Our 2026 Garden: preparing to direct sow

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First up, I’m happy to share this photo of Havarti.

After how bloody and swollen he was after his spay yesterday, then disappearing when the cleaned out isolation shelter was dry and ready to hold him for the night, I honestly would not have been surprised if he didn’t make it. Instead, when I came out to do the feeding this morning, there he was, mostly cleaned up, among the cats swirling under my feed, very eager for food!

I just came back from the evening feeding. He is doing very well – but it’s so hot out there, most of the food I set out this morning was still uneaten! No appetites in this heat, that’s for sure. They have plenty of water available, and plenty of shade, and we have cat puddles all over the place.

One of the things I did today was pick up the trees at the post office.

I haven’t bothered to open the box, yet. It’s in the living room, where the air conditioner is, and no cats to try to tear into it.

The house is cooler – we’ve got the AC, my husband and I have box fans in our rooms, and the girls have their AC in their upstairs apartment. They also managed to get the old basement door to open (the knob needs replacing) and the wire mesh door we made for it is set up, allowing air circulation from the cooler basement.

The old basement is damp enough that I got two blowers and an oscillating fan going. The new basement has weeping tile but, after a rain barrel was allowed to overflow the summer before we moved here, the corner where that barrel was still gets damp, so I’ve got an oscillating fan on that corner, too. I still need to set up the summer window in the old basement, which is a combination of wire mesh and window screen, so no critters can get through. The extra air circulation will help with the dampness in that basement, too.

With the sump pump going off fairly regularly, and the hose set up to drain under a bed in the old kitchen garden, it means our tiny bok choy, beets and parsnips will get watered from below, too.

The heat was still getting to me and I ended up going down for a nap in the living room, with the AC running, for an hour and a half – I set a timer this time – shortly after lunch.

Then I went into the new basement. With all the transplants now outside, I cleared the set up that was on my work table, putting the full spectrum lights away (now I suddenly can’t remember if I shut off the shop light…). This gave me room to re-organize my seed packets and think about what I can direct sow, now that the soil temperatures are more than warm enough. Normally, I wouldn’t sow these things for another week, but the soil thermometer I picked up tells me the soil is ready, and the long range forecast shows no sign of frost. With all the protective netting I’ve been setting up, though, if there was a possibility of frost, I would be able to cover the beds that need it with cloth.

After going through my seeds, I set aside a number of packets into a separate bin, as thinks I can potentially direct sow in the next few days.

No, I won’t be sowing everything in that bin! The second picture shows part of why. Granted, that’s in the sun room, but still…

Most of what’s going into the garden beds will be transplants. I don’t actually have a lot to direct sow.

In the high raised bed, I will be planting bush beans, interplanted with onion transplants. I will be planting pole beans in the middle of the bed that has the daikon radish and white turnips winter sown into it.

The flower bed at the end of the high raised bed will have cosmos and nasturtiums transplanted into it. I have marigolds to transplant among the vegetable beds, but I also plan to direct sow more. I have bachelor’s button and other flowers I’d like to direct sow, but I’m not sure where, yet.

There is a space in the trellis bed that should have room to transplant cucumbers into it – if we have any to transplant. I do have the bi-colour pear gourds, though. I might transplant those, instead. There is also enough space between where the carrots are planted (I still can’t tell if we have any, after the second sowing) to direct sow something that isn’t too large and bushy.

One of the empty beds in the main garden area is meant to have some tomatoes, plus the celery and peppers transplanted into it. Onions will be interplanted among them. There aren’t a lot of surviving peppers, though. The spacing I have will determine what I will direct sow there. These are long beds and I might have extra space for the celery. They are a short season variety I could potentially direct sow more of.

Another bed, where the garlic was planted last year, is meant for squash or melons, but after the tray of winter squash, melons and cucumbers got decimated by something in the basement, it will be a while before the new seeds even germinate, never mind be ready for transplant.

I have two varieties short season corn to direct sow, but the area they are going in still needs to be uncovered and prepared. If we have any that survived, I hope to interplant winter squash transplants, or direct sow pole beans among them.

The bed along the retaining wall in the old kitchen garden will be direct sown with summer squash. I have 5 varieties to plant, possibly 6, if I have the space. That bed still needs to have hoops to hold protective netting set up over it, though.

In the newly finished bed I have at the chain link fence, I am looking to transplant winter squash and melons – if the new seeds replacing the eaten ones germinate and survive! I might end up buying transplants at some point, but I don’t know if it’s necessary, yet.

Among the other seeds I will sow as I find space are things like fern leaf dill, which I plan to treat as a perennial, and other varieties of peas and beans, including garbanzo beans, though those might wait until next year. The Caspar eggplant transplants don’t look very robust, but they are a short season variety, so I might direct sow more along with the transplants, just so see how that will work out.

With the heat holding on for so long in the day, I expect to only get the evening watering done tonight. I will try to get up earlier tomorrow and see what I can get done before it gets too hot out there. The highs are supposed to very slowly get “cooler”; starting tomorrow, we’re expected to be below 30C/86F for the next while. One of my apps says to expect rain starting Tuesday night (today is Friday), thunderstorms on Wednesday, and rain continuing through Thursday morning.

Right now, at almost 7:30pm, we’ve finally dropped to 28C/82F, though the “real feel” is still 29C/84F.

Time to find the bug spray and do the evening watering!

The Re-Farmer

A semi-stock up shop: this is what $212 looks like

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This is not the shop I intended to make.

With Damocles living up to its name while I took the cats to the vet yesterday, and the heat wave hitting us, I was going to skip another trip to the city.

I did, however, need to go into town. My husband’s prescriptions were delivered yesterday, minus one – his primary pain killer, that he can’t order in advance, because it’s a “controlled substance”. He was down to one pill. They did have it ready while I was still in the city, but there was no way I’d be picking it up with cats in the truck and, by the time I got home, the pharmacy was going to close before I could get to town.

Same with my trees that arrived in the mail.

So early this morning, before things got insanely hot, though it was getting there real fast, I headed into town. Since I was there anyhow, I decided to stop at a local grocery store. If nothing else, I wanted to get more eggs.

I ended up taking advantage of sales and got more.

This is what $212.32 looks like.

The big difference here is, I got actual meat. Including beef!

From the top, there’s a 4 pack of Monster drinks that were on sale, that I got for the girls. The Sour Patch kids candy were also on sale, and for my husband. The giant potato chip bags were a rare treat, for all four of us, along with two containers of dip.

I got three types of cheese that were on sale, as were the 18 count packs of eggs, making it cheaper to get two of those than to get the flat of eggs I’d planned to get. Plus, they fit better in our hard sided grocery bags.

The sale on butter was really good, but I only got two, since I already got four, when I was in the city.

There’s a giant bag of frozen tater tots as something my husband can cook himself. The baby spinach was not on sale, but our own spinach is struggling to grow in this heat.

The sale on the sirloin tip roast was good, but I was seriously tempted by the brisket, that was a dollar cheaper per pound. The whole thing cost just over $125. At Costco, the same thing would have cost more than $250. In the end, I knew I wouldn’t be able to process it before it would need to go into the freezer.

The whole chicken was also on sale, so I got two. The sausage ring was not on sale, but the regular price of this locally made product is already quite good. The jumbo pack of wieners were not on sale, but are an okay price for the amount in the package. The croissants on sale are another treat. The hot dog buns were not on sale. It blows me away that a 12 pack of buns now costs more than a 12 pack of wieners, and I got the jumbo pack, which is by weight and more than 24 wieners. The hot dog fixings are for those days when it’s just too hot to spend a lot of time at the stove!

Finally, I got some plain loaves of bread. House brand, so a better price, plus bonus points for buying 2 loaves at a time.

In the end, I did more of a food stock up trip locally, than I did while in the city! The main part is being able to get meat at a decent price. When it comes to beef in particular, Costco is now priced completely out of our budget. Still, there are enough things we need, where the price difference it worth the trip to the city. Cat food, in particular.

Speaking of which, I just realized the time. It’s time to feed the outside cats for the evening!

On the way home from this shopping trip, I stopped to pick up the trees in the mail, and also got a 40 pound bag of kibble for the outside cats, at $45. After taxes, just pennies over $50.

*sigh*

It’s still 30C/86F out there. “Feels like” 33C/91F

I am not looking forward to going out there.

The Re-Farmer

First stock up shop: this is what $258 looks like

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Normally, I would be in the city today, doing our second stock up shop.

I’m going to wait a few more days.

Instead, here is the stock up shop I did a couple of days ago, when I came back too tired and in too much pain to do a post. That and I needed to try and get to bed early, as we had to capture some cats to go to the vet the next morning.

This was day of multiple stops, but I only got pictures of two of them, for a total of $258.88 It was also an unusual shop, as I did not get as much as I normally would have, changing up where I went a bit.

My first stop was the Canadian Tire, not pictured.

I got two bags of hardwood pellets for the litters, some screws and neoprene washers to go with them, as the cat house roof needs a bit of repair, a new headlight bulb for Damocles (our truck), some stronger zip ties I’ll need for the garden, and a clear plastic runner that I’m wanting to set on my bedroom floor, under where some litter boxes are. The headlight alone was $40.

Grand total after taxes was $105.34

Gas prices were cheaper by 20¢/L so I got $50 in gas on the way to my next stop, which was Walmart.

This is what $138.81 looks like.

This is a really small shop for a Walmart trip. I didn’t get any cat food this time, because I expected to go to Costco and stock up there in a couple of days, though I did get the XXL size pee pads.

The paper towels were on sale. The Costco price for paper towels are good, but I get so many large items there, getting their bigger package of paper towels is too much, so I get them at Walmart, instead. Then there are the XXL puppy pads, a cheap watering can because my new one that I got last year cracked over the winter. I finally found the huge bottles of shampoo and conditioner in stock. I would have gotten two conditioners, as we all use more of that than the shampoo, but it was the last one on the shelf. The “baby wipes” are actually “all purpose” wipes. I find having a package in my office/bedroom handy, and the girls were wanting one for their upstairs apartment, so I got a couple. Then there is the personal hygiene product that I’m still using, just in case. Looking forward to that ultrasound I’ve got coming up early next month!

That’s it. One of the smallest Walmart shops I’ve ever done, and certainly the smallest “stock up shop” I’ve ever done! No grocery items – I didn’t think to bring ice packs on this trip – and no cat food really makes a difference.

Normally after this, I would have gone to an international grocery store, but I kept hearing how Fresh Co has better prices, so I decided to try there.

As I parked I saw that it shared a building with a Dollarama, so I went there first. I honestly can’t remember everything I got there, and I think the receipt got tossed. I did get 4 plastic bins, which we used to for the snail roll transplants, making it more stable to move them and have them outside. I got some plant clips and 3′ long plant stakes that my daughter helped me across the bed, with the clips to hold the netting in place, to hopefully hold it up the next time the cats jump on top of the netting.

They really want to be on top of that mosquito netting. It’s so weird.

I’m sure I got something else, but I can’t remember what. Looking at my bank transactions, though, it totaled $35 even.

Then I went into the Fresh Co.

I can’t say that prices were really any better, there. There were big signs all over saying they had the best prices, or they would match competitor prices. Meanwhile, their flats of eggs were $2 more than what I can get locally. There were things I saw at Walmart that were at least a dollar more expensive. Some prices were better, but only because they were on sale.

The store itself was… I don’t know. It’s not that it was laid out badly, but it felt like it was. They had a lot of international foods, but nothing that I was interested in, compared to the international store I normally go to.

In the end, I spent only $120.07, after taxes. This is what that looks like.

That really isn’t much. Not much for a stock up trip, that’s for sure!

As you can see, pretty much everything I got was on some sort of sale. I got three boxes of frozen chicken – even packed in insulated bags, they were partially thawed by the time I got home, so they got eaten pretty much right away. There turned out to not be much in the boxes, either. Definitely not worth paying full price for, but not too bad with the sale price.

The sale price on the butter was pretty good, so I got four pounds. Definitely a good price on the coffee creamer the girls like, so I got a couple of those, even though they still had. The water flavours were also a better price, though only because they were on sale. The price on the strawberries was okay for the size of package, and they were really good looking strawberries.

The bananas were an okay price; I got them more because they were actually decently ripe. Everywhere else I’ve been seeing bananas, they are totally green. I remembered to get onions, and those were a good price.

The sale price on the teas were quite good. I spotted a honey ginger drink mix we’ve tried before and enjoyed, and the price was right on that, too. The ketchup was also a good price. The sale price on the rye bread is about the same as when the rye bread is on sale locally for that brand. Then, finally, I got a cold Monster drink for the drive home, because by then, I really needed it!

Again, not much of a shop, and certainly not much for a stock up shop.

By the time I was done, however, I was heavily using my cart as a walker. My lower back was hurting, my left hip was giving out and, oddly, my left shoulder felt like it was trying to dislocate every time I moved it.

Which certainly made packing the stuff into the truck “fun”.

Counting the Dollarama and Canadian Tire shops, the total for the day was $414.22 Plus whatever my lunch at Walmart cost, which would have been under $20.

So, not much of a stock up trip at all.

The Re-Farmer

Another good bye, and I think the heat is getting to Damocles

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Well, this was a day…

My younger daughter and I were out shortly after 6am to try and snag cats into carriers. Particularly the two in the isolation shelter with Bug.

We let Bug out. She’s been in there for a week since her spay, and my daughter was able to give her the dewormer pill finally, yesterday. She will be better outside the shelter – especially in this heat!

Unfortunately, we had zero luck getting the other two. They know exactly where to go that we can’t reach.

So we tried for Adam, who suddenly was no longer friendly.

In the end, we were able to easily get Havarti and Curtis, plus we got Hypotenose because he was basically blocking the carrier while we were trying to reach Adam and practically went in on his own.

Then the door closed and he panicked. It was very concerning, but he did settle down a bit. I put the carrier with Curtis in it, door to door with Hypotenose, and I think that helped.

At this point, I left right away. I’d be very early, but I thought the vibrations of the drive would calm them.

It did.

However…

Along the way I suddenly realized the battery gauge was not where it usually is. It was still within the “normal” range, but well into the low side. I have never seen it there before. Not even the time we got low battery warnings.

Then I got to an intersection where I needed to stop at a stop sign for a while before I could turn, and the gauge went up to where it normally is.

By the time I reached the junction, maybe a mile away from the vet clinic, it started dropping again.

So, while I was parked and waiting, with the cats very quiet behind me, I started looking up the second location of our usual garage in town. I wasn’t able to phone right away, though, partly because my phone needed to be restarted before any calls would connect, and partly because the clinic opened and I went in.

When giving the info for Hypotenose, I made sure to mention that I was afraid he might have injured himself in his panic. He had been clawing and biting at the door, and it looks like there might be blood on his face. They were forwarned.

Once the cats were processed and taken to the back, I went to the truck and called the garage. After telling him what was happening, he said he was just going an oil change at the moment, and could take a quick look. I got directions to where the garage was (not anywhere near where I thought they were!) and headed over.

My phone started to ring while I was driving. I don’t answer my phone when I’m driving, but I thought it might be the vet clinic.

When I found the place and parked, I checked, and yes, it was. My phone will transcribe voice mail messages into text, so I did that. I had mentioned that we assume the cats all have ear mites and worms, but there was a misunderstanding. The rescue didn’t include deworming in what the cats were signed up for. I clarified things and said that, if they thought it was necessary, I would pay for the dewormer.

While I was on the phone, the mechanic came out with his tester, figuring I was the one who called earlier. I told him I was on the phone with the vet, so he went ahead and popped the hood while I walked around. When I was on hold, I came over to talk to him and see what was going on.

He tested the battery.

It was fine.

Alternator checked out fine.

He got another tester, opened up the fuse box (I now see how to open it, and can’t understand why I couldn’t manage it before!) and tested all the fuses. They were fine.

I stepped away for a bit when the vet clinic got back on the call and when it was done, I talked with the mechanic some more. I’m glad I took a picture of what the gauge was at, because it was back to normal when I drove over, and a bit of our history, as I’ve noticed something’s been draining the battery, every so slightly, somewhere.

He couldn’t find our electrical gremlin, but he explained to me what to watch for.

As he was testing the fuses, I joked that, since I was there, I might get him to change my headlight bulb. I picked up a new bulb yesterday, but the last time I tried to chance the bulb, it was a real pain. I ended up changing it from inside. He agreed it was a pain, because the whole light assembly comes out. He pointed out, this screw has to be taken off, there’s another under the shield, and one underneath, accessed through the wheel well.

…

I didn’t know about that third one. No wonder I couldn’t get it out!

When he was done checking and filling me in, I asked what I owed him, and he said, nothing. He didn’t charge me for the testing!

If I had gone to Canadian Tire, they would have charged me for the diagnostic and given me a printout of all the other things they wanted me to get them to do, costing many hundreds of dollars, most of which I have later found out were not at all needed.

That done, I headed back to the area of town where the vet clinic is nearby and basically tried to hang out at the Walmart. And the Dollarama. Then back to Walmart. I checked out the garden centre at the Walmart first, which is accessible only from the outside and by going around a construction and detour zone. I spotted a couple of things I wouldn’t mind picking up to fill in the gaps where we lost some sliver buffalo berry. Josta berry interests me. So does logan berry. We will decide that later on, though. I’m not buying transplants until I’ve actually transplanted what we have now, and have an idea of what survived and what hasn’t.

When lunch time started rolling around, I really didn’t want to do the usual McRaunchies, Subway or even the Timmies across the street. I haven’t gone to Timmies in a long time. They are not good, like they used to be. After watching the menu board for a while, I left without ordering anything. Nothing appealed to me. I ended up going to the McRaunchies in the Walmart.

At least the iced blueberry pomegranate drink was a nice change.

I tried to take a lot of time, but I just can’t sit still for that long, so I wandered the store some more.

I ended up driving over to the Canadian Tire after a while and hanging around there as long as I had the tolerance for.

I did pick up a few things. some for the lawn and garden, but also a birthday gift for my younger daughter, whose birthday is next month. I found a blacksmith hammer for her. Yes, I gave it to her early. She is thrilled!

Normally, I would have gone back to the truck and napped for a bit, since I have been up since 4:30 and never fell asleep until past 1am (I did sleep in the cat free zone, with the AC running, so that helped), but it’s just too hot. We slowly heated up to 34C/93F and are only now starting to cool down. If you can call 33C/91F at pat 6:30pm “cooling down”.

When it got around 1pm, I just went over to the vet clinic.

It turned out they hadn’t even started on them yet. I asked if I could stay and they were okay with that, except that they close their doors to the public between 3 and 3:30 for a staff meeting, and I would have to leave for that. The cats would be done and in recovery by then. After asking her for some ideas, I decided to go hang out at a library not that far away.

With the little bit of driving around I did, the battery gauge went from behaving normally, to suddenly dropping down again, and back again.

Once at library, I tried to park in the tiniest bit of shade I could find and headed it. They have a little cafe and I was able to get an iced drink and cool down for awhile, before going into the main library area and finding a comfortable armchair to wait in. Along the way, I updated my family, my brother and SIL, the rescue chat group, etc.

Part way through, I got a text message from the rescue worker who arranged these appointments.

The vet had called her to let her know, one of the cats had to be euthanized. She couldn’t remember which one, but she said he had major dental issues. I thought of Hypotenose and the damage he might have done to his teeth, but she said severe gingivitis was part of it, which means this was a long time problem, not something that started today. She thought it might have been Hypotenose, but wasn’t sure.

I was told the other two were doing well, and they would be ready for pick up at 3:30. I updated the family, and even the cat lady, who had been out of the country for a while and came back to discover Button and broken a lot of plates while she was gone! She sent me a picture of Button, yesterday. You can see the blue of his eyes more, now, which means the dilation is reducing and he would be able to see at least a bit more. The Cat Lady ended up phoning me and we chatted for a bit. She has been in a similar situation with some of the ferals she has brought in, even though she is not a rescue anymore. They just show up at her place. So she understood how it can happen.

By then, I decided to start heading back to the clinic. I was about 15 minutes early, so I was parked with the engine running and the AC on, while messaging with my brother and SIL. I had told them about what the truck was doing. Then, while I was sitting parked, I realized a new warning light was on the dash.

The “slippery conditions” light.

While I was parked.

The gauge was dropping again, too. The doors were almost open, so I opened the windows, shut the engine off and went to stand in the shade for the last few minutes!

This time, the vet didn’t come out to talk to me, so I don’t have details on what happened, but the tech asked if the rescue person had let me know what they had to do with Hypotenose. They gave me the paperwork for the other two, then went to get them and the now empty carrier.

I did tell them in advance that these are yard cats and would be going back outside. I was told to keep Havarti at least in the carrier for longer, as he had some scrotal bleeding. Just until the blood clotted. I said we would do the best we can, but he was in the smallest carrier, so he couldn’t stay in there for very long!

From there, I headed home – with my SIL making sure I knew to call them if something happened with the truck!

Everything was right were is normally is, the whole ride home.

*sigh*

Once home, my younger daughter came out to help unload and I told her the vet instructions. I was thinking of setting the carriers in the shade in the yard, but she suggested we put Havarti in the old kitchen for a while. It’s cooler in there. So she took care of that, and made sure he had a bowl of water and a bit of food.

Then we let Curtis out, since he’d already been in there for about an hour, which the tech recommended as a minimum. Curtis is going great.

The girls had supper ready by the time I got home, so after bringing everything in – and giving my daughter her birthday present, we ate, then moved on to other things for the next while. My daughter had a timer set to check on Havarti, so she let me know it went off, asking if I wanted to check on him, too. By the time I got there, she had already taken the carrier out and check on him. When I came in, she was aghast. Havarti came out, covered in blood. His back end saturated, and all his underbelly. He’d spilled some of his water bowl, and that didn’t help any!

He was moving around slowly, eventually splaying out on a sidewalk block in the shade, while I stayed out to do the evening cat feeding. When he flopped down, I could see his bits, and the bleeding looks like it has stopped, but he’s terribly swollen! I’ve never seen this happen after a neuter before, and we’ve had a LOT of cats neutered. In fact, I’ve never seen any of them have bleeding afterwards, until today!

In a little while, my daughter and I will be rolling the isolation shelter out and I’ll do my best to clean it up, then see if I can get Havarti in there for the night. In all honestly, though, it wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn’t make it.

It’s past 7pm now, and we’ve cooled down to 30C/86F. It might be an okay time to try and move the shelter into the shade of the white lilacs now.

… and check on Havarti again.

The Re-Farmer

Not tonight

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I did our first stock up shop tonight, but will do my regular price post later.

I didn’t get much sleep last night, and got up early to do the morning routine and watering while it was still relatively cool. Then I headed into the city, doing Canadian Tire, Walmart, and Dollarama and a Fresh Co (the last two shared a building). I also got gas at $1.599 in the city. One outside the city limits, the prices were $1.799

By the time I was done and heading home, my lower back was killing me, my left hip was giving out and my left shoulder kept trying to dislocate. I was heavily using shopping cards as walkers.

When I got home, I basically hit the heads, then crashed on the couch in the cat free zone, while my daughters unloaded the truck, parked it in the garage and put everything away. My older daughter was a sweetheart and brought me my water bottle and pain killers, because I forgot to do it before I lay down. I didn’t sleep, but I did give my body a chance to recover.

Then I had stuff to do outside. I’ll post photos later, but all our snail rolls and the seed tray are now outside, in the portable greenhouse frame in the shade. The snail rolls are in bins I picked up at the Dollarama for better stability, and they’re all further secured with wire to the frame, the the frame itself is now secured to the fence. Even the seed tray has the cover weighted down and is secured with wire – it seems we had an excellent germination rate overnight, but something, likely a mouse, destroyed it, even digging into individual cells to get at the seeds. I had to replant everything! Two items only had 4 seeds left in the packets, so I couldn’t replant all 6 cells in each row.

I did the watering in the front yard, then went to the back yard with some 3′ plant stakes I picked up. The mosquito netting over the potatoes was pulled up on the sides; the cats keep jumping on it! My daughter and I laid the stakes across, securing them on top of the 6′ bamboo stakes along the sides. The new stakes were a bit too long and had to be placed at angles so they wouldn’t stick out too far. Then we put the mosquito netting back on. Before I could even finish securing the edges with ground staples, a cat was already on top of the netting! After doing the edges, I put garden clips all round the sides and on the new supports across the tops. I don’t know if it’ll hold if the cats keep jumping on it, though. They are really determinded!

Also, for some reason, while working in the main garden area, we were absolutely attacked by clouds of mosquitoes! There weren’t any while I was doing the front yard watering.

Anyhow.

I finished the evening by watering the main garden area and the trees – the apple tree is recovering and has more new leaf bugs on branches I feared were dead, due to critter damage.

Now, I need to go to bed. Tomorrow, we will try to get the two littles in the isolation shelter into carriers. The goal is to bring in 3 cats. If that ends up being three fully grown males because that’s all we can catch, so be it. The rescue worker that arranged to have 3 slots available for me is aware of the problem. Since the raccoons and skunks clean up every crumb of kibble, the outside cats are essentially fasting, too, unless the go hunting somewhere. The vet will be aware of this, too.

I really hope we at least get the black and white female in the isolation shelter.

So I will be gone most of tomorrow with whatever cats we’re able to get.

For now, I’m going to try and go to bed early and get actual sleep.

I’m seriously considering sleeping on the couch in the cat free zone.

The Re-Farmer

Our 2026 Garden: one more bed prepped, and got a visit in

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The temperatures continued to climb today.

I started things off a bit early, and it was still lovely and cool. My priority, after I did my morning rounds, was to water the garden beds before the heat hit.

I’m happy to say that I am seeing new sprouts in the rows of spinach, chard, turnips and radish in the main garden area. I checked under the boards in the trellis bed and saw what might be carrot sprouts, so I removed the boards. It’s hard to say for sure, as a lot of weeds were trying to come up under there, too.

I’m pretty sure I saw new sprouts in the cabbage and kohlrabi beds, too. I’m pretty sure I’m seeing tiny bok choy and beet seedlings through the mosquito netting, thought it’s hard to be sure. I didn’t see any this morning, but this evening, I’m sure I could see the first dwarf pea sprouts!

After I finished outside, I came in and had breakfast, then tried to go down for a nap before I planned to visit my mother, then pick up anything we needed before doing our first stock up shop, tomorrow.

It was a failure.

For some reason, both Butterscotch and Cheddar have decided that, when I lie down, they absolutely MUST cuddle my head. Aggressively. Then curling up right at my head to nap themselves.

That doesn’t count the other cats that like to settle on my hip, against my back or on either side of my legs.

*sigh*

Next time, I’ll try napping on the couch. The living room is a cat free zone.

I eventually gave up and got ready to head into town. Before I did, I noted activity notification on my bank app and checked.

My husband’s tax return, which is supposed to include my first Disability Tax Credit, came in.

It was short by about $2500.

Unfortunately, my husband still can’t log into his CRA account to see why. I’m going to have to wait until our tax prepared is back from holidays at the end of the month and phone her, because she can log in and see his account – and maybe find out why he can’t log in, himself. anymore!

My younger daughter never got her disability tax credit, either. She did her taxes herself.

Frustrating.

Anyhow.

I headed into town and realized my mother would be just starting her lunch, so I decided to go to the grocery store, first. I actually picked up some ground beef that was on sale. I haven’t seen ground beef for under $6 a pound for a long time, even with sales.

My visit with my mother was pretty good. As I was headed to her room, I spotted her in the dining room and popped in. We then went to her room for the visit.

She is so enjoying having a room – and a bathroom – to herself! She says being in the nursing home, compared to the TCU, is like night and day.

Of course, she still had things to complain about. With her medications, as usual. Apparently someone tried to give her her breakfast meds and supper meds at the same time? Then the count for her morning meds was off. She said she asked who was in charge of the medications and was told it was the pharmacy in town. I suspect the person didn’t understand what my mother was asking, but she now believes the pharmacy decides what medications she gets, at their whim. She then started going on about how the staff all think she is stupid, and everyone living there is stupid, and that’s why they are deliberately messing with their medications.

*sigh*

She had asked my brother for a radio and he’d given me one to pass on to her. I plugged it in and tried to find the station she told me the number of. There was nothing on either AM or FM (she didn’t know which is was; she doesn’t understand anything about AM or FM). Since I couldn’t pick up her station (though I could pick up others), she decided it was a bad radio and started asking me if an old radio that belonged to my husband when we were in high school – a ghetto blaster, which tells you just how old it is! – was still around. It is, but I told her, it still won’t pick up that station. I tried to explain again about things interfering with frequencies, but she decided it meant that the radio stations were the problem, for having “weak” signals.

Then I tried to show her the sliding switch that goes from off to FM then AM. She demanded “just show me what button to push”. I told her, it’s not a button. It’s a switch that slides, and showed her again; Off – FM – AM.

She got angry that my brother would give her a high tech radio that she can’t understand.

*sigh*

It was a shorter visit, since there really wasn’t much we had to talk about. Now that she is in town, I can visit her more often, anyhow. Before I left, I spent some time at the nursing station. I explained what my mother told me about the medications, and that someone tried to give her her breakfast meds and supper meds at the same time. She was startled to hear that and said she would look into it. She got out the medication binder and looked up my mother’s file, going over everything, which is basically the same that it was while she was at the TCU. She said they tried looking at my mother’s list to compare (the hand written one she makes after she counts her pills, with little diagrams), but it was in Polish, so they were trying to translate it. My mother had been promised a list of her medications and they were going to try to get it translated into Polish for her, too. I told her, my mother knows pre-WWII Polish; she would not be familiar with modern medical terms in today’s Polish!

As we were chatting, the nurse told me how so many of the staff were startled when my mother was transferred over. Many of them had cared for Baba – “grandmother” – which is what they called my aunt. My mother looks SO much like her sister did. My aunt passed away a few years ago, so for the staff to suddenly start seeing their Baba again was a bit of a shock until they found out they were sisters.

This nurse had just started working there when my father came to live there. I’ve had it confirmed that he was there for only 5 months before he passed away; I thought it was 6 months. She remembered my father, and I told her about how, when I phoned him every Sunday, he would go on and on about how great they were treating him, how well taken care of he was, and how much he liked the staff. She was so touched to hear that!

So far, my mother has been very nice to them. I hope that lasts! She has been saving the nasty comments about the staff for when we are there. 😕

It was a good chat with the nurse, and I expect we will have many more opportunities to talk now that my mother is there!

That done, I headed home, then stayed indoors to stay out of the heat. Unfortunately, it just kept getting hotter. I finally headed out at around 6:30, which is about when we hit 27C/81F.

The predicted high was 25C/77F.

We’re supposed to keep getting hotter, with the hottest day in the forecast being Friday, which they are now saying is supposed to hit 34C/93F.

The yard cats are laying in puddles all over the yard, in whatever shade they can find.

Bobert was looking adorable in the cat bed I tucked under the isolation shelter’s door box, to keep the weather out in the winter.

With the heat, I made sure to do the watering again. This time, I did watering in the food forest area.

I’m happy to say that it looks like the apple tree survived, in spite of the damage to the stem. A single branch with new leaf buds has shown up. The plum tree also has leaf buds showing up finally, but only in branches coming up just above the graft at the base. None of last year’s growth is showing buds. Neither are the mulberry trees. They survived their first winter, but it looks like they didn’t survive their second. The poor little highbush cranberry have free leaves showing, but they are still remarkably tiny, including the one that the deer did NOT nibble one. The silver buffalo berry bushes, which I don’t bother watering because there are too many, had been covered with what I thought were leave buds. It turns out they were not leaf buds, but flower buds! The leaf buds are showing up now. The sea buckthorn also have leaf buds unfurling.

After the watering was done, I started working on the larger of the two East yard beds that had not been prepped in the fall.

I first removed the two lengths of twine that went around the sides. Those were there to keep anything wrapped around the box frame from flapping in the wind too much, but they were in the way for working in the bed. I considered taking the box frame off entirely, but decided it wasn’t necessary and worked around it.

In the second picture, you can see the cleaned up bed. Unfortunately, while I was leveling the cleared soil with the hoe, I caught the line running across that helped keep the sides from bowing outwards at the joins. The wood is rotting and the screw eye got pulled right out!

Honestly, I’m surprised these beds have lasted as long as they have. I used lumber I found in the barn that had been sitting there for probably at least a decade before I found them. They were not in particularly good shape, but they were the best I could find for the job. I expected them to last about 3 years, maybe, and they’ve lasted twice that by now.

Weeding the bed didn’t really take that much, except that I found a remarkable amount of tree roots! Given where this bed is located, they would not be from the elm tree, but from the nearby cherry bushes.

I look forward to when we can make these into high raised beds. These beds are about a foot high, but it was still really painful to be bending to work in it.

Once the bed was clear, I took some plastic that was rolled up and set aside from previous uses in these beds and covered the soil to protect it from cats, until we can plant in it. I’m looking to transplant tomatoes into this bed. We have four varieties to transplant, and couple probably fit three varieties in this bed. We don’t have a lot of each variety.

The pieces of wood frame on the left of the first photo are on the 4′ square bed that also needs to be done. By the time I finished the longer bed, I was too hot and in too much pain to do that one. Aside from weeding it – and that one has been infected by creeping Charlie – I will be adding the additional wood frame pieces to make it a bit higher, and can then add more soil into it. I’m planning to put the eggplant in here. It’s a small enough bed that I can add plastic walls around it, to protect them from high winds and create a semi-greenhouse around them.

I don’t know how much I’ll be able to get done over the next few days. I’ll be doing our city stock up trips and a vet trip in between. Shopping always drains me, so it will depend on how much energy I have left – and what my pain levels are at. At the very least, I plan to water everything in the morning, and again in the evening, because of the heat.

Once the city trips are done, I expect to be able to start the direct sowing, and then hopefully start transplanting soon after. Somewhere in there, I’ll be uncovering and reclaiming the area to plant our corn in.

A lot to do in a very short time!

The Re-Farmer

Our 2026 Garden: the potatoes are in, next bed ready, and the heat has hit

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Ah, life on the Canadian prairies. One extreme to the other. A short while ago, we were still getting snow and overnight temperature at or below freezing.

Today, we reached a high of 25C/77F – I don’t know what the humidex was – and passed 20C/68F by about 8 or 9am.

I headed out a bit earlier than usual to do the outside cat stuff. Then I checked the garden shed. Sure enough, the raccoon and her babies were still there. I decided to very carefully and as quietly as possible, take out as many things I expect to need in the next while.

I heard a lot of loud chittering as I was taking things out, most sounding like they were coming from the littles. They seemed to be chittering more about trying to latch on than what I was doing. The mama barely moved. After I cleared away things that were on top of the wheeled garden chair they are under, I stuck my phone into gaps to get the first three pictures.

Those are such roly poly babies! There are at least three, possibly four.

The last photo is most of the stuff I removed.

That roll of netting is long enough to go completely around the trellis bed, so I am saving it for this, if we need to do it again, as it would be way too long for anything else.

After that, I headed in for breakfast, iced up a water bottle, then got started on the covered bed that I wanted to plant our potatoes in.

In the first picture, you can see how it’s been since the fall, minus the bricks waying it down – something has dug holes through the plastic.

As you can see in the next picture, the solarization didn’t really work, and it was more like a greenhouse. So the first job was to loosen the soil and weed it. Especially at the end where the excess was rolled up, which was packed with creeping Charlie.

That stuff is just nasty.

Once weeded, I got it all leveled out, while leaving the soil thermometer in place. That soil is quite warm!

By this point, I was really starting to struggle with the heat and had to go inside for a bit. After grabbing a light lunch, I headed back out with the potatoes. I have 5 pound bags each of Viking and Yukon this year. Not a lot for our useage needs, but that’s all we have the space for right now.

In the photo where the potatoes are laid out, ready to be buried, you can see a board across the middle. That’s to mark between the two different types of potatoes in the same bed.

Next, the bed had to be protected. I decided to use the long roll of mosquito netting this time, which isn’t very wide, so I used shorter stakes. These were salvaged from a broken market tent and are all from pieces broken in half. The broken ends got pushed down so the end with the screw holes were at the top.

I had to gather things next, so I set up a cheap dollar store sprinkler hose over the potato bed. Double duty: I could start watering the bed while doing something else, and it kept the cats off while I wasn’t there to keep them away.

One of the things I had to go was get the roll of netting which, as you can see in the next picture, Gouda was using to nap on!!

In the past, I have strung twine from support to support, along the sided and crossing the middle. I wanted something stronger than that. This bed is 18′ wide, and I have 6′ bamboo stakes, so I ended up attaching three along the top of each side to hold the mesh up. The stakes were spaced out just under 6′ apart, allowing for some overlap. I used the screw holes in the supports and wire from one of the hoop kits I got to hold them in place. I still had to put the stakes deeper into the soil so that the netting could be secured to the ground on each sides. The sides are secured with ground staples.

Yes, I took the sprinkler hose out. It was a pretty terrible hose – but then, you get what you pay for, and this did not cost very much! It was just there for the moment, anyhow.

After I took that last picture, I gave the bed a very through watering.

Then I went inside, because I was getting dangerously overheated. I kept myself hydrated, but was feeling very exhausted. It was around 2pm by then, and I decided to nap for a couple of hours. I would then continue when the temperatures were starting to drop.

I passed right out and slept for three hours.

During this time, the girls took care of things like the outside cat feeding and starting supper.

We are going to need to get the AC going in the living room, and the onion snail rolls have been sitting on top of it, so I decided it was time to take them outside. Onions are hardy and I’m not worried about them, plus I need to start transplanting them as soon as possible. They are meant to be planted in between other things, as we go. The frame for the portable greenhouse is sitting in the shade near the shrine, so I put them there. I’ll need to start moving some of the trays from the basement out there, too.

Then it was back to the main garden area, where this is one bed that didn’t get cleaned up last year I wanted to prepare.

As you can see in the first couple of photos, the creeping Charlie is a real problem.

I had put the soil thermometer in there earlier, and it was reading a couple of degrees cooler than the first bed. By the time I removed it, though, it was just as warm as the first bed I tested! Having that plastic over the bed didn’t seem to make much difference. So much for solarization!

This bed turned out to be so filled with tree roots, too. I pile the creeping Charlie aside, half filling the wheel barrow, so it could be disposed of further away. I’d burn it, if I could. Getting those out means losing a fair bit of soil, too. In the fourth photo, you can even see some of the finer tree roots on top. I pulled out as much as I could, but somewhere under there is a major root. I was hitting it every now and then with the garden fork, but couldn’t lift it up at all.

No root vegetables in this bed, for now!

Once it was cleared and prepared, I gave it a thorough watering. For all the rain we had, that soil was pretty dry. Then I covered it with the plastic that had been over the bed the potatoes are in, covering the holes with scrap boards.

The potato bed is going to be a problem. I kept having to chase the cats off the netting! It stretches enough and is low enough that their weight pulls it down to the ground. Ideally, there would be horizontal supports across the top, joining the vertical supports, but I don’t have anything the right length.

At least they won’t be using it as a litter box.

I’ll have to figure something out.

By this time, it was around 8pm and the temperatures were downright pleasant. We’re expected to drop to 8C/46F tonight, but after that our overnight temperatures are expected to be no lower than 10C/50F On Thursday and Friday, we’re supposed to break 30C/86F, and the overnight temperatures are expected to be close to 20C/68F. It’s supposed to cool down a bit in the second week of June, but that’s a relative statement by then!

For the next while, with the exception of days where I have to drive into the city or something like that, my pattern is going to change. I’ll be getting up earlier to work outside while it’s cooler, then be inside (and probably nap) at the heat of the day before going out again when the temperature starts to drop. With the heat, I’ll be watering things in the morning. Possibly in the evening, too.

I have a couple of beds to take care of in the east yard, plus prep the old kitchen garden bed along the retaining wall. In the beginning of June – after I’ve done all our city trips and vet trip – I should be able to start direct sowing. I’m really trying to focus on getting each bed covered in some way to protect them from the cats. The one area I won’t be able to do is where I intend to plant corn. That area is currently covered by a black tarp/landscape cloth/whatever it is, and has been for several years. Everything under it should be dead by now. I need to move that aside and prepare blocks to plant corn in and, possibly, interplant them with winter squash. That area will simply be too large to cover. I’ll have to figure something else out.

It’s going to be very busy in the garden for the next while!

The Re-Farmer

It’s finally done!!!

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Getting that raised bed at the chain link fence done has taken way too long!

I’ll get to that in a moment.

My brother and SIL have been out working on their caravan, and whatever else my brother was able to do outside as the weather allowed, this weekend and had invited me to join them for breakfast this morning. I wasn’t able to join them last time, but was happy to do be able to join them today. They took me to the single restaurant in our little hamlet. The last time I was there was two owners ago!

Before that, I was outside doing my usual morning rounds.

There are so many tulip flower buds, with one early tulip just starting to open up.

When it came close to the time we were going to meet up, I headed out to open the gate, then took advantage of the time waiting to check the fence line and see what else needs doing. I’m going to have to head through the area with loppers again, and trim away all the poplar that’s trying to grow back, among other things. Not a priority right now, though.

When I got back to the gate I saw they had parked in front of the house and were waiting for me there! 😄

I closed the gate behind their car after they drove through which, with all the rain we’ve had recently, was rather muddy. Which got us to talking about how badly that driveway needs gravel! My brother has his front end loader here, but it still won’t run, and he hasn’t figured out why, yet. Not that he’s had much opportunity to troubleshoot the beast.

We talked about the two trees threatening the house that will be coming down – when the arborists arrive will depend on the weather. It will be a while longer before the saturated ground is dry enough to hold the weight of their equipment.

It was great to catch up with them, and compare notes on things like Mom and our vandal, while enjoying a lovely breakfast. I really like what the new owners have done with the place. It’ s longer a bar with a small restaurant on one side, but a pub and family restaurant. Which is what the last owners had converted it to, but I never saw what changes they did. We did order take out from them a couple of times, but could pick our orders up without ever going all the way into the restaurant, so I never saw what they’d done with it.

After breakfast, they dropped me off at the gate, then headed out again to a hardware store. They were back before I was ready to head outside. I needed to get that raised bed at the chain link fence finished.

The walls are done, but it needed some preparation before the soil could be returned.

In the first image above, I’ve taken straw and stuffed it into all the gaps I could find in the front wall, as well as tucking some against the end walls, to prevent soil from falling in or through the walls.

In the second image, I’ve covered the bottom and sides with two layers of carboard. Then, using the fence to steady myself, I walked across the length of it, tromping the cardboard down as much as I could.

In the last image, I had started to saturate the cardboard. I went it down, tromped on it again, then repeated the process several more times while working on the next stage.

Preparing the soil.

I started by using a hoe to spread the pile out – and remove as many cat turds as I could find. The pile of soil was absolutely saturated and sticky like glue! I got it spread out though, and then scattered Sulphur granules over it. I then mixed it in with a hoe, and then by lifting the tarp to turn the soil over itself, from all sides.

Did I mention it was saturated?

Not only did that make it sticky, but heavy. Shockingly heavy!

Once mixed, I shoveled the soil into the wheelbarrow and started adding it into the raised bed. The soil was so sticky, I actually had to stop and scrape it off the blade of the shovel, because it was so coated, it was hard to push it into the pile of soil, and there wasn’t much room for it to pick up more soil, either!

The first thing I did was spread out a couple of wheelbarrow loads on the carboard, pushing it up against the sides so that the soil would hold the cardboard against the walls, and no soil would fall between the cardboard and the straw filled walls. It wasn’t as much of a concern on the back wall, since that was in protected by a layer of vinyl. You can see that in the first image.

Then, FINALLY, I could dump in the rest of the soil and spread it out as evenly as I could. Which you can see in the second image.

At this point, I couldn’t really stop for a break or anything like that. Even as I was refilling the bed, I was chasing cats out that were determined to use it as a litter box. After I leveled the last of the soil, I turned to get something, turned back, and there was another cat, starting to dig in the soil!!! It was Flopsy, so not a feral. He just started at me while I tried to shoo him away and didn’t run off until I was practically on top of him!

The bed needed to be protected right away.

For this year, the supports will be temporary, and I debated whether to use robs from the hoop kits, or some of the Pex pipe hoops I have. In the end, I decided on a hoop kit, because I wanted to use the clips, and on the new one because it had more rods left.

My original plan had been to use the pairs of taller vertical supports to secure the hoops to. Which I could have done, though this bed is so much narrower, I wouldn’t have wanted to bend the rods quite that much. However, it occurred to me that, for this bed, I don’t actually want hoops. Once those elm seed start dropping, they would gather at the back of the raised bed, along the chain link fence, and would get under that way. Also, the cats will climb on top and lie on it, and I would prefer to avoid that completely.

So I only attached the rods – connecting three rods together for each length – to the front supports, using little zip ties to hold them securely. The top of the rods were curved into the chain link fence, near the top.

You can see the rods in position in the first image above.

In the past, we tried protecting this bed with mosquito netting, and I still have the netting that was used, rolled up and waiting. The mosquito netting ended up acting like a sail in the high winds, with the edge pinned to the ground blowing loose constantly, and the whole thing flapping. So I decided to use the black netting we still have on the roll. I unrolled it on the other side of the chain link fence, which you can see in the next photo, so get the length I needed before cutting it.

Then came the hard part. This netting is folded into thirds on the roll. I needed it folded in half. After cutting the length I needed, I dragged it over to an open part in the yard and spread it out flat, with rocks to hold it in place at the corners, because it was fairly windy.

Which is about when my brother and SIL drove by on their way home, so we chatted for a bit before they headed out.

Then I messaged my daughters for help, and my older daughter !!!!! came out. A testament to how much better she is feeling!

Between the two of us, we got the net folded in half length wise, then straightened it out as best we could in the wind. Then we very carefully moved it into position, with the salvage ends set to go over the chain link fence, and the folded edge to the ground. This netting catches on EVERYTHING, so it took some doing to get it in position and straightened out as smooth and tight as we could. then I draped the salvage ends over the chain link fence at my end – at this point, the “catches on everything” was a help – and slowly made my way down the fence, pulling the netting over until I got to my daughter’s end.

At that point, I could finish off the rest myself.

The first thing to do was use ground staples to secure the folded edge to the ground at the base of each longer vertical supports the hoop rods were attached to. I started from the middle and working to the ends, pulling the netting tight between each support along the way. Once the bottom was secured, I went outside the chain link fence, lifting and pulling the netting to get it as snug as I could. I wanted as little slack as possible in between the hoop rods.

Then I went back and got the clips. Once again, starting from the middle and working my way out, I pulled the netting up and snug before clipping it to the middle rods, just above the connector. Then I went on the other side of the fence to lift and tighten the netting over the fence again. I repeated the clipping process again, this time adding clips to the next higher rod, above the connector.

Once the netting was secured to the rods, I grabbed some more ground staples and went back to the outside of the fence. I lifted and tightened the netting over the fence one more time, this time using the ground staples, woven around the chain link, to secure the salvage edges in place.

Last of all, I worked on the ends, rolling and tucking the netting until it was closed off, using ground staples to secure the bottoms to the ground, and the garden wire to secure the rest to the chain link fence.

You can see the finished product in the last photo. It’s very hard to see the clips.

No cats are getting in there. No wind is going to blow it loose. With the netting folded in half, no elm seeds should get through. Plus, with the netting set up the way it is, it can stay there for most, if not all, of the growing season, depending on what gets planted there. To access the garden bed, I can lift the ground staples and, if necessary, remove the lower clips to raise the netting as high as I need.

It’s done.

It’s finally done!

Our temperatures are expected to go from one extreme to the other. The colder nights in the long range forecast into June are no longer expected to get as cold.

Which means I can start getting my transplants out.

I’m not hardening off this time. I just don’t have the cat free space to do it, without the portable greenhouse. I will be using the water bottle collars as protection for some things. For other, larger, transplants, I’ll figure something else out. The onions are the one thing that won’t need any of that, and they need to be transplanted so badly! The snail roll thing has been working a bit too well, in that respect. 😄

I need to get as much as possible done over the next two days, because after that I just won’t be home much. Wednesday is our first stop up shopping day. Thursday, I’ll be taking cats to the vet again, which means staying in the smaller city until it’s time to go home, unless I’m picking up chicks that day. I still haven’t gotten a call about those, so I’m guessing not. Then Friday is our second stock up shop. I will finally be home long enough to work in the garden more by the weekend, though somewhere in there I need to get a visit in with my mother. My brother left me with a couple of things for her that she wanted that I want to drop off, too.

Oh, and I still need to put together my May garden tour video. I took the video clips but just haven’t had a chance to sit down and put them together and edit them. I hoped to do it tonight, but it’s already coming up on 9am, and I am tired enough to go to bed pretty much as soon as I’m done writing this!

It feels so good to finally get this done!!!

It feels so good to finally have the weather we need to get outside stuff done again.

The Re-Farmer

Raised bed progress – almost done!

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I finally got that front wall done!

The rain came to a stop this afternoon, so I headed out and grabbed the draw knife so I could put points on the prepared stakes I’d made for the chain link fence bed’s deadwood wall. That did not take long.

With the rain we’ve been having, I took advantage of the soil being softer, making it easier to drive the stakes into place.

In the first picture, you can see I’ve laid out the sharpened stakes in the most open spaces between the current vertical supports.

These were all much longer than needed. Even with the softened soil, there was only so far I could drive them into the ground.

The second image shows all the stakes pounded into place. In the third image, I’ve taken the loppers to all of the new stakes, cutting them down to just a bit above the height of the deadwood wall.

The charred stakes are staggered, but where the inside stakes were places were not consistent in relation to the taller outside stakes. For the most part, the stake placement for of zig zagged across, but there were a few places where there were two stakes on the outside without a matching stake on the inside. So I decided to use some of the pieces I’d trimmed off that were longer, and set them in the gaps. They didn’t get pushed down into the ground too far, or they would have been too short, but I hand pushed them in to match the other posts in height, more or less.

I did end up having to rifle through some other leftover bits to find one last piece long enough.

After that, I used up all the smaller pieces of deadwood we gathered fall and tried to fill in as many gaps as I could. Then I grabbed the loppers and went back into the spruce grove to try and fine more that were thin and pliable enough to fill in more gaps. I ended up harvesting some younger poplars – gosh, those spread fast – to fill in more spaces. After a while, I decided an needed more height, so I went back into the spruce grove and went hunting. I was able to find some tall, mostly straight, cherry to use.

I plan to remove all of those cherry trees in the spruce grove. They don’t produce much, if anything, at all. We’ll keep the one by the house, as the house provides enough of a microclimate for it to procure lots of fruit. The rest can go.

But not today.

After cutting and trimming the straightest once I could get, I set them in between the stakes. Then I used twine to zig zag from stake to stake, pushing down the wall in places. I wanted to make sure the stakes – especially the extra lengths I added didn’t get pushed away from the middle, plus the twine will help push down the deadwood, reducing gaps a bit that way, too.

There are still gaps, though not as much. I have decided I will stuff straw against the front wall as a soil barrier, before replacing the soil I took out so I could start this project. Once the soil is back, I will use one of the hoop kits to attach to the taller takes, then put netting over the whole thing, to keep the cats out as well as the Chinese elm seeds then they start drifting. At that point, it will be ready for planting. I believe I will be planting winter squash in here, where they can use the fence as a trellis. This will likely not be the only place I transplant winter squash into, though.

We’ll see how the weather treats us over the next while!!

The Re-Farmer

Our 2026 Garden: starting melons, winter squash, pumpkin and cucumbers, plus updates

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First, though, we got a few other things accomplished today.

Bug looks like she is doing quite well. She is eating with her usual enthusiasm and is moving like she’d never had surgery.

I did, however, make a confirmation.

We were pretty sure the mostly black cat in there was female, partly because the females have been so much harder to socialize. When talking to the rescue, I’d forgotten this one had been named Batman, and had told them this one and the black and white were unnamed. One of the rescue workers named this one Marta for the spay appointment.

Today, however, I was able to see dangly bits. She is a he.

Batman it is.

Unfortunately, part of the reason I could see dangly bits was because he seems to have diarrhea. His fur it all flattened along his back end. After what happened with Furriosa, I am bracing myself for getting bad news at the appointment. Granted, I still have no idea how we’re going to get them into carriers.

Meanwhile, poor Adam, having only recently lost a litter, is being chased by the boys already. It’s been raining all today and, when we were outing and abouting, I saw her trying to get a drink of water out of a puddle, followed closely by a tabby, her fur absolutely matted with mud.

Both she and Slick have not been showing up at much at feeding time, and when Adam does, she can’t stay long because the boys are too agressively after her.

*sigh*

One of the first goals of the day was to head into town to see my mother at the nursing home. My younger daughter came along to help me bring in my mother’s stuff I’d taken before her transfer. That allowed us to bring it all in, in one trip.

The last time I was here, it was to visit my aunt, and she was in a completely different part of the building. I must have looked pretty lost, because someone came right up to ask me who I was there to see! When we got to the right floor and started heading to the hallway, a guy gathering linens into a trolly saw me and told me he thought my mother was asleep.

We recognized each other from when my mother was still at the TCU! He works in both places. Most of the staff is rotates between various nursing homes and TCUs, but it was still quite funny to have someone who recognized me and knew who I was there to see, less than 24 hours after her transfer!

My mother woke when we came in and we put her stuff away where she directed us to. She has quite a nice room. Not as big as the single room she had at the hospital, but a decent size, and all to herself. She has a nice view of a park outside her window, and plenty of closet and storage space. My mother seems… not so much happier to be there, as relieved. There are still things to figure out as far as how things are done. My mother has gotten used to having her meals brought to her, for example, and here they encourage residents to come to the dining room to eat, if they physically can, to get them moving around as much as possible. There is a monthly calendar of events on her wall, and every day has three or for things going on, from sing alongs to physical activities, to church services and so on. They even have bingo, which my mother enjoys.

So we had a nice little visit before heading back out. Now that she is here, I can visit her more often, simply because I go to this town so much more often, and it’s closer than where she was before.

We are all so much happier with this place, not just my mother! It’s going to be so much better for her.

She was starting to have pain issues, as no one has applied Voltaren this morning, and she wans’t even sure if they had any (it’s not a prescription, so we have to supply it), so on the way out I talked to someone at the nursing station, asking if the doctor would consider getting my mother a prescription for the stuff that I have, which is the same active ingredient, but 5 times stronger, as Voltaren. She said they will bring it up with the doctor. With a prescription, we won’t have to keep track of her supply, and they’ll be able to order it in with her other medications.

Our next stop was the pharmacy to pick up the rest of my older daughter’s prescription, plus her sister and I found other things we needed to get for ourselves. My daughter hadn’t eaten yet and it was almost lunch time, so we stopped at the DQ for lunch, then got two more meals to go for my husband and her sister. A quick stop for gas, then a stop at the post office, where I was also able to pick up a 40 pound bag of kibble for the outside cats, then home.

After things were settled in and taken care of, my daughter and I headed back out and loaded my mother’s old mattress and box spring into the box of the truck. We FINALLY got them to the dump!

From the muddy paw prints on them, the cats are going to miss them. 😄

My brother and SIL had come out while we were in town, working on their caravan, so we popped over to get caught up with them for a bit – not going in because our boots were muddy, so we didn’t stay long. My mother had asked for a radio and my brother had one for her, so he gave it to me, since we’ll probably be seeing her before they get a chance to.

Our visit done, we headed inside for the next thing on my to do list.

Starting the last of our seeds for transplants.

These are the things that get started about 3 weeks before last frost date. Technically, we are less than that, but the way the weather has been, I don’t expect to get most things transplanted until probably the middle of June, though things like the onions can handle going in now.

With such a short time for these seeds, I decided to use my new hex cell planting tray. This has 6 rows of 12 cells, so they are pretty small.

I decided that I would start 12 different things, and see how it goes!

The first thing we had to do was make space and move the full spectrum LED light fixtures aside, then set up a heat mat. While my daughter filled the cells with pre-moistened seed starting mix, I went through my seed packets to decide on what to start.

I decided not to try and start any summer squash and will direct sow those.

I went with four types of melons (we have seeds for quite a few more); Canary Yellow, Tigger, Sweet Siberian Watermelon and Hale’s Best Jumbo cantaloupe. In winter squash, I chose Golden Hubbard, Black Futsu, Butterneck squash and Gill’s Golden Pippin. I also decided to try the Arikara squash again, because it’s a rare variety I want to save seeds from. I also chose the Cinderalla pumpkin (Rouge vif D’Estempes). Last of all are two types of cucumber; lemon and Eureka. These are older seeds, but I have a request for cucumbers this year. I have another variety we got as free seeds that I almost chose as well, but we’re not big cucumber eaters and two varieties will be more than enough.

After the initial filling of the tray with seed starting mix, my daughter was a sweetheart and cut up a sour cream container for me, to make more plant markers, because I was down to two blanks.

She cuts much neater, straighter markers than I do!

While she was working on that, I wrote the names and details for each packet on the markers. She finished before I did, and I have a nice stack of extra markers now.

The initial filling of the planting cells all got gently pressed down, leaving enough space for the planting depths of these larger seeds. My daughter started with the winter squash seeds, gently scarifying them first. Once I was done with the labels, I started at the other end of the tray with the cucumbers, then melons.

So we now have 12 rows with six cells planted, each. Hopefully, we’ll get a decent germination rate. I’m rather concerned about that, as it all seems so cold down there, and I don’t know that the heat mats are enough to make up for it. Half the time, they don’t even seem to be on. I realize that’s part of the temperature control, but it still feels wrong.

I ended up moving a couple of snail rolls around, putting two of them with the last batch of seed starts.

The orange current tomatoes are not looking very healthy, so I thought they might do better back on a heat mat, with less taller transplants overshadowing them. I also moved the roll with both the tarragon and summer savory. I’m actually amazing they are both surviving! They were in rough shape before going into the snail roll.

In the next picture, you can see the rest of the snail rolls. Things are getting way too big and need to be transplanted. I can’t pot them up any more at this point. No space.

Things are supposed to get quite a bit warmer – and drier – over the next while. There are even 30C/86F days in the forecast! Tonight, we’re supposed to drop to 6C/43F, but after that we’re supposed to get overnight temperatures above 10C/50, with lots of sunshine. That should finally warm the soil up. Even in the first half of June, where we’re expecting overnight temperatures to drop, they’re still expected to be above 6C/43F, which is where it needs to stay above consistently for the soil to have a chance to warm up and stay warm.

We shall see.

That done, I was able to head outside and get other work done, but that will be in my next post.

See you there!

The Re-Farmer