WIND, WIND, GO AWAY

I've always wondered if Saskatchewan doesn't translate from a Cree word for "windy as heck".  When I'm trying to work outside - especially in the spring - it never seems to go away.  It makes it great for drying clothes out on the line; something I love to do, but for that one benefit there are a hundred other things that are made a lot less pleasant when I have to battle wind every step of the way.

It's been a while since I caught up with this blog - there is so much to do in the spring if you want to enjoy pretty flowers and productive vegetable gardens throughout the summer months.  I started with building a rock border to my rock garden; that was over a week's work digging a trench, finding and hauling in rocks and then placing them and packing sand around them so that they settle and stay in place.  It looks just like I planned it in my head (which doesn't always happen) and the work was so worth it, but man, was it ever a lot of work and sore muscles.

We also added to the orchard we are creating.  This year's additions were black and red currants, grapes, high bush cranberries and a couple more apple trees.  Of the four apple trees I planted last year only one remains standing because the deer helped themselves to the trees' bark during the winter.  One looks like it may come back from the bottom but it has probably set it back 4 or 5 years.  I was so mad when I discovered the damage, but it was too late.  I have since bought some disgustingly smelly spray that is supposed to repel deer - they haven't been back but there's lots of other tasty things to eat now.  Winter will be the real test.

This week I have moved on to planting garden and weeding the trees, raspberries, strawberries, and asparagus.  I know it's impossible to stay ahead of the weeds all summer but it sure feels good to get ahead of the spring mess.  It looks clear and tidy at the moment; such a good feeling. And over a period of three days I managed to plant my vegetable garden too.  The men are busy in the fields seeding this year's crops and don't want any rain to slow them down, but secretly I'm hoping that the half inch the weatherman is predicting shows up on Tuesday because it would boost germination and give my garden a good start.  Once the seeds are in I just want to see things pop out of the ground.

I don't know how I managed to pick the right morning to plant.  Thursday there was actually not even a slight breeze.  For the heavier seeds like beans and peas and corn a stiff wind isn't such a bad thing, but lettuce and carrot seeds are tiny things and it's hard to get them to fall into the rows you've made when the wind takes them and blows them sideways.  By that afternoon the wind had picked up and it hasn't let up since.  I mowed lawn yesterday and nearly froze.  Sunburn one day and hypothermia the next ... maybe that's another translation for Saskatchewan.

Now all I have left is to put bedding plants in my flower beds and fill my deck planters - the local greenhouses are about to get rich because I just can't help myself.  Some women love to shop for clothes or shoes but my vices are greenhouses and bookstores.

It's too windy to expose bedding plants newly removed from the pampered environment of a greenhouse so I will tackle other jobs today.  I think my day will be spent clearing away broken tree branches.  The blizzard we had in March left such huge and heavy snowbanks that the trees really suffered - they were literally crushed under the weight of the snow.  Tomorrow I will know if I use the same muscles for sawing branches as I do for weeding and hoeing; I can hardly wait to find out.

It's not all bad though - those 5 pounds I gained over the winter doing nothing physical are already gone, plus a few more.