Friday May 12, 2023
After the week of rain, the sun came out, the temperature rose, the excess water soaked away, and every growing thing went into overdrive. The world is green again.
In the woods, the orchids are poking up.
The red trilliums are blooming.
We found one morel...so far.
Lovely young, fresh stalks of rhubarb.
Asparagus.
One morning a pair of geese were regally floating on the pond. Sorry...you have to go...
A pair of tree swallows have claimed the bird house mounted on the clothesline pole. The male guards the area and chirps encouragingly at his mate as she diligently gathers nesting material, and flies it into the box. Another pair of swallows showed up, the nesting pair put the run on them with a lot of bad language, then flew a chittering victory circle around the clearing and went back to preparing for their brood. Thankfully tree swallows only raise one brood per year, so once they fledge, I will be able to use my clothesline again. That box will be moved for next year!
My grow table has been disassembled, the plants have had a week out on the verandah, and are now in full sun on the picnic table. They will come into the porch overnight if temperatures are forecast to go low. One of my baby geraniums has oddly put out one pretty flower.
A new to me plant to grow this year, is a ground cherry. The four seedlings are looking very robust and healthy.
Onion sets were planted yesterday. Other cool weather crops will be going in very soon. There are buds visible on some of the apple trees, and the baby flowering crab that was chewed by voles over the winter seems to be okay! It is leafing out, and there are at least 8 bud clumps on it!
The mating programs of the birds are most entertaining. I have a pair of flickers that do a dance, then one feeds the other. The blue jays are suddenly here in DROVES. A grey jay was pecking away at a knot in the wood on the back porch. It was so confused. hhaahaha
ReplyDeleteI am so very jealous of your Canada Jay!!!! We watched the female Blue bird do all the nest building last spring. Seems the males just 'supervise' and chirp encouragement!
ReplyDeleteI love seeing your garden waking up to spring. I'm curious about your ground cherries. They're annuals? Am I remembering correctly? I wonder if they'd do well here.
ReplyDeleteThanks Leigh. So do I!!!
DeleteThe seeds were a free sample in my seed order from Wildrose Heritage Seed Co. in Alberta. The seedlings looked so puny at first, I really had doubts about them, but they really took off. They are annuals. https://gardenerspath.com/plants/fruit/grow-ground-cherries/