This is my view from inside the greenhouse looking out to the garden, and as you can see, there is still snow (lots of it) on the ground! In a time when everything seems to be turned upside down, has Spring forgotten it’s time to show it’s magic?
When I was cleaning up my containers last fall, I decided to re-pot the ivies to overwinter in the greenhouse. Also, I lifted the dahlia tubers that grew in garden planters and carefully layered them in peat moss and packed them in boxes to be stored in a darker corner of the greenhouse. Everything was looking great up until sometime between Christmas and New Years. During that time, the batteries in the remote control for the furnace died, causing the heat to shut off. When I went out on New Year’s Day to water, I was horrified at the loss of the ivies but still had hope the dahlias may have survived. No luck there either. I checked them this week and the tubers were soft with no new “eyes” to be seen. To make matters worse, I had cancelled my seed order (because most items were back-ordered) the week before we were planning on leaving for California. And now the greenhouses are temporarily closed.
I did manage to pick up white alyssum and sweet pea seeds as well as some tiny ivy plants before the lockdown. This week I have been transplanting the seedlings and separating and repotting the ivy. The alyssum is struggling, but I’m hopeful…
As I look around at the sparse plantings and empty shelves, I wonder what our gardens will look like this year. I have called my favourite garden centre to see if I can preorder some hedging plants and even they aren’t really sure what the next couple of months will bring.
While I may be disappointed with the start of this garden season, I am grateful that I have a place to hideout (having a husband home and underfoot, all the time, is taking some getting used to!), to read, look through garden books, daydream and just escape from our new reality.
Stay safe and well,