First Spring Blooms

April 15th is the official date of my first outdoor blooms (large flowered crocuses). The first crocus bloom has been on April 16th for the past two years, according to my dutifully kept computer-records of such momentous events. The Iris reticulata (mini irises) are a bit behind this year though, as they usually bloom days before the crocuses. I also have one lonely snowdrop in bloom, but its solitary show is too pathetic to photograph.

More basement impatiens under lights:

My dwarf Gerbera daisy, which I started from a seed last fall. There are two more flower buds at the base of this plant.

A couple of "Red Robin" small cherry tomato plants. These ones stay nice and bushy and make sweet tomatoes. I grew a few over the winter for the occasional fresh snack.

First Basement Blooms

Okay, so it's actually just a solitary bloom. But my one of my impatiens "Super Elfin Mix" produced it's first flower. Poor plant is now going to have to wait 2 months to go outside. Currently, you can still drive your truck across the lake, snowmobiling is the top recreational activity, and a nearby community just had another ice fishing derby.

Other than that, I've been pinching off the tops of my other plants, making them more bushy, while delaying their flowers. This Gerbera daisy "Dwarf Pandora's Mix" is going to bloom soon. I know that you can buy Gerbera plants at Walmart, so owning a plant isn't anything unique. However, I grew this plant from seed, starting it last fall. I'm quite impressed that I got it to this point.

Here's one of the flats of seedlings under the grow lights. It contains Phacelia, Asters, Lemon basil, Purple basil, Lobelia, Scabiosa, Papaver miyabeanum, Godetia, and Portulacas.

Plants and Power Outages

Unlike the unlucky folks in the eastern half of our country, we received no awful storms up here this week. We did get a long power outage though. Furthermore, we're not even sure why. Either I'm not sufficiently connected to the gossip chain, or the media just ignores the northerners (I firmly believe this last point).

This last Tuesday, we had 8.5 hours of no electricity during the workday. This meant we also had no running water, as the town's water pumps were also not functioning. Imagine your workplace with no flushing toilets. The staff could not tolerate lack of coffee, however, and that essential appliance was plugged into a generator-run outlet (with water from the emergency supplies). They realized the error of their ways sometime later when full bladders met full toilets. We called the power company at 1:00 pm and the recording went something like this: "We're not sure what is causing this power outage. If you have any tips, please call us." Being (not) so reassured, I built a large fire in the fireplace at home and felt toasty warm until power was restored at 3 pm, when I could surf garden blogs yet again!

Osteospermum "Passion Mix": I just pinched the top off the largest one. I didn't do this the last time I grew these and they ended up sparse and gangly.

Fortunately, the weather wasn't severe during the power outage. There were even a few days above freezing this week, and a small patch of sloped flower bed was revealed. I'm hoping for green tips of plants poking out in a few weeks.

Yet another columbine (Aquilegia). I collect them like I collect shoes, only this obsession doesn't go noticed by RLM (and no teasing and harassment ensues).

No, this is not oak-leaf lettuce. This is my solitary Gerbera daisy, grown from seed because I heard that growing them was a challenge. Ha! Just watch me grow them in subarctic Canada!

Cold Outside, Vegetables Inside

The temperatures dropped this past week, with cold down to -27 degrees C one morning. With the windchill, it was -38 degrees C (-36.4 degrees F). Yeah, that's enough to make your nose hairs freeze, tinkle like icicles against each other, and then break off. At least that's how it makes me feel. Of course, all the vehicles now appear tethered by stiff, kinked extension cords to power outlets, with everyone plugging in their block heaters. Where I grew up in BC, I never know block heaters existed. Oh, the naive climate-innocence of the southern British Columbian!

So on the indoor front, my houseplant-vegetables are growing well. I've had to repot the peppers and tomatoes, because they were getting rootbound. The new pots are 5 inch square or 6 inch (diameter) round. I ran out of potting soil though, so I dug stuff out of the worm compost boxes to fill the bigger pots. There's a few worms living in the pots, but they've never caused damage so far.

The pepper and one tomato (Red Robin) are growing into the light fixtures. Tomatoes can be "height adjusted" though, which is fortunate. If you bury a tomato plant stem, that stem will just grow roots and be happy underground. My rootbound tomato had a few branches dying at the bottom anyways, so I just replanted it deep in its pot and now it's not crowding the light.

Micro Tom tomato:

Gerbera daisy I am attempting to grow from seed:

Tasty salad in a pot: I have decided that the "Baja MI" butterhead lettuce is the best performer of this winter's lettuce. It also has the nicest texture and flavour. I highly recommend it. Last winter, I also had success with a romaine called "Paris cos".