Gardening Begins at the Cottage for This Year

We stopped at a small local garden centre for the first time and purchased some plants to get us started for this year. It always feels so much more like home when we have a few things we have planted growing in the cottage.

 It was awkward shopping. It was the end of the day and we were among the last customers. Social distancing seemed extra hard and that was considering there were only 5 people plus the salesperson in the building! We had not gotten a cart to put our small arm full of purchases on but it turned out that was a bit of a mistake. Apparently at checkout the procedure is to take the cart to a spot marked on the floor. The cashier gets it from there and carries it to the checkout desk behind a clear plastic sheet. You tap your charge card through the sheet then back off. She carries it back to your cart and you get your cart and leave the greenhouse. I’m not so sure that any cart handle sanitizing happens there. Anyway, we got checked out to disapproving looks after we set our purchases at the far end of her counter and then we physically backed up. I am very pro taking protective measures, just not so pro grumpy salespeople.

The centre was actually very nice. The plants looked good and there was a nice variety. I would go back again in the future, but maybe I will wait until COVID 19 is not the centre of everyone's fears.

Daisy (osteospermum Harvest Moon), Pony Tail Feather Grass, 

Light Yellow Petunia x Calibrachoa hybrid.

2 colours of Geraniums

Parsley and Lemon Basil 

2 kinds of Bell Peppers

Geranium and mixed planter on the front steps.

The bell peppers in the raised bed garden

The herbs will be in the kitchen window.

Victoria Day 2020

A new season at the lake.

We rarely get out to the lake for the Victoria Day long weekends. Usually, someone is working or there are Girl Guide camps to go to or it is just too hard to get ourselves organized in May.  It was so nice to have fantastic weather and everything we needed at home and ready to pack. I worked Saturday and Sunday but the holiday Monday was free so we went out for two days and one night, in order to get the cottage opened up.

Opening up is not really that difficult but there is no guarantee about how everything will have held up over the winter. This time the boat cover had kept the boat dry through the winter, the boat launched easily and it started right away. The cottage was rodent-free with no leaks or other problems except the back of the cottage is sinking. Keeping it level has been an ongoing problem with our building.  The porch is in miserable shape too and that will be our main fix-up project for this year. We need to replace the part of the roof that goes over our screened porch and replace the floor that has been wrecked by rain coming in through that leaky roof.

The solar power system is charging just fine, the water pump is hooked up and the propane stove is operational. We do have a water pipe leaking under the cottage but Bob won't have much trouble fixing it next time we go out.

We still have a lot of dusting, cleaning and getting the outdoor furniture set up on our next trip, but then we will be all ready for Summer!