There are 35 million nematodes sitting on top of the leftover Potato Salad in the fridge. They arrived yesterday from Natural Insect Control and later today I will release them into the various areas of the garden. There are some to control the leaf miner in the Camperdown Elm, some for the vegetable garden and some to control the Iris Borer. They are a quick, easy and effective treatment for all of these problems. Each package contains a small sponge that holds 10 Million nematodes. I’ve never counted to see if the company’s count is accurate! The sponge goes into a bucket of water and we wait until the microscopic worms have left the sponge and then we dilute that stock solution into a watering can and simply water around each susceptible plant. I admit to some skepticism the first time I used them but they worked and I have used them on more things over the years. There are still a mass of plants on the deck that have yet to be planted but the bathroom is approaching the end. Mudding the drywall this weekend and hoping to paint and lay the floor by Monday. Just because we weren’t busy enough planting, nematoding (is that a word?) and drywalling, the two adorable curly haired granddaughters, 4 & 2 years old, arrived from England yesterday, (more exciting then the nematodes arrival,) along with their parents. How do I focus on the garden when they want to Grandpa to play with them or read them stories?




My procrastination in the garden has had some benefits. A few things that I was starting to consider as dead have finally started to show some life, having slowly recovered from the deep dormancy that our harsh winter created. Some were just deeply dormant and some have been severely reduced in size by the winter die back. The large leafed Dutchman’s Pipe vine Aristolochia durior that screened the deck from the street had been looking noticeably dead until this week. Tiny little green buds are appearing from some of the older wood and making me very happy. It has been establishing itself for several years and was a doing a very effective job. It appears that I’m left with a fair bit of pruning to remove all of the dead parts but all of the activities mentioned above will delay that job for a while, giving it ample opportunity to show me which parts are going to recover and which parts need surgery. Last year’s hardy? Fig was looking like three dead sticks in the front garden and I had managed to get another one at the Loblaws’ media day. Yesterday there appear to be a couple of tiny green things appearing at the soil line. Another reason to leave the new one in its pot for a few more days and then I may have to find another location for it. I continued to assure the Daughter that she should wait before removing her new Rose of Sharon Hibiscus syriacus because they are always slow to emerge and her’s and mine managed to wake up this week and avoid the shovel and compost heap. Many other things are racing ahead as if winter never happened. The Fern Leaf Peony has been in bloom most of the week and yesterday, Pink Angel, the earliest of my large Peonies burst forth with a wonderful show of 15 cm (6") bright pink blooms. The mid sized Iris are blooming in several spots and my favourite tall bearded types are throwing up many sturdy bloom stalks.