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We have had a bit of a heat wave c/w some forest fires already. It all comes to an end on the weekend though.

Working on extra shed in yard. Wood for base has gone up a ridiculous amount! Ordered the actual shed from Cnd Tire. 1 hr before pickup time got an email order cancelled. Phoned - only 1 in stock damaged. They wouldn't reserve one at another store for us to pick up. Phoned the other store and they wouldn't reserve it either! Dashed over to get the shed from the other store. Thankfully, no one else snapped it up before we got there.

Lots of plants coming up since the heat wave. Mini daffodils finished. Thinking of having a veggie garden beside the new shed so now have to read up on that.

It was so long ago (maybe 10 years?) but I'm pretty sure I got our shed from Canadian Tire too. Its held up pretty good, but showing signs of age. There's a little nursary not far from here showcasing nice looking wooden sheds by the highway. I may have to look into them some day. My neighbour had one installed which my kids call "the cottage" because of how big it is. There are so many things with higher priority on the list, the shed have to wait.

Accrete wrote: ↑Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:00 pm Thinking of having a veggie garden beside the new shed so now have to read up on that.

My gardening days are mostly behind me but I have't forgotten how to do it.

Tomatoes are about the only thing I grow. This year I will plant 4 bell peppers as I don't know if the farmer's market will be open or what the covid conditions will be by then.

I wish our growing season was a long as either of yours.

We did try a couple of tomato plants in a large pot a couple of seasons ago, but we were still working then and had less time to manage everything here at home. Now that we're both not working, we have the time, but the garden/property maintenance takes most of our time. We'll still continue to grow some herbs in pots that will be used for cooking.

We have a longer season but I don't have a good spot. The Early Girls (about 50 days) are the the quickest producer and will continue until the end of of the season with reasonable care. They are my main crop but I often try something different for a few plants.

We've spent the better part of 12 years converting a builder's lot (no plantings whatsoever - just grass) into expansive garden areas of shrubs, trees and perennials plants. Careful placement and "timing" of flowering perennials has been followed for seeing plants through out the garden (shade and sun) flower from spring to fall.

Adding to that, we've found a nursery who's petunia baskets lasted from May all the way into October, which was really impressive for our climate here. So impressive, we've decided to get 5 of the same planters this year. Last year, we got 3 custom baskets, and two standard baskets. The standard baskets are about 1/3 the cost of custom baskets, and are the ones that flowered so long last year. Fingers crossed they works out as well as last years growing season.

Mama decided she wasn't doing baskets this year. The last few summers were hot and dry so she spent a lot of time watering and does not wish to do it this year. She will do the pretty ones which hang over the deck rails. Even I consider them worth the effort. They are minimal effort as the edges are planted with some perennial and she just plants the middles each year.

Next year I won't take her to the grower's greenhouse when I buy my tomatoes as my $10 worth of tomatoes wound up costing me $32 when she added her plants and looked pitiful. The good news is by buying direct we got all that for about half what it would be at the garden center.

After 25 years of working at it we almost have real dirt in most of the yard compared to the compacted clay we started with.

I like the baskets/pots a lot. I agree that they need a lot of attention, especially in the hot weather because they are in baskets, which will certainly dry out very quickly on hot days. I had a couple of irrigation timers set to water them once per day in May/June, then when it got hotter out, I "upped it" to two times per day in June thru August, and back to once per day in September. They watered for just a couple of minutes per event - just enough to soak them, and they were pretty happy. Looking forward to using the new inground system installed late last year to manage the whole property.

All our perennials are starting to sprout. I got 7 hanging baskets to fill from the Dollar store. Project for May long weekend...

Power washed the decks yesterday. Need painting again.

Shed project "on hold" till we have a number of dry days. Maybe that will be a May long weekend project too.