CANADIAN REGION: What are you doing APRIL 2019

Welcome to a new April thread of Canadian Gardening.

FINALLY, Spring seems to have arrived in British Columbia, Southern Interior where I live.

The last two days I have spent an hour and a half tidying up the garden and cutting up the dead plants, trying to sort out the bits of compost I have ready to go into the large 4 x 4 by however deep I can get it  Then there is a pile of wood chips that have been under the snow all winter, that has to be sorted out.

There are still a few patches of snow around due to the fact that my garden is on the north side of a ridge that restricts how much sunlight I get during the year.

My working stint included clearing all the debris that gets on a driveway during the winter of only clearing snow to make a pathway to the road for me and my garbage can.

So now the workload increases and there will be more to write and talk about and I  will revert to monthly threads instead of three-monthly.

So, please, my dear Canadians, come and let other Canadian know what you are up to

So far, all I have are a few snowdrops showing and the swallows are flying around deciding wheter to take up the free rental apartment I  have supplied them for the last 23 years.  Tomorrow I will take inventory to see if the garlic and strawberries have survived, or are staying under the surface just to make sure the coast is clear for them to come up.

My resolution is to try and do an hour's work each day to try and keep on top of the job of maintaining a garden, especially the weeding part where I  generally fall down later in the year. Secondary: to prune the flowering shrubs as they have finish flowering so that the following year's blooms do not grow at the top of the bush.

With all of your gardening starting this month, I hope you rested up during the winter.

Kelejan, thanks for the Easter Greeting e-card. Much appreciated. Hope all is well as you plan for the future. 

trolleydriver wrote:Kelejan, thanks for the Easter Greeting e-card. Much appreciated. Hope all is well as you plan for the future. 

As they say in Canada, TD, You are welcome. Plans are going well for my trip to England; I have accommodation for the first week with my Niece, a whole bedroom and bed to myself and I can stay as long as I like, or use it as a way-station as I come and go.  I will see the relatives up their first, then make my way down south to meet my brother David and his family, and we will allow a couple of weeks to get to know one another and do things together like visiting our old haunts when we should have been in the same family and wondering what it would have been like to have been brought up together. David is interested in the school I lived in for nine years,  I will be staying with DAvid's daughter as she also has a spare bedroom.  Lucky me.  I will not have to sleep on anyone's couch or share a bed.  I have several relatives ready to ferry me around and I will be passed from person to person like a parcel, which for me sounds great.  I doubt I will have to do any planning, but like a good guest I will do the washing up, make my bed, play with their cats and take the dog for a walk.

My plane ticket is booked, medical insurance sorted, I will be picked up from Manchester Airport, and at the finish of my holiday I will be taken there to catch my plane back to Canada. They got to make sure I don't get lost, or something. Somehow I am not so adventurous as I was twenty years ago so I am happy to be looked after.

Sanderson,  have not done very much in my garden but I have tided up the compost heap and will continue to empty the tumbler contents as I can.  it is an awful hard job to get the part-composted stuff out of a tumbler; it doesn't just fall out when you up-end it as it is still moist and sticks together.   I am tackling the overgrowth at the back of my property, half an hour a day when it is not raining.  I will plant some lettuce seeds in a few day time but that, I'm afraid, will be the extent of my gardening this year.

The garlic is standing tall and the strawberries have survived.  The "lawn" is greening up and will soon need cutting. The forsythia is in full bloom and a lovely sight to see as it is my first colour in the garden apart from a few snowdrops.

When the strawberries, apple cherries etc ripen, I will do my usual canning and if I do make up my mind to go back to England, it will be a nice gift to give to friends.

Lots of rain today after a wonderful sunny Thyrsday, abd it should be sunny this Saturday and Sunday.

Fantastic KJ.  I wish I could get a direct flight from Ottawa to Manchester but the only direct from Ottawa is to Heathrow.  Manchester airport is only a 40 minute drive to may family in Stoke-on-Trent.  Heathrow is more like 3 hours. 

I would be interested (via email) on what you did for health insurance.  It's a real problem for us due to Mrs TDs existing health problems.  I feel like we are trapped in Ontario. Can't even cross the border to the USA to visit friends in New Hampshire.

KJ, When is your trip? Where will Pal stay while you are gone?