Spring has sprung!

It is Spring in Victoria! Having never been a fan of the rabbit's season, I welcomed our el Nino-induced early spring this year with open, dirty and sore-from-digging arms. A few of my favourite friends and I, armed with shovels, made good to our autumn promise of starting a vegetable patch by digging up a twelve by twelve plot in my backyard in February. My recent endeavor to live a more sustainable lifestyle coupled with the guilt of having promised the previous home owners that I would maintain their adorable little garden inevitably led me here and it has always seemed like you get to be a part of an elite Pacific North West club when you are a gardener. That and I have always suspected that I am the black sheep of my block, with my withering, dessicated plants surrounding the perimeter of my home (my glowering neighbour to the right has an ambitious veggie patch over twice the size of mine, not bad for someone I estimate to be about 85!) Despite living behind a mall, I get a nice amount of sunlight in the yard, especially come summer, and the plot we dug up seemed to be nutrient-rich soil because that is where the old owners had their vegetable patch (the grass literally grows greener on that side). The above photo is of some peas that I'd poked into the dirt a few weeks ago. I was a bit worried, as I thought they were quick to sprout and just as I was getting ready to soak a few more seeds I noticed these little suckers reaching out for some of the nice March sun we've been getting.

Spinach (above) and lettuce just started to sprout too. You can see that sneaky little slug in the top right corner. Duncan suggested the old saucer full of beer trick, but my reply was "I don't want them to be happy when they die, I want them to be scared as hell to eat my veggies." Thus, I'm saving my egg shells to make a slug-proof perimeter around the garden. Hope it works!

usedvictoria is a great resource for finding gardening equipment and plants. On Friday afternoon, someone I'd contacted was trustful and nice enough to drop off these Alpine strawberry plants without payment. Alpine strawberries are like an albino strawberry, but apparently those with a strawberry allergy can eat these without any issues! I hear they have a bit of a pineapple flavour going on too!

My partners in crime, Blair and Kevin, went to a nursery up island that sounds pretty mystical! They brought back lots of lovely things like strawberry plants and what I like to call "Taye Diggs berry" (aka tayberry) root, but my favourites were the Kalipso plants they brought back! They have such a great colouring on them and I'm thinking that I'd love to have a dress in that colour scheme. Purples and sage greens and pale yellows! Squee!
Next week I think I'm going to put some beets and green onion down and maybe some potatoes too. It's a really rewarding feeling to see all of the stuff growing and getting green. Mostly, I'm excited to eat lots of garden veggies!