I’m hoping that spring is on the way here in Edmonton. The last snow fall is all melted and the grass is finally green. We may get one more snow dump before the month is over and that is why the rule of thumb is that nothing goes into the ground until the long week-end in May is upon us.

I don’t remember when Wally and Auntie Kay planted the majority of the vegetable garden. I do know there were times when Auntie Kay planted peas in February and we started eating them by Easter.

Normally though, we had a piece of ground in the orchard where no trees were planted, and we used that area for our vegetables and cantaloupe planting.
Wally would use the wheel hoe to dig a trench for us to to put the seeds in. If I remember right, the rows were about 30 feet long and 2 feet apart.

We planted potatoes, tomatoes, yellow and green beans, peas, carrots, parsnips, squash, and corn. Then we would cover all the seeds up, identify each row, and dig a watering trench on either side of each row. The next step was to wait for the weeds, at least that was the way it seemed to me.

I recall one year when those pesky weeds covered the whole garden and they were at least 4 to 6 inches high. I was under orders to start weeding the garden. When I looked over that garden area I remember how overwhelmed I felt at the monumentous task that lay ahead of me.

The cantaloupe was the only fruit we had to plant every year. We had a raspberry bed, a strawberry bed, black and red current bushes, gooseberry bushes and grape vines. One year the quail nested in the strawberry patch and hatched a brood.

Speaking of quail, the area where I work has several sports fields. There are also numbers of rows of spruce trees.

Today I saw a pair of partridge flying from one of the sports fields, over the parking lot, over the street, and landing on a nearby lawn. The distance they flew was 100 yards. There was a pair in the neighborhood last year too.

On the long weekend this year, we will plant carrots, beets and pumpkins. We are already feeding on our chives, they always overwinter well.

Our plum tree is blooming and a few more warm days should make the pear trees bloom. The cherry buds are fat and waiting to burst forth. The two apples are always last to bloom.

Hopefully the conditions will be suitable for a decent yield of produce this year and I know that will be everyone’s hope too.

ruralreportwithlairdsmith@gmail.com