I guess I had better summarize our activities since my last post three weeks ago.  When I began this blog, I really intended to attend to it daily.  I am confident that I will achieve this goal...eventually. 

The weather remains unseasonally warm, overcast (most days), and rainy.  Oh, yeah, the sun comes out occasionally and when it does, we take advantage of it.  We have started the winter cleanup process.  I cannot believe how many leaves have blown in since we cleaned up in the fall.  How do they fly when they are soaking wet?  Dogs in tow, we have visited Willingdon Beach a couple of times to pick up seaweed for our garden and now large, green garbage bags brimming with mucky, wet seaweed adorn our patio.  In addition, we have limed some, pruned some, and weeded alot. 

It's not all work though...yesterday we packed up 'the boys' and hiked in to Haslam Lake.  I was surprised to see how dry most of the trail was.  With care, we were able to manoeuver around the perimeter of one muddy mess, except for Tashi.  He walked right through it!  (We carry old towels in the truck for such occasions.)  We noticed a rather large portion (approximately 40 feet in length) of a pine tree had broken off the main tree and hurled itself just off to the side of the trail, destroying whatever was in its path.  I'm just glad I wasn't in its path when it came down. 

We couldn't help but notice the number of new logs crowding on the beach.  Those will have to be moved...it's our favourite swimming location.  That's where we go when it's just too hot in the garden.  I was hesitant to go in swimming the first  time Vanessa and Jamie took us to Haslam Lake for a swim.   Growing up in Ontario, I was more familiar with leech-infested lakes and had given up swimming in them.  Oh, I look forward to those hot, summer days!


This week I potted up our begonias.  In the past I had overwintered my begonias in peat moss but with the depleting supply of peat, I decided I would try a different method.  I placed each individual begonia corm into a paper bag and stored the bags downstairs in a cool, dark location.  The corms seemed more dried out in the bags but already I am seeing growth.  Hurray! 

                                                    

Renewal

Second week of January...already!  Barry started pruning our rather large, old apple tree on Tuesday and is now celebrating...the job is complete.  Not only is the apple tree feeling renewed, but we now have a nicely stacked pile of kindling and firewood for next year.  The actual pruning only took two days; the rest of the time was clean up.  All of this had to be accomplished inbetween rain, showers, and howling winds.  Right at this moment it is 9 degrees celsius and overcast but not raining (wait a minute or so and it may).  Unfortunately, The Weather Network is predicting more of the same until Friday.  I'm not sure when to expect an end to this dreary, wintery, wet weather...I have no prior experience to base it on. 

I spotted a few snowdrops hiding under the fall mums yesterday.  Buds are swelling on the climbing hydrangea, some of the irises are showing new growth, and a very small purple primula is flowering.  I am eager to believe that spring is 'just around the corner'...foolish, eh?

Using the Planting Chart for Coastal BC provided by West Coast Seeds, I plan to get our peas (we saved our own pea seed) sown outdoors by mid February.   I also plan to sow a second crop of peas for fall and winter eating in mid to late June.  We can't get enough fresh peas!  Last season we planted a second crop of carrots in a large container for fall and winter eating and are still enjoying fresh carrots.  The carrots we harvested in the fall currently are being stored in a wooden box filled with sand on our covered deck.  This method of storing carrots was new to us but we will definitely use it again.  This helpful tip came from Mother Earth News - a great magazine, kindly subscribed for us by my daughter, Vanessa.  The Powell River Library also subscribes to this wonderful magazine.

Here's a picture of our carrots before the next layer of sand covered them. 

On Tuesday we received our seed order from Salt Spring Seeds.  We are eager to try some new crops this year.  Since we both love split pea soup, we have decided to grow Darlaine Peas, a creamy tan pea.  Again, with soup in mind, we are going to grow purple barley.   Apparently it has pretty purple heads on three foot tall stalks.  In addition to Dragon Tongue, we are going to try a heritage bean mix and Brita's, which is a foot long pole bean.  We can't believe how prolific Dragon Tongue is!  We don't mind, though...Barry has perfected his recipe of beans with black bean sauce and garlic.