My Garden

The gardening season officially began today. Well, at least, here in my home, in Thunder Bay, it did. The sun felt so good, coming through the kitchen door, that I decided to begin the balcony Spring clean up. I have a bird feeder on my balcony, in a future article I will talk more about feeding birds, and put a wild seed mix (black sunflower seed and millet, mostly) in it. Naturally much of it ends up on the balcony.

Now, the sparrows do hop down to the deck but they never get it all. So that needs cleaning. There are other chores too tedious to mention, so I won't. The white throated sparrow has returned to the North. We can hear his morning song as the Sun rises.

This may sound strange, but it was a good snow year. Well maybe not the little bit that fell last night but up to now, a reasonable tear. Snow is a good ground cover and a source of water for the garden when the spring melt off takes place.

I'm adding a new garden to my yard this year, cutting down the space devoted to lawn by adding a cut flower container garden, more on that in future weeks. I believe that any garden needs flowers and not just food if you truly want to appease all the senses. Now you can plant edible flowers as part of your overall plan. This way you get food for the eyes and the belly.

No matter what you decide to plant and how much space you allow for your garden(s), now is the time to begin planning. If you haven't already sent away for seed catalogues, it may be too late so get online and visit the sites of companies such as Richters and browse their online selection.

If you are planting a garden for the first time, or are considering enlarging the space for plants, you need to know the property that you have available. Find east and walk clockwise around your property, in the morning and afternoon, take a notepad and pencil and mark down the spots that are in shade and those that are in the sun. On your afternoon walk around, compare the spots with your notes, make any appropriate comments. This will help you decide where to place a garden and the plants that are best suited for that spot. Remember that as you move towards Summer, the amount of sun and shade will change, plan accordingly.

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