Gardening

We have a very big yard here, in fact it's massive and I love it!  However the house was vacant for sometime before we moved in and from what I can figure out it was around a year since the old owners moved out.  That all means this massive yard is looking a bit ratty.  I hadn't really noticed before now because everything was covered by a blanket of snow but now we can see several trees worth of fallen leaves that weren't raked up in the Fall and all sorts of over grown vines, plants and trees that need attention.

Fanta Pants and I started talking about what we would like to see happen outside and thought we'd get cleaned up and then maybe plant a few things.  Luckily the conversation at my knitting class yesterday turned to gardening (yes I really am a grandma).  We had thought that now the snow is gone you start going for it in the garden but no.  Apparently the ground will still be frozen!  This climate is still so foreign to me that it never occurred to me that the ground would still be rock solid.  Also there could be frosts until until the end of May so we have to hold off planting anything until the long weekend in May which is like the unofficial start of gardening!

Via pintrest I found this great book for kids about growing a rainbow with bulbs and summer planting.  It's an American book so perfect for this climate.  Unfortunately we're too late to plant any bulbs this year but we can definitely set up our veggie patch again.

I would love to plant a bulb garden in the Fall but I have been warned about our furry little friends the squirrels and their taste for bulbs, especially tulips!  Apparently they will dig the bulbs up and completely ruin your spring garden.  If your bulbs do manage to survive they will often come along and bite the flowers off!  I was also told they're fond of nibbling through the veggie patch as well.  We have at least ten squirrels on our property but I'm prepared to battle with them for a bit of colour in the garden and some fresh summer veg.  I'll let you know how we go...

xx