May? November? March?

Growing in May

May started out a lot like November… or March… there wasn’t a whole lot of difference between them this year. Snow. Grey. Cold. Wind. Rain. Rain turning to snow. Snow turning to rain. More cold. Ugh.

I take the last 2 weeks in May off, in order to plant my garden, except for the tomatoes and basil. Most years it works out ok, except for the few when it rains every single day for two entire weeks. This year, it’s mostly been that, with the exception of a couple of sunny hot days, which brought out the blackflies. Which are ravenous and huge this spring, and relentless, much like the ticks. Nothing seems to discourage ticks.

I’m still sleeping on flannel sheets, in flannel jammies and polar fleece bedsocks, with three or four blankies piled on the bed; the two warm nights we’ve had I just shifted the blankets aside because I was surely going to need them later in the night or the next night. The only difference between that and mid-winter is that I sometimes ditch the jammie bottoms, and I leave the window open now.

I planted my asparagus crowns in the wind and the rain. I planted beets and carrots and parsley root on a cold grey day, followed by rain. Ditto the peas and fava beans. I put lettuce and parsley and dill seed out just before it rained. I planted some sunflowers in the rain. I planted pepper plants, covered with cloches, in the wind on a grey day. Ditto broccoli. I’ve given up moving pavers and rock-like chunks temporarily because I can’t carry them and also swat at blackflies, and I can’t see well enough with the bug net on to do something that potentially dangerous to the health of my fingers and toes.

Fritillaria, maybe??

 

I said before vacation that if I got the garden planted, it would be a good vacation; if I also got to Montreal for a day, it would be a great vacation; and if I also managed to get a dog, it would be a perfect vacation. Monday we headed off to Montreal for the day; the garden – eh – it’s partly planted, not sure how much more will be plantable until the ground warms up more than it has; dog acquisition doesn’t look likely. If I was going to get a dog now, it should have been last week so I’d have had time to bond with it before going back to a heavy work schedule, and Montreal should have happened first. Weather and some stuff beyond my control made that impossible last week. 

Blue, perennial, and happy

Monday was a sparkling day: rose and copper and light green and bronze leaves with pink and white blossoms on the trees and fluffy white clouds. A gentle breeze – perfect sweater weather. The inside of the gardens were fascinating as always – desert room, bonsai room, rain forest room, and others – and the gardens outside were no more advanced than ours here, but unlike my back forty, there were many fragrant crab-apple trees, some purple flower I didn’t recognize that smelled like perfume, and just like my back forty, lots and lots of blooming dandelions. And lots of Montrealers out enjoying the weather - okay, I don't have those in my back forty, at least, not last time I checked. The Chinese garden especially, and the Japanese garden also, were incredibly beautiful.

Chinese garden, Montreal Botanical Gardens

After a couple of hours strolling the gardens, we went to our favorite Marche Jean Talon in the Italian section of the city. This is the largest of several permanent farmer’s markets, and is always big, but grows exponentially on weekends to take in street performers and more farmer’s stands. In this permanent market, part is under an actual roof with solid walls – the year-round, permanent restaurants and things like an olive store, cheese shops, butchers, fish mongers, sausage-makers, mushroom guy, soap and canned goods and milk and yogurt and so forth purveyors, vintners (lots of ice cider), Mid-Eastern pastry shop, a chocolatier, and restrooms are all under structures; the farmers with their herbs and veggies and fruits and, at this time of year, tomato and eggplant and lettuce and all kinds of other seedlings are in the tent part of the market, which has sides that can be let down when it’s windy or cold. 

It’s a marvelous place. We ate buckwheat crepes stuffed with ham and mushrooms and cheese and béchamel sauce, bought local cheeses and sodas (spruce! It’s weirdly delicious and you burp up tree-flavor for some time afterwards) and chocolates and onion jam and other tasty bits to bring home, and managed to get home by about 10:30 that evening. Not a bad day at all.

 

Two interesting things growing inside the Botanical Gardens in Montreal

My new clematis has bloomed, the potatoes in their potato bags have reached the top of their dirt and need more added. Lettuce is almost pickable, onions and garlic and chives and shallots and leeks all look happy. Most of the asparagus crowns have sent up shoots, so I’m slowly filling their trenches in, also. Peas and fava beans have emerged; I can’t tell if the beets and carrots and parsley root are up or not, there are too many little weedy things in their beds, I’ll have to wait until everything’s larger before I sort it out. I put winter squash and pumpkin and zucchini seeds in under cloches which haven’t germinated yet, nor has the one bed of parsnips I planted near the house. But, the thai and sweet basil I put in a pot near the house and covered with row fabric are up – one experiment that seems to be working. And my chives and French tarragon and summer savory look good and are pickable.

And Catman hasn’t yet found the replacement catnip plant I put in when I took out his favorite plant in order to put in asparagus. I’ll show him as soon as it’s had time to grow some sturdy roots.

Two days off after Montreal; one was pouring rain, anyway. But tomorrow I’ve got to get back to the garden and at least get Catman’s back-up replacement plant into the ground, and the perennials I bought last weekend. 

And battle ticks and blackflies…

For the blog, 29 May 2019

All photos Deb Marshall

Botanical Gardens, Montreal, May 19