Spring on the calendar....but winter in our gardens.

Like you, we're envying UK gardeners their lovely weather lately! We're beginning to go rusty here on our mountain - and all our lovely views have disappeared into the mist! Lovely to see how you're handling your land with your huge projects - look forward to seeing it all come to fruition. Lovely woodland photos - isn't it always so pleasing to see favourites bursting up full of vigour each year - and without anyone doing anything to help it all along! :o)

stop with the envy its blowing a whooly here today...and still no rain the ground is so dry....glad to see your snow is gone and that you are making progress with your plans....

Great blog Lori! I think the weatherman up there has us all dancing to his tune...and its not a friendly jig, more a frenzied jig! Oh yes, the sun is so welcome after a 4 month deep winter (for us), and they say its the hottest April on record. However, we are desperately watering to keep the seedlings alive..48 hours without a drink has done for a few of mine when I simply havent had time to do them all (or missed the odd tray by mistake). And Ive lost a couple thru overwatering too! So I think you will have to put Christmas forward a couple of months and we may be down to a 3 season year!!
I do hope you get your greenhouse up and running soon tho. We've had what seems a solid three weeks of bank holidays and I must admit next door's grandchildren have driven me nuts with their daily shrieking at the top of their lungs..going into the greenhouse and shutting out the noise is heaven lol! Its surprising what a peaceful haven and stress reliever a greenhouse is proving to be.
Keep the news coming!

Lori, those boulders that you have relocated must have been a nightmare to move....you must have the stamina and strength of a team of horses!!

Sorry you're getting so much rain and spring is so long in coming. I heard about the terrible storms/winds in Ontario. As you know our son is living in St. Catharine's and he was without power for 2 days and without phone/ internet for 5 days...not a happy chappie as he works from home online! Did you lose many trees on your property during the high winds? A wood chipper will be a great investment...you can possibly make mulch for topping your flower beds?

Too bad you can't get at the greenhouse yet...you are so very keen to get it up and the frustration of waiting must be hard. Hope you get some help with the foundation...we don't want you to do yourself an injury!

Keep the blogs coming....enjoying your adventure very much :)

im so glad the power hasnt cut out on your blogs lori!! please keep sending them.
those stones look perfect for the stream or a rockery ~ but mighty heavy to move!
i was hoping when you said you were going to the polls that you were going to vote for a better world climate! lets hope they sort that out!!!
i almost feel apologetic that we are having such unusual and not unwelcome sun; i have no idea why ~ bad winter certainly but not on the scale you have ~ will you have any time for summer ~ or will it start to be winter again soon?? i was only thinking yesterday how much a few months has changed ~ a white and bare garden to a full and green one here!
trilliums wild sounds just wonderful ~ we cant even buy them [easily]

enjoyed reading your blog Lori and sorry the weather hasnt been up to much for you, nice to see the plants little heads appearing through the leaves on the ground, lovely bird of prey to.
i just love your house and all that space you must be in heaven with it all, hope sunshine comes soon, take care :o))

i forgot to say the house looks really lovely.

You have got so much to do Lori but you will get there,pity you can't get the greenhouse up yet as that would be good place to keep your plant's in till you manage to get them planted. It is cold here today and windy, and the garden is in need of a watering that will get done later today :-)

Hi Everyone!
Nariz:
What has gone wrong with the lovely westerlies? Don't they usually bring you your good weather? Still, elevation plays a role too...and I know what that's like...low cloud blows around our yard!...it really is very strange. Will be looking forward to some mountain views when the mist clears!
Sandra:
You are on the ocean and still very dry??? oh my things are really mixed up, aye? Do you have trouble with salinity? I imagine the winds blow it around such that you check out the plants you grow for salt tolerance. Over here we have salt problems in areas near roads and highways, as the road crews dump it on the icy roads all winter long...on the large highways the salt spray kills trees on the margins... and stunts the rest. it's a crime..but we must be safe on the roads...:-/
Tetra:
Your April was hot and ours was cold...You and Sandra are dry and our animals are gathering in twos...!!! hee hee...but I know it's no joke. Heard from another goY friend about the school hol's this year...and all we want is a little peace and quiet. Do we dare hope for a more normal May? will be starting the gh tomorrow...I can't wait any longer.
Whistonlass: I didn't have to move all of those boulders...I used a grouping of them and tweaked them around and added stone etc...I really wish I had a team of horses...been talking to hubby about getting a goat...maybe I'm going for the wrong animal?
Sorry to hear that your son suffered with the loss of power. It has been difficult for many people in many areas.. electric generators are flying off the shelves over here. That seems to be a good practical alternative, as food storage and (in our case) water pumps do not work without electricity. In our area the trees were the main reason we lost power. Miles and miles of powerlines cross very isolated areas...I imagine it's a challenge for the Hydro to find all the dead trees that could potentially do damage. The Ontario government has an alternate energy programme for any farmers or country folk who wish to use alternate sources like solar or wind generation...they hook the small arrays or turbines into the grid, record your usage and your input and you get a checque for your contribution. The initial investment is a bit high but the benefits would pay for it, I'm sure.
Stickitoffee: Trilliums on government land are protected. The reason for the protection is that the trillium takes a long time from seed to flower...7 years, and to pick the flowering spike is to deny the plant the energy that the leaves send to the rhizome. Actually they are brachts...the true leaves are below the surface, scale like features on the lower spike. Interestingly the trillium requires ants to produce seed. More detail than I have time for here, but it you're curious you can google White Trillium for the info. I'm glad you are sharing my adventure with interest.
Sanbaz: That lovely hawk didn't stay long..he perched on the phone cable and watched me warily when he realized that I had seen him. I believe he is a Red Hawk...will check out the details and report. I was only able to get the one decent picture of him before he flew away.
Mavis: Hi! I'm going to be doing my best to get the gh up and running. I've waited long enough and so have my seedlings! Wish I could contribute some rain...the farmers over here can't get on the fields to prepare them...they are soggy messes!

i didnt realise how long those trilliums took ~ thanks for that lori ~ i shall look up the rest as you suggest.
hope you get warmer weather soon.

Very interesting about the trillium lori! Now, I really hope you get some better weather soon, it must be frustrating for you moving to your lovely haven and not being able to get going this late into the spring. Sometimes us Brits think we are the only ones in the world to suffer with changeable weather, but it's really not the case, as I've learned from bitter experience on past holidays!! One year we went to Portugal in July and it was cold..brrrr....then we had two holidays of solid rain in France and the rivers flooded and all the campsites had to be evacuated!! I could go on, our holiday weather escapades are legendary and all our our friends know not to go abroad when we do!! However, lately we seem to have had better luck. So, keep your chin up Lori and rest assured that when the good weather comes you will soon be healed by the warmth of the sun and will forget all the damp, foggy, stormy, wet, soggy mess you have just now! :))

I googled them too, Sticki...found that they (or close relatives) populate most of the globe. Even down into South America!
Karen: It sounds like we share your vacation luck. We have a special 24th of May holiday every year...and it's usually warm enough to plant your garden by that time...but one particular year I remember going camping with friends. and awakening in the night in a wet sleeping bag. That was bad, but what was worse was when I sat up my head hit the tentside and a cascade of freezing condensation gave all the other occupants a very cold shower!...then when we managed to crawl out of the swale in the tent...we realized it was snowing!!! makes me cold remembering!
When I was returning from the hillside today I noticed that there was a pair of Mallard Ducks in the stream near the road! hurray!! Went out with my camera after dinner but looks like we were just a pit stop. rats!
As a result I've decided to divert the stream so more water flows into the area where they were swimming...maybe if the pool of water was larger and deeper they might have stayed...but then again, it is close to the road and traffic might be disturbing for them. (not that there's much..but just the same.)

Worth a try Lori - after all, the verges along the motorways in Britain have become wildlife havens for animals and birds, who have learned that traffic just goes on by so they can live, breed and hunt in virtual peace.

I can just see that pond growing and growing Lori!! That camping trip sounds absolutely awful!!

Haven't given up, Nariz!... Met my new neighbours today and they have a backhoe... they came and checked out the area. Unfortunately, with all the rain we've been having, the area is much too saturated to drive a very heavy machine over it! It would be bogged to the axles very quickly and impossible to extricate. So...the work may have to wait until later in the summer when things have dried out a little. Even though it's too mucky for heavy machinery, I can still get out there with my trusty spade! Heh, Heh, Heh!
I live in a wildlife park! It's so great to see all the life all around us which is totally wild.
Karen: Can it be the very nature of camping, do you think?

Hmmm...well, my mind is cast back to a holiday in Lake Garda, Italy, when the four of us stood in our tent sweeping with yard brushes as a stream of rain and hail stones ran through the tent and hail stones battered the leaves off the trees around and dents in the hire car roof! Yes, I think you must be right! :))

OMG!!! :-< !!Ouch!! you win handsdown with that one. Don't ever come to North America in the winter!

LOL!! :))) Apparently hail stones the size of golf balls are quite common in N.Italy Lori! But whoa, that was some experience for us all!

With hailstones that size you could get a concussion!

I hope you two are not tempting fate here! We had an horrendous storm here yesterday evening, complete with hailstones - and the sky looks like the weather's not finished with us yet! Shhhhhh!

Keeping mum... let us know when the danger has passed! I may be speaking out of turn here...but it's 9 a.m and the sun is up and it's actually WARM here...calling for temps in the high 60's F ...16 to 18 C. Greenhouse Day!!! Started my stone retaining wall yesterday...also got some great pics of more wildflowers starting to bloom...have to wait til they all open their eyes though. perhaps the warmth will bring them on! oh yes, forgot this 'cause it's one of the features of spring here that I abhor...the blackflies are starting. (these aren't the plant loving black flies that you folks speak of...these are carnivorous little beasties that like to take whole chunks of skin. Like a small housefly with attitude...they are worse than Mosquitoes (and they're due to start soon too!)....never a dull moment.

Lori, are you speaking of those gigantic horseflies that really bite? Ugh! I don't think there is any ointment or spray that will keep them away either, is there? Pleased to read your temps are going up. How did you get on with starting your greenhouse yesterday?

Hi Whistonlass... The greenhouse project may be delayed another week... I'm not happy with the site I chose. I constructed a base for it of 6x6 timber and 3/4" pressure treated plywood for a floor...so it's very heavy and needs to be moved a few feet but I cannot do it..
It is our Mother's Day today and when I complained to my son, he asked me to wait another week so that he can rally some muscular friends and come up and move it for me...so ...no greenhouse, yet. I had the baseplates out and was all ready to bolt it down...but decided that I really do want it moved. so another delay. I promise, when it's finally up, there will be NO ONE on goY will have to listen to anymore COMPLAINTS from me!
I'm afraid that the insects you refer to are Horse Flies...they are quite large by comparison to the Black Fly...the black fly hatches in quick moving clean water...and they are about half the size of a common housefly... (Thank goodness they are only around for the month of May.) Horse flies, however, are around all summer long and the are quite attracted to heat. When we lived in the far north they would zoom around the barbeque! they loved it...their bite is extremely painful and usually results in a raised red welt on the skin. So as a result there really isn't anything that foils their human radar except water or an effective heat shield. If you are bitten you will suffer for at least a week.
Another biting insect we have are Deer Flies...they are about the size of a housefly with black bars on their wings...and they are sneaky...they will work their way under a cap and down to your scalp and scoop out a chunk of your skin! Very painful bite, but they are large enough and slow enough that they rarely get the chance to bite before a person is aware of them and can squash them...let's see: Mosquitoes, Black Flies, Horse Flies and Deer Flies...and Sand Flies or Midges...I need to take a shower! lol...I get creepy just thinking about them.

Flies are definitely not one of the "perks" of living in your part of the country! I never knew there were so many various types of fly....never too old to learn, as they say!

I'm sure you are disappointed at the delay in getting your greenhouse up but it's great that your son and pals will come next week and help you move the base. Getting it right in the position you want is crucial...good luck, Lori.

Thanks, Whistonlass. I've decided that there's no time like the present...so I went out and removed the screws and relocated the timbers one by one...so when help arrives I can put them to work helping build the greenhouse. We are in a type of bowl valley and the sun doesn't hit us directly until about 7:30 a.m. and the early evening sun is going to be blocked by the trees once they are in leaf...so it's tricky finding the optimum spot..because the winds swirl in the valley and have three different entrance points...so when it's windy from the west...we get swirling winds...same for north and south.
The east winds could blow the gh over! So I'm hoping to save myself some trouble down the road by taking the time to do the best I can to situate the thing. I never dreamed it would be this much of a bother!

perhaps you need a giant turntable lori!! i have seen summerhouses on them, you turn them round to face the sun!!??

ooooo....you might be on to something there, Sticki.. hmmmm.... now how would I go about building a turning platform? I'm going to google the construction of windmills in the Netherlands...they are huge and they are turned toward the wind! Food for thought...thank you!

maybe huge ball bearings in a circular track??? they used to turn trains round on a turntable too.
bampy would probably work it out ~ he can build all sorts!!

There's another good suggestion. Thanks Sticki. Will have to tell bampy about it...see if he has suggestions to make. I did some looking and found a site in the Netherlands with all the windmills and their type and history...even found an image of an antique drawing of the inner workings of the mill...all the gears and tracks etc. I know I have seen a pic of a very old, small windmill in the UK which has a wheel connected to the upper story by a long arm-like pole which has a geared wheel on the other end which runs on a toothed track and can be picked up manually and moved. Or perhaps it was moved by a horse on a towpath...
It was a very entertaining read.

Phew! for a minute there Lori, I thought you were going to start something really complex. How about a series of intersecting paths with tracks, and a central turntable, bit like a railway..could call your greenhouse rolling stock! lol!
Seriously tho, bouncing off crazy ideas can sometimes produce something workable..worth some extra thought, but darned annoying not to get the greenhouse up and working immediately!
The horse is a good idea...plenty of fertilizer!!!

the horse could pull the greenhouse round?? new grass and more sun??
that windmill you saw in the uk sounds familiar to me; i will have to have a look.

I was thinking about a miniature pony...without the towpath...just for a pet. He could keep the grass trimmed and give me some fertilizer for my garden!

good thinking, rabbits and sheep do a good job on that too. maybe a goat?

I have no objections to goats, Sticki...but hubby is worried that it might be folly! They aren't particular about what they eat. I have a rabbit..but he's a pet, and sheep ...wellll.... I guess if the neighbour can have pigs..I could have sheep.. but no. Hubby was so worried that I would get myself some livestock to deal with the long grass that he bought me a new lawn mower! lol... he has his own logic.

Mmmm wonder how I can make that work for me...what "something new" do I need....

suggest that a nice goat would really make your life complete! It worked for me...

LOL! My OH was chuckling as I read him the "goat thing"...cant beat female logic!!

oh dear...I never meant to imply anything devious....just exploring all the various solutions to the problem. ( ;-) )

Thats what I tell him too Lori! lol! Us?? Devious? Heaven forbid. We just find the logical solution and apply it in a different way to the male, lateral thinking and gentle, indirect pressure..everyone ends up happy!

Exactly!

poor lori ............... you have had it rough there ........... but you do live in a beautiful part of the world ..............
you get there in the end so enjoy it all , i wud love to be were you are !!! shall we swap 4 a bit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
love all the wild things you have as well.
your own proper pond too wow wow wow
our father rubbish at the mo , every things gone mad , things flowering wen they shouldn't lol ........... my roses are a month early . am hoping weather improves soon for everyone , you have fun up there its a journey and very special have fun ;0)))

Thanks Cristina...we love it here. I don't think I'd swap it for anything in the world...but you're welcome to come a explore. Canada is a huge country...lots of different climates and land forms... but I think we've found one of the most beautiful and clean parts of it here. Now that you mention it, things have really accelerated here too...nothing was moving with all the cold and wet...then a couple of nice days and Boom! Hope things improve for you, and all the other gardeners in Cheshire. I'd gladly share some of the rain we've got!

lol lori .............. i dont think we need any more rain here ................. WE HAD ENOUGH haha but if ever we in your neck of the woods xcuse the pum ........... i wud def love to xplore .............;0)))))))))))
you are soooooo luky !!!!

Thanks Cristina! :-)!