It’s so nice to get outside and enjoy the spring weather. As Jason said as we crossed the bridge over the lake a couple of days ago – spring reminds us why we live here! Kelowna is so fabulous in the summertime, with the greenery, orchards, beaches, and general vibrancy.

One of our favourite hobbies is to garden, and we’ve been passing our love for mucking in the dirt onto the girls. Jason likes tidying everything and weeding; I like planting and growing.

Our veggie garden is more for pleasure and skills building (post-oil resiliency!) than for financial necessity. We have so many farm markets, urban gardeners and local food here that our lesser-skilled farming probably actually costs us more than it makes. But heck – it’s fun.

This year I have 8 different heritage tomato varieties planted, and my goal is to learn to save seeds for replanting next year. We have green and black tomatoes, peach coloured tomatoes, red and yellow flecks – the varieties are astounding, and I can’t wait to taste them!

My mom came for a whirlwind visit (which is the norm) two eeks ago. Somehow I managed to sneak her away from my Dad’s usual frantic pace for a few hours out at Elysium Gardens in southeast Kelowna. The girls love going there, and I got some stellar shots that day. The one of Sugar I immediately had printed to put on the wall. I also managed to scoop two of Jrock and I’s favorite peonies, which are now planted out front. They are all (girls and flowers!) so lovely!

My sister loaned me a book for this spring… I had heard about square foot gardening and was interested in the theory of increasing yields and decreasing the work. (Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?)

Well, little did I know that this book would give me SO MANY awesome general gardening tips – I wish I had read it years ago! the fellow who wrote it was an old community garden mentor and you can tell he’s used to sharing sage advice in a way that’s accessible for hobbyists.

First of all, I learned that a good portion of my garden I have been planting at entirely the wrong time of year. Much of my seeds I should be planting at the last frost or even a few weeks before. Around here, that usually means in February or March. (Not this year, though – we are a full month behind so it would have been March – April.)

The second big “ah ha!” moment was when I read about planting for what you are actually going to eat, not planning based on how many seeds are in a package. This may seem obvious! but each year I have been donating veggies like mad to the food bank because I can’t keep up on certain things. So this year, I have a plan for harvest and freezing, since I don’t have any cold storage in my house.

I also learned the key “square foot” techniques about vegetable spacing and density. You know, I always hated thinning seeds – it seemed crazy to plant them then rip half of the sprouts out later. Apparently I’m not the only one who had trouble culling shoots, and his technique eliminates that all together.

Anyway – rave garden book review! Even if you are not interested in square foot gardening, I think the general gardening expertise is well worth the easy and accessible read. Here’ his website if you would like to find out more! squarefootgardening.com

And below are my garden plans for the beds and barrels this year. Hopefully soon I’ll show you pictures of everything growing like mad. It’s been so rainy and overcast here, currently my tomatoes are water-logged. But after a few days of sunshine, we should be back on the right track.

Wine barrels:

Since I don’t have any pictures of the veggie garden yet this year, I will show you how wonderfully my perenial beds are doing. We built a little fence to keep Laughlin out of the side bed this year, and it’s doing wonders for the health of the flowers!

Oh – heaven. Sun and rain, warm air and blossoms. It’s so nice to be outside again!

Meeting with friends…
(Hover your mouse over the picture to get the scoop…)

Spending time out on the deck…

Planting our garden beds…

Playing out in the yard and going to soccer practice!

Hanging out at the playground…

Yeah! summer time!!!

Jrock and I have been cleaning up the yard from the last 5 months of neglect.When the tulips are blooming, it’s time for us to get busy!

But it’s still a month before I will plant vegetables outside… so the girls are keeping themselves busy each day with their “plantings.” I have no idea what they do out there for an hour each day, but I think it has something to do with making cakes.

But we’re not in a rush to go anywhere, and most people know how to winter drive around here, so it’s ok. Plus, all the old people (which is more than 20% of Kelowna) stay in when it’s like this, so the streets are pretty empty and safe.

Until tomorrow when it is supposed to be +5 degrees again, we will enjoy our snow and intermitent sunny weather. Only 2 months of winter left! Yeah!

We had a lovely birthday party for the girls. I thought it might be a bit chaotic, but the weather was good, we were outside the whole time, the kids were happy, the adults were well fed, and a good time seemed to be had by all.

Last birthday, we had a quiet celebration with my mom, dad and brother. But planning this birthday, they decided they wanted the big shindig with friends. Anyone who knows me knows that I love parties, so fine with me! So we had a bugs and butterflies themed birthday, and most of the kids dressed up. Facepainting, colouring, playing in the yard and a butterfly pinata kept the kids busy and amused. The adults even got to visit a little, which was super nice. And to top it off – two cakes! (Of course.) Strawberry cake with vanilla icing for Sugar and chocolate zucchini cake with darker chocolate icing for Spice.

Something we did a little different is that we asked people not to bring gifts. Instead, people brought donations for Faya Orphanage, in the forms of clothing, toys and cash. (and a couple of thoughtful presents for the girls too.) The girls were totally cool with it. And after all the dust had settled and their friends had gone home, we opened the gifts from theirf family members. As the girls are the only grandchildren on one side, and the only girl grandkids on the other side of the family, they certainly weren’t hurting for thoughful, wonderful gifts.

Happy birthday, my darlings! You sure have grown a lot in a year – wow.

Everybody has a different lifestyle and living experience. These snapshots from the last couple of weeks does give a hint of ours, anyway. Busy busy busy! but with lots of time for the improtant things, such as play and gardening, fmaily and friends.

BTW: You will see some pics of Sugar and Spice’s friend Tigger.  Guess what? she is going to have a new sister. Check out the Drinkwater’s blog for the cute pics of tigger’s new sis!

Last time I showed pictures of my garden, it was for my friend L in Calgary. But this time is for a very nice Iranian gramma, whose baking I had the pleasure to sample (and SO enjoyed!)

We’re in full harvest mode, as you can see… there are veggies every day and we give a lot to our neighbours and friends.

The veggie garden going nuts. Behind you can see some blackberry brambles are producing too.

Our apple and pear trees don't have much fruit this year. Well, the other apple did but the branches were torn off in a storm.

The girls playing in their splash pool by the peach tree. Later the same day, one branch broke off from the weight of the peaches.

And here are the peaches form one branch, all trying to sun rypen.

The side garden – not bad for a first year. The thyme I've had to add to, since Laughlin often runs over it.

 

But the perennials seem to be doing well, especially the back-eyed susans and the hollyhocks.

 

My frind L asked me to post some pictures of my gardens this year. Here you go, my friend. Sure beats the hell out of Calgary for growing, lol. I think you still had snow when these pics were taken.

The homestead. Notice how much the front gardens have grown in since just planting them last year….

The back porch and the veggie beds. These pics were a couple of weeks ago, so they’ve grown in quite a bit since. Notice my pride and joy – an irrigation system for the veggie beds! Worth every penny. Now we can leave town for more than two days without our veggie plants shrivelling up. Now we have lettuce, spinach, baby carrots, zucs, turnip greens, etc ready.

The berry patch in the backyard is now fenced – with a chicken coop fence, but it keeps Laughlin and Maggie out. they were getting their feasts of strawberries and Laughlin had just started to every-so-gently nibble the raspberries off the canes too. Last year Maggie ate all the pears. Not this year! I have foiled you, dogs!!!

We put our guests to work. Auntie W and her friend K came over (pre-fence) for tea and we had VERY fresh strawberries! and of course mint tea, since we are overrun with mint and herbs.

The side yard has some of Jrock’s prized roses… these are both climbers and just in their second years. But they’ll look great soon. The veggie barrels – I never decided what to put in the last two, so they are still vacant. But the rest are tomatoes and peppers.

The girls really love going out gardening with us – which is good, because it’s like their father and I’s favourite summer hobby.

For example, I took a nap this afternoon and told them not to interupt me unless they were hurt. When I woke up an hour later, I found them outside – happy as clams making mud pies and watering each lavender bush in the yard by hand .

Tonight I was planting a bunch of squash, cucs, eggplant and tomatoes, and the girls expresssed that they really wanted to plant one “just myself.” Well, ok. 

I gave them each a tomato plant called “early girl,” and gave them the hottest location in the backyard for their plants. The herb bed. Usually that’s where my basil grows, but oh well. I’ll put it somewhere else. Ithought it best that they get a headstart over the other plants. In the meanwhile, I told them they have to water their plants every day, just like they feed Maggie and Laughlin every day. So they’re stoked. After showing them how to till the soil, dig the hole, cover the plants shoulders and give it a little hug with their hands, I told them I wouldn’t interfere anymore… they could take care of their tomatoes “by myself.”