Well now, wasn’t that a grand day!

Saturday, 15 May 2021

Today was the day I’ve been looking forward to since last Fall when the cold and snow arrived. A warm day with a breeze – to keep the black flies and mosquitoes away – and big fluffy clouds floating by.

A stand-up paddle boarder paddled by on the river. That was a first. Not long after, a small motor boat filled with young people went by. There hasn’t been that much action on the old river since I was a teenager playing in our boat. It was nice to see. This evening a neighbour across the field was having a party, playing loud calypso music. It made me think of the Caribbean islands I’ve visited. Mom joined me on the veranda to listen and then she started dancing, so I joined in. Dancing under the sparkling stars with the waxing crescent moon shining bright.

I spent a good part of the day transplanting and planting. I transplanted three fuchsia plants into a hanging basket and two more into a large pot. Then I tackled the tray of Hyssop which was one of my winter sowing experiments. I separated thirty-two tiny seedlings and ended up with fourteen containers! This was good practice for patience 😉

At some point during the day, I realized I didn’t have any Malva Zebrina’s started. I’ve been growing them for several years and love how hardy and beautiful they are. A quick search through my old seed envelopes and I found them. There were only a handful of seeds left but should be enough to grow a pot full of beautiful cheery flowers.

The last thing I planted today was a potato. Two actually. Two russet potatoes. I planted them in an old seed bag, another experiment. I’ve seen countless videos on this method, as well as using large containers, with much success. My plan is to grow all of my potatoes this way. Can’t wait to see how it works out!

We had an evening grosbeak visit us today. She was shy at first, flying away every time I stepped out onto the veranda, but eventually she got closer, especially when we were quietly sitting still for a bit. A pileated woodpecker dropped by for a visit as well. We had a Baltimore Oriole a few days ago but I haven’t seen or heard it since.

I went for a walk around the yard at sunset and found myself at the box garden, checking on my garlic. It needed a good weeding so I started pulling weeds and noticed several large dandelions and creeping Charlie. I feel like God started my medicinal herb garden for me 😉

I have been wanting to dig up dandelion roots to dry for a tea but haven’t gotten around to it yet. I grabbed ahold of the plant and pulled. It came out with such ease! Much better than having to dig it out with a shovel. I haven’t finished researching creeping Charlie so wasn’t sure what part of the plant I should harvest, so pulled some of the greenery for now. I washed the dandelion leaves, as well as Charlie, cut up the dandelion roots and placed everything in the screen to dry.

The dandelion leaves looked so good, I put a few leaves away for tomorrow’s green smoothie.