The Joy of Gardening in Southern Ontario

I love gardening in my Zone 5 garden. To many it would not seem like an exciting place to garden. The ground is frozen from December to April and four large Maple Trees shade the West facing back garden all Summer. Dispite this, much magic and joy happens in this small space every year.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Spring is Here in Full Force


It's spring, the Hellebore are in flower, the ferns, Astilbes and Hostas are starting to push there way through the warmed soil. The Daffodils and Crocus are flowering and the Tulips are pushing through into the spring air.

I leave the the leaves from the maple trees on the ground over the Winter, it acts as a thick mulch to protect the perennials from the Winter cold. I've spent the last few gardening hours raking the leafs off the flower beds and generally tidying the garden. This year I promised myself that I would start from one point and slowly move around the garden doing all the tidying in one spot before moving on.

As I tidy past the pond, I've made the edges the same level all the way round so that it fills and shows as little rubber liner as possible. The frogs are moving around. I think that they must have hibenated in the crevices.

All the seeds are planted and I've made notes on each of the 90 species of seeds that I purchased (bit over the top I think), saying what worked well and what didn't. Which seed compost seemed successful and what failed to germinate. The Tomatoes and Peppers are about 20 cm high. They are looking great, I've put them outside under polythene to harden them off slowly.

It's so incredible to be outside, the spring is such an amazing time. To see the shoots coming through after all that ice and snow, it's just amazing. It breaths new life into me and lifts my spirit. The time of -10 and -15 seems to be slipping away; being replaced by green, life, bird song and the rustling of the many animals as they share the garden with us.

Spring!