Spring update

Yes, I call it Spring as it was typical Spring weekend.  Bit of rain, bit od sun and lots of work in the yard as grass is growing very well.  Spend most of Saturday with exception of the morning, that was dedicated to quick round of nine hole, on doing yard work.  We had to cut the grass, make it presentable and tend to dandelions again.  Did some mechanical extraction and  some treated with vinegar.  The last method does leave bit of spots as vinegar also kills grass around  weed, but at least no long lasting effects and it s not bad for environment. Chatting with my neighbor, I have learned   that spruce trees, especially (or all) young ones might have pest eating them from the top so wend and inspected and found couple affected. The cure is to cut the "crown" a bit below affected area and it should eliminate this problem.
Garden update.  Noticed some early seeded  veggies not germinating yet as frost might have killed them.  I did some re-seeding and now are focused  on protecting new growth from rabbits, so fences will go up this week.
Potatoes are doing great, in the tunnels things looking wonderful, especially lettuce.  I think we will start spreading the "wealth" this week as heads are big enough to be used for wide consumption.
My rhubarb is approaching 4' in height,  and already had couple of pies made of and I loved it (see below).

Yard update

We had rain, we had snow, and now grass is looking great.  I decided to continue working or aerating my grass as we expect to get more rain (showers) and I hope this process will strengthen grass.  Young apple trees that we have planted this spring have produced flowers and now small apples.  We might have fruit from them, can't really believe it.  The ones that we have planted last year, only one has flowers and potentially might deliver fruit.  From my experience, in this climate one must wait at least coupe of years before getting fruit.  My plum tree looks grim (planted last year) but I have hopes that with so much moisture, it may spur to life.
One of the flowering apple trees....

Green ...

.. grass is greener on the other side of the fence, I am happy to announce that no longer the issue LOL.  After lots of rain and snow fall (reported) the total precipitation over 35 mm, grass is so nice right now that I cannot complaint that my neighbor has nicer looking lawns.  Actually, I do not care as  much for looks but rather for health.  Moisture helped everything tremendously, grass tress and garden.  Once temperature move into twenties, all the vegetation will show sign of growth.  Update on the tunnel:  tomatoes are growing big, cucumbers are flowering and cauliflower is growing fast.
We have been enjoying lettuce, so far one kind, now butter lettuce is getting ready.  In a weak or so we will be sending lettuce to family and neighbors as we will have bit overproduction.

May long weekend and .. snow

It supposed to be start of gardening season here in Calgary and around, time when all gardeners would spend days planting and seeding, unless of course, they went camping.   Mother nature had  a different plan, started as a drizzle a bit of rain, and we needed it.  There was talk about rain and snow mix during the night from Saturday to Sunday and nothing.  Then came morning and what do we see, pretty heavy snow coming down and covering everything with white blanket.  Had to venture and try to shake the snow from branches to prevent them from breaking.
See for yourself ... first two are from the start, later two 30 minutes later, and after I shook snow from the trees (at least most of it).
Those who went camping, let's say, there is always a bit more snow in the mountains, so hope they took shovels with them.

Spring in Photos

Decided to add some color to the blog, especially, since spring weather resulted in flowers and trees flowering.  Some of the observations below...

Working Weeekend

It was warm (not too hot) this weekend and we had to wait till Sunday, as frost was still present on Saturday morning. Saturday, I have focused on "fighting" dandelions with vinegar.  Used at least 3 gallons to reduce spread of this plant.  I do not have anything against and lots of for, but to appease neighbors, I try to keep control of it.  Like I said, only use natural product.  Missed the early spring corn meal time due to dry weather so now spraying with vinegar.
Sunday, we have focused on transplanting the rest of tomatoes to outside garden and transplanted some of the pepper starters as well, but those into tunnel.  It is official now, no longer buying lettuce as we have now supply (two kinds of our won lettuce) .   I did some pruning and re-planting of the lettuce as it was pretty dense.  Will see if this worked (will check today).  The big thing this weekend, we have planted two apple trees that we have bought few days ago.  Given that frost treat has diminished and looks like overnight temperatures for Calgary are in 7-10 deg C range, even with 3 degree differential, we should be safe and hence decision for transplanting.  Long weekend looks like will be rainy so grass will grow after.  Overall, it was very busy weekend and productive one as well.  Now we just need to watch things grow (o maybe add some water) no more hard labor, just easy weeding.

Snow ... frost.. typical May

Yesterday I woke up to snow covering my lawn, not too much but about 2 cm. This morning ~-4 dec C temperature, and it was cold.  Wend and inspected tunnels, after my wife indicated that doors are frozen in "big' tunnel.  Kicked the latch and opened, all seems to be fine, everything  looked ok.   Happy with this.  Bit worry about apple tree in full blossom and frost may cause some flower to be wasted, but I am optimistic that -4 was not cold enough to cause damage.