Seasonal

So, there is a bit of prehistory ... I love nature and gardening. I think it's in my blood. I helped my grandparents in the garden when I was young. They had many fruit trees, bushes, and cultivated various vegetables and flowers. Later, I moved with my parents to live in an industrial city where we lived in an apartment, and I did not have much opportunity to plant something in the open ground. When I came to Canada two years ago, this opportunity opened up for me. Before I came to Canada,my husband had only a lawn with grass and a few perennials in front of the house. Gradually, I began to develop the territory around our house.

First of all, I saved some plants being regularly mowed by my husband. It was some daisies and wild strawberries, which grew right in the middle of the lawn. At the moment, I have a small site with these strawberries, which blooms very much now. And, I hope, it will have many berries. The berries will be small, but very fragrant and delicious. Then my husband's parents gave me a small bush of raspberries. I made a special place for them and divided this bush into twigs. Now I have a fairly large plot of raspberries and I also hope to get a good harvest this year. For this, I constantly care for raspberries: I remove weeds and excess shoots, cut off branches, fertilize the soil with compost, water, and fight with various harmful insects.

Also, I really like flowers and I decided to arrange a small flower garden in the yard. This was not so easy to do because only the top 15 cm of soil is suitable for growing plants, and deeper is just clay and stones. Therefore, in order to plant flowers or bushes, I had to remove all the bad soil and replace it with good soil. Sometimes I had to dig pits to a depth of 60 cm. It was the hardest work! Speaking of soil, I usually mix ordinary top soil, compost and sand in different proportions for the different plants.

At the moment, I have a small flower garden with different flowers. These are some kind of tulips, daffodils, irises, muscari, crocuses, peonies, aquilegia, chrysanthemum, dahlias, phlox, and some other flowers. By the way, before the planting of any plants, you should choose the right plants. First, you should choose plants that will grow well in your climate zone. Second, you should choose those plants that you like. Third, you should study information about the plant: where it should be located in the sun or in the shade, the height of the plant, and what area it will occupy. Then you should properly prepare the soil before the planting. Another tip is to transplant plants better in the evening or on a cloudy or rainy day. So plants would be stressed less after the planting into soil.

Now it is about the vegetables. This year I planted the following vegetables: several kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, beans, peas, green onions, parsley, dill and some herbs. By the way, when you plant vegetables, you should consider their compatibility in the beds. Since some vegetables help each other grow better. For example, I plant marigolds in one pot with tomatoes.

To care for my plants, I use organic fertilizers and compost, as well as mulching. It helps fight weeds, and also protects the soil from overheating. To fight pests, I use a special mix: I mix soda, dishwashing gel and a little vegetable oil in water. This mix does not harm plants and protects them from pests. My family loves the natural taste of berries and vegetables from my garden.

Since I am a beginner gardener, I use information about plants from books and the Internet. I found many useful tips on the site of Old Farmer's Almanac. Perhaps, this is all the basic information about my Canadian gardening experience.