What funny weather we've been having! It's windy and chilly, and alternating between sunny and cloudy, and even some snow flurries have been in the mix! Oh for some nice normal weather!

The vegetables I planted inside are all growing tall. I had them in the little table top greenhouse containers you can buy, but they were growing so tall I had to take the cover off it. I've rigged up a plastic bag to serve the same purpose as the cover, but it gives it more room to grow tall than the cover did.

The flowers I planted inside are not doing as well. The only lot of the flowers that have shown any sign of growth yet are the sunflowers. I had to take them out of the little greenhouse thing too. I repotted them into peat pots that were a little bigger than the original peat pellets that I planted them in. I sure hope the other flowers show some sign of growth before too long.

It looks like the tulips have almost finished their life span. They are starting to look rather worn. It would be nice to have some more blooms to take their place.

I don't think I mentioned yet that I also have a rose bush in my yard. It's one of the plants that my aunt gave me a long time ago and this one actually managed to live. I don't know what kind of rose bush it is but it blooms with beautiful white roses with a faint hint of pink or peach. They really are beautiful. Last year was really the only time I ever paid any attention to it. It's really grown rather straggly and I'm wondering if I can prune it a bit, and maybe even take some of the offshots from it and replant them. If any of you have any advice on that, I sure would appreciate it.

Well, I must go check out some more gardening sites. Happy gardening!

Brrrrrr!!!! What a chilly day! We even had snow flurries today! Thank goodness nothing stayed on the ground, but it sure was cold out. I hope it doesn't affect my flowers too much. I didn't do anything in the garden today. Instead I sat inside and worried about what affect the cold was going to have.

I don't think I've mentioned this in my blog before, but I write a bi-weekly gardening column, called "Green Thumbs and Greenhorns", in my local newspaper. I have decided to start a blog for that too, so that people that don't get the local paper can still read the column. You can read the column at this address: http://greenthumbsandgreenhorns.blogspot.com/. You can also click on the link in the links list on the left hand side of this page to go to that blog. I will post the column articles on the blog after they have been published in the paper.

I've had a few calls and emails in response to the column so far, inspite of the fact that I've only written two articles yet. One local caller suggested looking into how much interest there might be in starting a local gardening club. Another caller was a vegetable farmer that shared a wealth of information and invited me to visit his farm. Another caller called from Little Bay Islands and told me a little about her garden and invited me to visit. Someone emailed from Wild Cove asking if I could find out some information about growing roses in our area. I'm looking forward to following up on these calls and emails and hope to receive many more.

If you are interested in creating your own blog, click on the rectangle at the bottom of this page that says "powered by blogger" and follow the instructions. If you'd like some help, I'd be happy to do what I can to help. Email me using the link in the column at the left hand side of this page.

If you do decide to start a gardening blog, please let me know about it. I want to provide a link to your blog from my blog so that more people can know about it. The bigger network of people we develop, the better it will be.

Well, I must sign off. Hopefully the sun will shine brighter tomorrow and the cold will go away.

Happy Gardening!

I planted some seeds inside today. I think it's kind of late for that but my philosophy is better late than never. :-) Last year I planted the seeds inside in early April. I didn't get around to it this year until today.

I don't know what to expect from these seeds. Some of them are ones I had left over from last year and some are ones Mom gave me that she bought while she was in the states last year. Some are flower seeds and some are vegetable seeds. Some of them are pretty old, but I guess we'll see what happens.

I also took some cuttings from some geraniums that I had in the house today. The geraniums were ones that I took from the church flower bed in the fall. I noticed them in the church flower bed and asked if they were going to take them inside. I heard you could take them inside and have them as house plants. They said they weren't planning on doing that but I was welcome to take whatever I wanted. I noticed three beautiful colored geraniums there so I took one of each. Well, I had great intentions of taking good care of them all through the winter, but it didn't pane out. Today I noticed that there was still a few green stems on them, in spite of my neglect, so I decided to take some cuttings from them and see what happens. I dipped the tip of the cuttings in rooting medium and then planted them in small potting plants that can be placed directly into the garden. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Well, that's the extent of my gardening activities today. I'd love to hear what you're doing in your garden.

What great weather we've been having! Finally! The snow is finally all gone from my garden.

The crocuses in my front flower bed seem to have fulfilled their life span. I wish I had taken some pictures of them while they were in bloom, but I kept forgetting to get batteries for the camera. The crocuses were beautiful, but they have all faded away now, however, the folliage from them is still quite nice. It's a nice addition to the flower bed. I wish I had known years ago how easy they were to grow. They may not last long, but they sure are a pleasure to enjoy for a while and it's neat how they come right after the snow.

The tulips in the flower beds at the front and side of the house are doing great. They are so pretty. I love how they open wide in the day time, and close up at night. Once again, I wish I had known years ago how easy they are to grow.

The crocuses in the flower bed in the back yard are in bloom. Yesterday I cleared the leaves and debris off the flower beds in the back yard and was pleased to discover that a number of the plants are showing signs of growth. I can't wait for them to grow so that I can start trying to identify them. My aunt gave me most of the plants in that flower bed in the fall last year and I have no idea what they are. The crocuses I planted myself, along with some tulips which should flower in the next week or so.

Not only have I been busy in the garden, but I've also been busy on the computer. I'm a bit of a computer geek. I've set up a couple of things especially for my gardening interests.

I was really disappointed to find out that there wasn't any feedback method provided on my blog. My sister suggested that I get an email address especially for the blog and post it on the blog so that people can provide me feedback if they wish, so that's what I did. My email address is greenhorngardener@yahoo.ca. You can click on the link at the top of the page on the left hand side to send me an email. I'd love to hear about your gardening experiences and tips.

I've also started a gardening web site. It's not much yet, but it will be. Right now all I did was use the page maker wizard at the host site to make a first page. I wanted to get something up there real fast just to get started and that was the fastest way to do it. The address is http://ca.geocities.com/greenhorngardener/photopagefloral.html . You can click on the link at the top of the page on the left hand side to check it out. It's just a page of some pictures from my garden last year. My plan is to develop this site into a place for Newfoundland gardeners to share their gardening experiences. I hope that others will share photos and writeups about their own gardens. Let me know if you're interested. I'll keep you updated as the site develops.

Anyway, I should go and help my family cheer on our hockey team. Chat later!

My search for information on gardening in Newfoundland has not been that successful. I decided to start this journal of my gardening experience so that maybe someone else might be inspired to do the same and before too long we would have a myriad of first hand information on gardening in Newfoundland. Not only am I fairly new to gardening, I am totally new to weblogs. It will be a real learning experience for me. I love learning new things.

Last year was my first real successful experience with gardening. I had some unsuccessful years before that - one that I bought seeds to plant and didn't get beyond that. Another when I planted the seeds inside but didn't get them outside. Last year I actually managed to get the seedlings planted outside and watched with wonder and excitement as my flower garden bloomed. I had a wonderful flowerbed full of Nasturiums, Asters, Bachelor Buttons, Violas, and Carnations that I had planted from seed and nurtured into beautiful, abundant flowers.

I started with just a small flower bed by the side of my house near the entrance way. This became so full that I decided to make another small flowerbed at the front of the house and transplant some of the flowers to there. It worked great!

I also planted a very, very small vegetable garden in my back yard. It was only about a meter square. It was a complete failure, but there were lots of factors for that. Maybe I'll share about that in another post some time.

I was so inspired by my beautiful flower beds that I decided to do something in the corner of our back yard. My aunt, an amazing gardener, had given me many plants over the years that I had killed. I went to her and asked for help yet again. She gave me a bunch of perennials that I planted in newly formed plots in the fall last year. When I was out checking things out today I saw that some of the plants are starting to sprout. I'm anxious to see what will develop and learning to identify the different plants.

This past fall I also planted some bulbs. I had bought bulbs in the past that never did make it into the ground, but this time they made it and I've been rewarded with beautiful blooms! I can't believe it. The crocuses came up and started blooming before the snow was gone and I feared they were killed by the snow and frost we had afterwards, but they are alive and well. The tulips have also bloomed in the past week, inspite of the fact that there still is some snow around. In fact, I planted some of the bulbs in my back yard plot and noticed today that they are actually coming up through the snow that hasn't quite melted all away back there! I think I will be planting more bulbs this fall.

Anyway, that's my experience so far, though I've left out some things. Maybe I'll get back to them another time, then again, maybe I won't. I may decide to just move forward and tell you about what happens from now on. We'll see.

Happy gardening!