Tomatoes and Butterflies

This COVID19 situation is no longer news, being almost 2 months of quarantine in for us in Canada and for longer since it started in Asia. Before all that, March and April were supposed to be joyous and busy months here in my suburban homestead, where we plant from spring to fall. It has instead been weird and scary and very surreal in the way things have been conducted, from the news, the follow up with the government in public conferences and the incredible lucky reality that both me and my husband have amazing jobs that we love in companies that are full on working-from-home mode. This disruption have for sure kept me from blogging and even from starting the YouTube channel (an idea I had a year ago!), but it has NOT kept me from starting the seeds as needed. In fact, if anything I started more seedlings than our garden can accept, as I am determined to help others with their victory gardens, including my public parks with raised beds from the Incredible Edibles. This post, howe...

I spent most of December and January looking at seed catalogs and dreaming about next growing season. I am a big planner and that time is actually welcome and I indulge in revisiting the catalogs several times, reading blogs, consulting online calendars and weather reports and even drawing a lot. It is a delicious awaiting and at least for me, planning solidifies my confidence and I start the wish list with easily a hundreds of products I want to buy and end up buying tops 20. A great exercise in self-restrain if you ask me! My garden keeps growing every year and on top of that I like to vary and learn something new, try new varieties and just keep myself out of my comfort zone. That being said, the plan around flowers is one that usually has to start very early because many of my dear favorites takes at least 10 to 12 weeks to be able to flower from seed, some of them require stratification and this year I introduced to my family one very difficult addition: Lisianthus .  ...

The cute cover of my bullet journal for 2020 inspired by Shayda Campbell beautiful designs   Instead of considering winter a sad season I actually appreciate the downtime. No more rushing to the front and backyard to check plants, water them if needed, weed, harvest, take care of pests, reseed. It is what makes the prolific growing season rather exciting, I know. But it can be tiring if not graced with a lovely season of cozy tea cups and blanket on my lap, rejoicing in the results of the past year and dreaming of the next season. This year somehow I stumbled upon doodling and painting and drawing and we know how the internet is: one thing leads to another and I discovered bullet journaling. I know it existed, I never thought of myself a fan of it. But I guess it is because I had never seen it as an activity for marrying both planning AND creativity together. Not only thinking about the design of the bullet journal we want to make, but actually executing the drawings and do...

Ah, the sweetness of carrots pulled off the ground in the cold season! Especially as some snow starts to accumulate on the ground, making the days whiter and the carrot tops so apparent, somewhat crystallized, mildly flopped. A treat for someone like me, raised in a southern country, who never ate sweet carrots her entire life. Well, in our Quebec reality, though, there comes a time, usually in November, where the ground is frozen solid a good half feet, until it finally freezes for several feet. Getting to my carrots then starts to become an impossible enterprise. This year was rather "funny": harsh and cold temperatures in November and milder weather in December.  I knew in early November I had to start a remediation plan for the remaining carrots. Some of the harvest went straight into packets in the fridge, where we would consume them in the following two or three weeks following. Our carrot bed was not a massive success this year, but it did yi...

One of the seeds company I really like in this Canada of ours  is Veseys . Proudly Canadian now celebrating 80 years, they have quality seeds and many articles to help in the garden, from the weekend gardener to the farmer. What is so impressive is their quality, their legacy... and they are actually rather small in absolute size, but not in operations! This summer, while traveling through Prince Eduard Island I had the pleasure to go in person to the place that feeds my passion. I got to walk through the islands of seeds, checkout a few products I wanted to see in person, wander through their gardens and just dream of flowers and nature while away from my own garden. Veseys store Their flower trial gardens are just in front of the main building and boy, are they colorful!!!   Who does not like blue flowers? What a treat! These delphiniums are absolutely out of the ordinary with such bright blue petals. There is no photo enhancement wha...

At this time of the year, mid October, most of us living in the Northertn Hemisphere have no doubt that we have hit fall. I have to admit that here in the Laurentians, Quebec, it is only starting to feel like fall. Despite some very cold days and nights in early September, the weather bounced back and actually during the day it gets sunny and warm, with temperatures around 16 Celsius! The nights are cool but we have had only 3 frost advisory, 2 that actually happened. It ended up being a merry warm season for of us. There is a mild inconvenience in all this, which is the fact that I planted things in August that actually bolted due to unexpected warm and dry weather, like my spinach and arugula. My garlic went in first week of October and as it seems so far, I would consider that too early! Some of the 12 varieties planted this year throughout my garden When is fall? It really is something to be regarded locally: when fall starts for you, how long does that last and wh...

They say everybody should have a child, write a book and plant a tree! While the first two might not be as straightforward and available to everybody, the last one, plant a tree, most certainly is. You might participate in activities in your community, be it in a garden or park, you might have friends or family who are planting an orchard or replacing a tree or even join a plant nursery as volunteer work. amelanchier canadensis getting acquainted to its new home Everybody should plant at least one tree in their life time. That would account for 7 billion trees. Not too bad! Inspired yet? the beautiful bark of my amelanchier I am! And I have the pleasure of planting a lovely native tree in my yard. FOR MY BIRTHDAY! What a beautiful present I got. Native to Canada and most importantly, Eastern Canada and Quebec, the tree is called Amelanchier Canadensis and it is gorgeous and useful. The tree is beautiful in all its entirety. The bark of a young tree is of a love...