We've had a lot of snow lately.  Still calling for more.  It's very cold, the chickens are hardly laying and all the poop is frozen.  The first day that it hits above 0 degrees, I have to get out there and start scraping.  I normally put everything in the green bin and haul it out to the road.  I can't get the green bin anywhere near the buildings out back.  I'm thinking about getting an old wheelbarrow tray and filling it up and just dragging it on top of the snow and dumping it into my gardens.  Chicken manure is great.  I wish that I could get the chickens in the garden to till it all in for me, but, too much snow.  Rabbit manure is also excellent for gardens.  It's what they call a "cold" manure".  It doesn't need to dry out like cow manure.

Next step, getting the tray.  I know there's one at work, now hopefully I can get it cheap.  Now if only I could learn the dog to pull the full tray, that would be great.

Last year I bought a lot of my seeds from Home Hardware.  They carry their own brand (Home Gardner) and also have a Halifax Seed display.  I bought several types of seeds.  Some for my planters by the doorstep. Some for the flower garden around the lobster traps, some for the flower garden by the apple tree, some for the raised beds I made last year for my veggies,  Then I decided that I would check out the Halifax Seed website to see what else they had to offer.  So I ordered more seeds.  

So this year they sent me a seed catalogue.  I was pretty excited. Small things, I know.

I've gone through the whole catalogue already and marked everything I wanted.  Problem is, last year I should have kept notes.  So, if you're reading this and plan on planting anything worth while, please keep note.  I know I will this year.

Write down all the seeds you buy.  Write where you planted them, and when you planted them.  Write down when they came up, what kind of fertilizer you used, what didn't grow at all, what didn't grow well, what grew well.  That way, next year you will know if you want to try something again that may have failed the previous year. (If it's something I really want, I'll try 3 times before I give up)  You'll know what not to buy. You'll know when to plant. You'll know where you put it.  

In my planters I planted flowers.  Shorter ones in the front, taller in the back, but nothing too tall.  Something happened and most of what I planted did not grow at all.  But I can't remember what I planted.  I did get some Bachelor's Buttons that reseeded themselves from the previous year.  And something that grew very late and the frost got in before it opened.

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The flower garden around the lobster crates grew nothing.  I always plant Cut Flowers and Wildflowers, but nothing happened this year.  

In my flower garden by the apple tree, I planted several types of flowers, some lavender and some chamomile.  Lavender is great for inducing labour in rabbits, and chamomile is a great calming herb, and weepy eye wash.  Also great for upset stomachs.  I was very pleased with my flower garden this year.

I made two raised garden beds.  One for pumpkins and cucumbers, the other for tomatoes, carrots, peppers, lettuce, borage, and some things that didn't grow.  My cherry tomatoes were wonderful.  I tried black tomatoes, which I think I will try again.  I grew one blue pumpkin and a few jack-o-lanterns. I didn't get the peppers before the frost did.  I planted the tomatoes and peppers inside, and I will again this year.

So, if you're learned anything from me today, let it be that you should write things down!