The Craftiest Workshop

Last spring I got laid off due to COVID in mid April. It gave me the opportunity to start some seeds in the house. Unfortunately, because of COVID, seeds were hard to come by.

I feel like I am more prepared this year. I bought some seeds from Veseys on clearance at the end of the season. I also harvested seeds from my poppies, nasturiums, marigolds and peas; they have been drying in the basement all winter.

Although we get very little sun in our east facing windows in the winter, starting in February the sun starts to stay on that side of the house longer and longer each day. Soon I will put some TV trays along the windows and plant some seeds in egg cartons.

Last year, I put the egg cartons (cut apart) straight into the ground/pot. The only thing that didn’t work well transplanted was my wax bean plants. Something…a bunny or bird…ate all the started plants right after I put them into the garden.

We have a 10 X 12 ft raised garden box and one that is 3 X 12ft which we have used for two seasons now. In the fall we put in another small box behind our shed and started to build one at the end of the yard along the fence. We have another box just below the garden with some small bushes. This gives me some options as to where I can plant things.

I keep a garden journal of sorts. I draw where I have planted things so that I remember how to rotate the garden the next year. I make notes of things that did well or did not do well. I also like to mention if it was an exceptionally wet or dry summer. Last year I discovered that I enjoy eating radish seeds more than the actual radishes so I wrote to let them go to seed.

I like to add something to the garden each year to give it some personality. Last year we made the trellis for the peas which worked really well. I wood burned some wood slice tags for the herbs, traced around the burning in marker and wired them onto metal skewers. I also wood burned some old paint sticks for my vegetables and used the permanent markers to colour the background. The colour didn’t stay bright on either project with all the rain we had last summer.

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Last spring I decided that we needed a simple garden table with a sink. We were able to buy a double stainless sink from the Habitat for Humanity pop up store. Chris built the table so the sink could be inserted and I painted it. I like that the water can drain into the buckets below and then can be poured back out onto the garden.

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I recently wood burned sketches of the vegetables onto wooden garden stakes. I read that clear nail polish works to protect the wood so I will give that a try. The stakes were really cheap at Dollarama so even if they only last a season or two it is no big deal. This year I would like to buy some solar lights and maybe some wind chimes.

I have a bird feeder hanging on a metal pole but didn’t get many birds last year. We did have a robin that nested under our neighbour’s deck. Unfortunately, after the babies were born, mama robin crashed into the glass railing on our deck and died. I felt so bad considering that only days before I had used a squeegie to clean the glass…should have left it dirty I guess.

The ground stays pretty frozen into early May so there is not much you can do outside before the May long weekend. Starting plants indoors, planning where things will be planted and shopping for decorations will give me something to do while I wait.