Spring In My Zone 3 Potager

I am happy to say that spring is most certainly here on the prairies. We've had it all, from cold and snowy to double digit warm days with plus degrees at night. Up, down, and all around weather... typical spring, in other words.

What is going on in the spring potager?

We are still working on filling our garden beds. These are the new beds we built last fall but did not have enough time to fill.

In September, we put down hardware cloth to keep out the critters, cardboard to kill off the grass, and then filled up the bottom with branches, tree prunings, garden debris, lawn clippings, anything organic that we could get our hands on. We then added one bale of straw and a big cube of ProMix potting soil to each bed and called it good. See the process here. This organic matter will attract soil life to come in and break it down, which in turn builds great soil for me to grow in.

This spring, we tossed in some more tree branches and other pruning bits and topped them up with the straw from the garlic bed.

We looked into getting compost for the beds but are just a titch early, it seems. Will get a load dumped off here in early May. Good soil is the basis to growing great everything, whether that is healthy edibles or healthy, thriving flowers!

It takes time to make really great soil in brand new beds. You need the soil life to build up in the bed. When you add compost, you are adding soil life, which makes all the magic happen faster. Start with the best garden soil you can find and then feed annually with organic matter to make it better. Want to read more about creating great new soil? Read about it here.

Our plan for these new beds? We will fill them almost to the top with manure or compost and then finish with a couple cubes of Pro-Mix. We'll mix them up so that the top 6 inches or so are good to plant into right now, this year. Planting straight into compost is not recommended. The soil level in the beds will sink as the straw and branches break down so we will keep feeding the bed with compost or manure each fall.

The garlic bed! Hmm... now I know why it has to grow till September here ; )

I finally made it outside to do some yard puttering on the weekend. Nothing feels better than that! I sure do love spring in the garden... the raking, the planting, the washing up (hubby calls it playing with water), basically a spring cleaning outside.

Garlic - We removed the straw mulch from the garlic beds. There is nothing poking through yet and the soil is still frozen 3 inches down. Taking the straw off will warm the soil and get things happening. I have never grown garlic in Alberta before so just going by instincts. I know we will still get cold, rain, maybe even snow, but garlic is very frost hardy so will be fine.

Mulch Tips - If you mulch your beds in spring for moisture retention during the rainy season, you will keep the moisture in the ground and the straw, fungal issues will abound. Instead wait till the rains stop and the ground is dry to lay the mulch. It will then help to keep in moisture for longer after each rain or watering, no fungal issues, and will also keep the soil cooler, not baking and cracking in the heat.

If you put your mulch on the roses in fall for frost protection while the soil and air are still warm, you will get new growth just as the freeze arrives, and likely lose your roses. Instead put the mulch down after the air has cooled and the ground is chilled, or even started to freeze. This will keep the ground from thawing out during a brief warm spell in winter, triggering new growth that will die when the cold returns.

Greenhouse - I have an unheated, un-insulated greenhouse that is 8'x12'. This will house indeterminate tomatoes and cucumbers this summer, mainly, and cool weather crops in the cusp season.

I did not get out to the greenhouse till late this spring with all that was going on inside the house. Had I made it out there a month ago, I would already be eating lettuce, radishes, spinach and baby greens (insert my very sad face here. Luckily, it is never too late to plant just about anything!

If you, like me, did not get out there earlier, is fine! Sow now and you'll still get a batch or two of greens.

I just planted up a bit of sweet onions, scallions, a couple rows of lettuce, and flowers for the beneficial insects in the greenhouse and will sow this year's cool weather crops outside in the flower beds instead.

Seedlings/Starts - I moved some of my seedlings from indoors to the mini greenhouse inside the big greenhouse to get more real sun and stay cooler than they would in the house. This will keep them from stretching out... alyssum, marigolds, calendula, Tangerine Gems, (seed) dahlias, celery, and onions.

Bulbs and Perennials - if you have not already done so, you can pot up your dahlia bulbs, cannas, callas, pineapple lilies, all bulbs and perennials and pop them out in the greenhouse till the garden beds are warm enough. If you see them sprouting in storage, you want to deal with them before they get those really long weak, white sprouts.

I purchased some basket stuffers, a big bunch of geraniums, other annual flowers, and herbs which I have placed out in the greenhouse. Ps, ivy geraniums are hard to come by here! I will have to start my own next year, I think. I will have a post coming out about geraniums soon, my most favourite annual for pots, planters, and baskets.

Greenhouse Tip - They say that each layer of covering add 2 degrees of warmth. They also say that an unheated greenhouse will add 2 to 8 degrees of warmth compared to the outside temps, depending on so many factors. I have placed the flowers inside the mini-greenhouse, which is inside the big greenhouse, so that should add another 2 degrees of warmth. I have put them on shelves, not on the cold soil. Also, the more stuff you have in the greenhouse to absorb the heat during the day, the warmer your greenhouse will stay at night.

Therefore, I figure my annuals should stay 4 degrees warmer, at minimum, than the temps outside. It's a trial, I'm getting to know my greenhouse and what I can do with it. You gotta try things to learn things ; )

I have put a min/max thermometer out there and will see how things go. If it is a bit too chilly, will pop in a small portable heater.

Raking - I gotta tell you... Raking is one of my most favourite things to do. I so love the look of a freshly raked lawn, freshly raked beds, gravel, mulch! This one simple act makes everything look fresh, well-groomed, tidy and clean.

I am careful with the garden bed clean up right though, as bees and beneficial insects are starting to find their way out of their winter beds, aka my gardens. If you want to rake up your leaves and do a clean up, place them where the ladybugs and other wee bugs can still find their way out. We just lifted the leaves and garden debris into our raised beds.

My most favourite lilac of all, this bi-coloured Sensation.

Pruning - The trees were pruned last month and now we can tackle both edible and ornamental shrubs, like roses, ninebarks, sandcherries, raspberries, sour cherries, etc. However, DO NOT prune lilacs now or you will have no blooms this spring. Lilacs are pruned right after they finish blooming as they start making next year's flowers right afterwards.

Planning - Looking for the fruit trees/shrubs that we want for our yard. Could use some more raspberries in the bed, as we only have three. We are wanting one more apple, maybe a pear (still contemplating), a cherry shrub from the Romance series (Crimson Passion, or Romeo, or Juliet) only need one as they are self-fertile, and maybe one more Saskatoon.

A flower bed? Rose bed? Cut flower bed? Deer resistant perennials for the front yard? So many things to figure out this summer. Looking forward to seeing the yard wake up to see what the former owners had planted in here. By the time we got here last year, it was super hot and nothing was blooming except one lone rudbeckia. I think she needs some friends!

Species tulips will multiply so you get bigger clumps of blooms each year. This beauty is Lady Jane. The petals are pink on the outside, white on the inside, white a yellow base. The tulips close at night and open in the sunshine.

Can't wait to see the bulbs come up, that I planted last fall. We put deer resistant ones in the front as we get daily evening visits. Deer proof bulbs for a zone three are things like squill, grape hyacinths, glory-of-the-snow, crocus, alliums, and snowdrops. You can also try daffs and hyacinths in protected areas (zone 4).

In the back, I went with more grape hyacinths, lots of crocus, and a few species tulips (low growing and naturalising). No 'normal' tulips as I don't yet know what we have coming up here till I go through one spring season : )

I have planted some chives here and there already. This one in the pic is from the old homestead, of course, but I have new ones coming both in the yard and in the greenhouse. Bees adore chive blossoms!

As for my seedlings in the house...

I have given my onions a second haircut, they are now in the greenhouse till they go out in the garden.

The peppers are small but coming along. They do not like the coco coir pots, will not use those again.

The tomatoes will be transplanted tomorrow, if all goes well. Trying to decide how many I keep and grow... downsizing is hard ;)

The celery is small but nice and all my sown flowers are doing really well.

I found the Reindeer Liquid Seaweed so have been able to feed my seedlings. Yay! You want to really dilute whatever you are using to feed your seedlings to about half the regular strength. Just a mild feed to not fry your babies. Once they really start growing, you can feed them more aggressively.

There are so many ideas whirring in my head but will work on the list above for now and take it as it comes.

Forced Rhubarb in the 'Art of Eating' magazine.

Oh, one last thing... I fed my rhubarb a half bag of manure and then covered it with a garbage can to keep any light from getting at it. I am trying forced rhubarb this year, see what I think. Is supposed to be sweeter, less tart, more tender. Love how pretty it is in the picture above.

Happy Gardening, wherever you are! ~ Tanja