repotting

This meyer lemon tree is beginning to leaf out, after spending the winter looking like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree - down to sticks.  I'm thinking it needs a boost, so I am going to transplant it and give it new soil.  I popped it out of the pot to check the roots, which are not very extensive, so I will not move it to a larger pot.  I'm just going to change the soil.  I'm using purchased potting soil, not the stuff from the garden, which is too heavy and full of disease and weed seeds.  One time I didn't follow my own advice and dug soil from my vegetable garden to use in pots, and I ended up with a whole pot full of tiny tomato seedlings that had been hiding in the garden!

I'm going to mix the soil with worm castings (worm poop) which is rich in nutrients.
I'm hoping the tree rewards my efforts with another nice crop of Meyer lemons.  Last year, it produced 5 beautiful, delicious fruit!

more snow complaints

PEI is now labouring under about 15 feet of snow, which is being packed down and getting heavier and heavier to move.  The oil company is refusing to deliver oil because our tank pipe is on the far, inaccessible side of the house.  We have had to pump our own oil at the gas station and take it home ourselves.  It takes a lot of trips.  The bright side is that pumping your own oil is 17 cents cheaper than having it delivered.  Yea - I know it's worth it.

This is the long and winding road to the front door.

It is getting too hard to fling the snow over the bank.

planting in the winter

The snow is high as an elephant's eye, but it's March 23, eleven weeks before the last frost (although this year may be an exception) so I'm going to plant some seeds that need a long time to grow:  petunias, peppers, and dianthus.  To work out when to plant, check the directions on the back of the seed envelope, which will tell you how many weeks before the last frost to plant your seeds.  The last frost date on PEI is about June 10, or after the new moon in June (really).

pepper seeds should be planted 3 months before the last frost.

Choosing the right planting medium is really important when starting seeds.  Don't use regular soil from outside - it's full of pathogens and weed seeds, and it is too heavy.  A purchased soil-less mix is light, sterile, and perfectly supports young seedlings.

Because this planting medium has had all the water taken out, it needs to be pre-moistened, which takes a lot more water than you might expect.  Then pack it into seed cells.  That also takes more time and more soil than you think.

After the seeds are planted (check directions to see if the seeds should be placed on top of the soil or covered) pack them down with a dibber or just use a plain old pen, like I do.

Cover the seed tray with a plastic dome, place in a bright window sill, and check every day to make sure the soil does not dry out.  For seeds that germinate slowly like these, I place a heating pad under the tray, turned very low, to keep the soil warm.  That will help them sprout faster.
Now just stand back and watch them grow!

7.3 feet

222.8 cm.  That's 7.3 feet.  That's how much snow fell on Charlottetown from February 1 to 25.
Our average yearly snowfall is 290.4 cm.

Needless to say, we are weary.  But things are looking up.  This is a before shot, but we have finally cleared the front door, and liberated the garbage bins.

Wayne did a lot of shoveling.