving bags of soil out of my garden wagon.
A Grey Tree Frog! You may recall I came across several in the garden last year. But not until mid-summer. This one had found a nice cozy spot down the side of the cart wedged against the bags of soil.
I tried to relocate him somewhere more suitable, but he wasn’t having it. He hopped right out of my hands and under the catio porch.
I suppose it was as safe a place as anywhere, but I hope he’s found a nice comfy tree since then.
So far, the seed snail method is a resounding success!
Everything has sprouted! Even the tomatoes! (though they are still tiny). And many of the seedlings are already getting true leaves.
I think the success is down to three things. First: The seed snail method insulates the seeds keeping them warmer so they germinate quicker. But also…. I’ve put these in my little portable green house which means not only are they keeping nice and warm in there, but they are staying moist, and getting MUCH more light than they would in the house.
Now I have to decide whether I’ll pot them on into bigger pots, or open the snails and add more soil so they have more room to grow. The internet is split on which is the best option. I can ponder it for another week or so before I have to do anything though.
The winter sow containers are doing well too. Like the snails, several of the plants are getting true leaves
The baby Lupins are just so cute!!!! And I’m excited to announce the Chinese Lanterns sprouted!
They are still super small, but I’ve never been able to get them to even germinate before so I’m counting this one as a win.
These little guys have sprouted in the squash bed…. only I didn’t plant any seeds there yet! I guess they are left from last year, but I don’t remember leaving any squash to rot and leave seeds.. so it’s a bit of a mystery.
But, with all these success, I went and started a pile more seeds in my little containers I bought last year.
I also did up several large pots with all my Cosmos seeds. When they are a decent size, they will get split up and spread throughout the garden beds.
There’s more planting to come though… I have a load more annuals to plant… and of course, my veg. But that won’t be for a couple more weeks.
I’ve got a very small start on a new sock project. Ever since I bought it, I’ve been itching to cast on with my Sanderson Felici.
I don’t like to break up the striping sequence when so I’ve started with a solid black for the ribbing on the cuff and will use it for heels and toes as well. I really wish Knit Picks sold coordinating solids for just this purpose (none of the Stroll colours match). My black is much darker than the one in the Felici – which is really more of a dark grey. But I work with what I’ve got!
I did get a little time with the tiny needle this weekend
I got a decent start on Block 14. There’s just six blocks left and I’d love to have them done by the end of May. But if I want to do that, I really have to get that tiny needle working overtime!
Friday morning, just before 10 am, Dave and I hit the road. Our destination…
That big shining city… Toronto!
Dave grew up in Mississauga, a stone’s throw from TO, and I grew up in Hamilton, just a little further down the highway. And we both commuted to various parts of it over our working careers until we moved here.
While Toronto has its delights… driving to and from and around it is not one of them. According to Google Maps, driving to the downtown from our current house should take just under 3 hours. In practice… unless you’re driving at 3 am… that is not happening. It’s much, much longer.
So… I decided to book us a hotel room for the night, and we could take transit a good chunk of the way (through the worst parts of the driving – basically Hamilton to Toronto). First, we drove to the furthest outpost of the GO train (2 hour drive) just outside Hamilton. We took the GO into Union station (1 hour peaceful train ride) and then had a 20 minute subway ride to our hotel.
Only, we got into Union about 2 hours early because I wanted to play the tourist.
Despite living so close to it… I have never been up to the top of this bad boy
The CN tower. I figured now was finally my chance. Only… it wasn’t…
As we were walking to the tower from Union, I was reminded of another attraction right at the base of the tower – Ripley’s Aquarium. I had been with Mom and the girls back in 2017, but Dave had never been. So I decided we could go to the aquarium first, and THEN go up the tower.
My pictures aren’t the best. You can’t use flash, and while my phone works well in low light, the place was packed. You have to move quickly to get near enough to the exhibits to get a picture.
My favourite part of the aquarium are the sharks.
I know they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I find them absolutely fascinating!
Though the rays are a close second.
I could sit and watch them all day.
This guy…
A Long-Comb Sawfish, was pretty cool too.
This guy has a face only a mother could love.
I think he was Dave’s favourite. (It’s a type of Grouper if I am remembering correctly)
The seahorses were pretty friendly, they swarmed the glass when I stepped up to take their picture.
There were so many different things to see… it’s hard to show it all here.
I really recommended stopping in if you’re ever in the city.
Of course, after all that excitement… neither of us has the energy to do the Tower. We were both starving and wanted to get some food and get to the hotel before heading out to the wedding event that evening. I figured I could hit the Tower the next day before we left the city.
We took the subway to our hotel, got some food, rested and then hopped another subway to the event. We had a wonderful time and were back safe in our hotel bed by midnight!
But unfortunately, I failed to factor a couple things in when planning out our big city adventure. And that was walking… and not just walking, but subways mean stairs…. lots and lots of stairs (and throughout the weekend there were four subway trips). While I wore flat shoes, my feet still objected with several blisters. And those stairs… they did a number on my thighs. Saturday morning, by the time we got off the subway in the downtown, I knew there was no way I was going to be able to do the Tower. So… we hopped on our GO train and began the long journey back to the car.
My date with the Tower is just going to have to wait, I guess.
I’ve discussed before, my struggles with starting plants from seeds. But the beauty of gardening is it’s all one big experiment. And I came across a new-to-me method I just had to try.
They are called Seed Snails. I won’t post the details of how I did it… there’s a very good post here.
For my snails, I grabbed some bubble wrap we had on hand and got rolling. In the end, I ended up planting up about nine snails. I planted sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, and some of my yellow tomatoes and baby melons. I put them in my little portable greenhouse and hoped for the best.
I’m delighted to say, after a little more than a week… I have a whole pile of sprouts!
Pretty much everything has sprouted with the exception of the tomatoes and melons – both of those need a lot of warmth to germinate, so that’s not a huge surprise.
I am so excited to see where this little experiment is going to take us!
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the gardens come alive.
I took this picture of the catio on April 15th.
And then this one on the 23rd. Just 8 days later.
The front gardens are a riot of colour too.
Except for the walkway garden.
It seems – other than crocuses, which are done now, I neglected to plant any other spring bulbs there. I have several allium – but they probably won’t bloom for another month. I guess I’ll have to rectify that come fall – I hope I remember!
Here’s a look at all the beauties that are shining now!
The sewing machine is generally a “no-fly” zone for the cats. That’s because, normally, I have a small ironing board and iron set up where Lemmy is standing. Cats and hot irons don’t mix.
But on the weekend, I had the iron set up on my real ironing board in the bedroom across the hall. I do this when I’m doing top assembly, because trying to iron long rows on the mini board is near impossible.
Well – as you can see, Sir Lemonhead noticed the empty space, and without so much of a by-you-leave he was up there and checking out the view from the window. The only other window on this side of the house up that high is the bathroom window – which is frosted.
Needless to say – he was riveted by the new view! I just hope he doesn’t think this is going to become a regular thing everytime I’m in the studio. The iron and board have already been put back there!
Wandering Cat Studio 