Update from Alan
If anyone noticed, the most recent edition of ‘The Eclectic Gardener’ got printed in the Guardian last Friday. However, whoever wrote the headline either didn’t bothered to read what the column said or they have a really poor grasp of the English language. About the only green thing anyone might derive from the reviewed books is gangrene of the brain.

Last Saturday turned out to be the wet day I was waiting for. I went to Lee Valley and picked up border forks for Sue, Sandra B. and Llewellyn, and got a couple more just in case someone else wants one.

Despite losing Saturday to rain, progress in the nursery is quite noticeable. Nathan trenched and laid a steel culvert across the driveway south of block A. - which both drained a wet spot and provided access for the trunk water-line to block C. The narrow half-bed, C1, was made up and wire frames were installed for peas to climb up. And Pam cleared the remaining weeds from C3 to give us a block that’s entirely weeded out. I don’t think we’ve ever managed a whole weed-free block before. Thanks to Chuck, Tom and Nathan, eight-and-a-half beds in block D have been planted to potatoes and I expect to pick up seed-potatoes for the remaining one-and-a-half beds today or tomorrow. In total we’ll be growing six fancy potato varieties and seven main-crop potato varieties this year.




Here are some of our volunteers hard at work!






The ditch extension that John R. dug last week, drained off Saturday’s deluge, and Nathan and Claire were able to clear most of the weeds from the west end of block D without sinking into mud up to their arm-pits. In a couple of weeks the south facing slope should have dried out enough to make a good home for the tomato plants. Block E finally got some serious attention. Lynn and Sue ‘adjusted’ all the straw piles into an even layer and maybe the first corn will get planted this week.

Thanks to John and Sandra R., the number of potted dahlia tubers has risen to 826 and there is still some undetermined number pushing up sprouts in trays of damp vermiculite. Most of the tubers are still in town but the ones which are already at the nursery are doing OK under a thick layer of straw. There have been frosts the past two nights and, with below average temperatures forecast ‘til the end of the month, there will likely be more to come.

For the record: I discovered that my spreadsheet was not totaling all the volunteer hours. Individual hours were fine but the weekly cumulative totals were short. When I fixed that, what had looked like a rather better than average start to the year turned out to be the best ever year-to-date. Of the 21 individuals who started in 2009, and who attended three or more of classes, 19 have already accumulated at least some hours. From previous intakes, 8 individuals have, so far, returned as volunteers. Having people available during the week has also made a huge difference this year.

This week, there’s lots of potting and planting of frost tolerant seedlings to be done. I’m available tomorrow (Wednesday) through Friday a.m. and p.m. and Saturday, Sunday and Victoria Day p.m. only. Nominally the afternoon shifts run 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. but we can negotiate.

As always, phone me around 8 a.m. on the day, to confirm that you are coming.

Day +10 sunny Wind S12km/h P.O.P.0%
Night +1 partly cloudy Wind N8km/h P.O.P.0%