Anyone from Calgary want to talk to an old Calgarian in Raleigh. One day I might move back there and would like to know how to extend the season. Plus I thought it would be fun.
Anyone from Calgary?
Hi! Calgary right here!
Im sure all the gardeners in Calgary would love to extend the season! Ah it is one of the challenges of gardening here! We have had such a 'warm winter with so little snow that my daffodils in the south bed beside the house started to come up a month ago. Fortunately I still had a pile of leaves out on the back patio and covered them up just in case. This week we have had two dumps of snow probably 20 cms all together!I have been furiously shovelling snow onto the flower beds. Seems when we dont get much snow cover I always lose a few plants.
carol
Thanks for writing back Carol. I hear about the weather sometimes from my sisters. They to were furiously shovelling snow just recently. My two sisters live in Sundance and my husband's brother lives in St. Andrew's Heights? (By the foothills hospital off of crowchild trail.) My sisters aren't gardeners, refuse to visit NC, and don't have the internet, so no news I get from Calgary that is through my mother. My mother lives in Kamloops, BC. We always thought we would retire back in Canada (west), but aren't sure where. My husband was transferred here with Nortel. (Enough with the biography.)
Back to gardening! The season here is incredibly long, we can grow anything our worst enemy is the volvo sized bugs and the heat/humidity. A lot of plants just stop growing in July completely, they go dormant after 90F (I have forgotten my Celsius in the last seven years). We have 30 days above 90 and 30 days at
32 (freezing)-42.
What is the PH of your soil around. I think ours is 5-6 acidic so we have to add a ton of limestone, unless we love the azaleas only.
This year I am into the vegetables because we have a "new development" house and there are no landscape beds to talk about and the money is only there for seeds. Pumpkins, cukes, watermelon, potatoes..which are late in, then sweet peas (oh how I miss them from Calgary), they are hard to grow here have to plant them in January, then the heat gets them. Morning glories this year, I have some yellow ones coming, etc.
Now that I have talked your ear off, tell me a little about your garden and what you concentrate on.
Regards,
Michelle
I thought maybe you were from Calgary and I guess you are in spirit. But if you go to the member list, http://davesgarden.com/memberlist/
you can search my Canadian province for members. I just found in looking for people who live around Ottawa, that I had to be careful because many were members but not subscribers.
Ann
PS My inlaws lived in Calgary from 1976 until they passed away a few years ago and DH's Aunt lived there for longer, but moved to Vancouver to be near her daughter last year.
This message was edited Feb 27, 2006 5:01 PM
I'm just south of Calgary and on the BC side of the mountains in Kalispell, MT. We have had a mild winter and spring is soon to be here at least down low. There was a blast of cold but it left with its tail between its legs. Pineapple express kicked its bu . North Carolina must be fun except for the peak of the summer. Though I hear lots of bugs near the coast. Just a glimse of here last summer.
Hi Michelle:
It has been quite an eye opener to join DG and read about how things grow in warmer climates! Just had not thought about it before! I hear people talk about plants they consider invasive and they are just fine in my garden! And all the pretty things I cant grow in this zone!
Truth to tell I have never had my soil tested - generally speaking I think Calgary is alkaline - and of course clay!
I live in an older community (Killarney) in a little 'wartime' house on a big lot so lots of gardening room.I have seveal hundred feet of perennial beds.Both my front and back yards were professionally landscaped because I couldnt do the hardwork myself. I also had my large veggie garden transformed 3 years ago to raised beds. I dont start anything from seed - just have not got a decent set up/room for that.I grow lots of veggies - all the usual stuff - and usually try something new every year. This year in an effort to push the season I am going to put row covers on the raised beds a month before planting time and see what I can do. I love being able to eat out of my garden for 3-4 months a year and I usually have so much that I pass it around to friends and neighjbors who dont have gardens.
Of course gardening in Calgary is a bit of a crap shoot because you never quite know when it will freeze! Ah the challange!
I have been posting some garden pics in my diary - have a look. Most of the pics were taken a couple of years ago - I entered the Hort Society garden competition and won a few prizes.
This is a pic taken last fall.
carol
Dear Carol,
The house and garden is stunning. I always enjoyed the wartime houses and the alkaline soil. I did not realize that the soil was clay though. Something new learned every day! We have red clay (watch out for those carpets, don't walk in with your boots on) it is bright orange red and the particular development I live in, there was no top soil brought it they just planted a tough grass that would deal with the clay. It is beautiful in the summer and more like a little golf course, but thatches up and dies very easily.
Since the development is newer I have one tree plus eight holly bushes all in a row in front of the house that is it. I will send you some pictures of my blank canvas. We had to move to the neigborhood because we just had a new addition to the family. I will be interested on what your ideas might be on the patch I have.
How do you weed so many beds. I would be outside all day and night!
Do you have a cutting garden separate or just enough everywhere? I guess some people don't believe in cutting the flowers and think they should stay in the garden. I think I am neutral on that.
One thing I miss about Calgary is sitting on the grass as a kid. We don't usually sit on the grass here cause a fire ant may get you. I am especially scared of the garden snakes, but I love (although they eat your bulbs) all the little critters that I never seen in Calgary, like raccoons, bunnies, possums, geese, etc. I am sure a lot of people would disagree as a friend of mine lost all of her pond fish and bunnies can make very short work of your garden.
Well, I will look further at those pics and appreciate your response.
Best Regards,
Michelle
Beautiful soferdig, I loved Montana as a girl. I used to lay in the back of the station wagon and watch the sky roll by through the windows. I have stayed on the Alberta side of the mountains, but don't think I have ventured down into Kalispell. Great Falls, Helena were always our destination for our weekend away from it all. Now we are a family of Canadians living in North Carolina. My son is named after a character in a movie about Montana.
It looks like you have a lot of land!
Best Regards,
Michelle
Carol - no wonder you won the garden competition! I went over to have a look at your pics - wow, wow, wow! Thanks for sharing them.
I lived in Calgary for awhile too, but that was before my gardening days.
Sandy
Ahhh, thanks for the lovely summer photo of your garden. Just what I needed on a gloomy rainy day. 3 weeks until Spring!
Don
Hey Sandy we need to pray for Lillypon she is in the hospital having surgery today. I don't know what but she Dmailed me. i think she was enjoying her morphine. HAHA I just took this spring is on the way!!!!
Sofer - to be sure, I'll pray for Lilypon - gosh I hope it's nothing too serious.
Looks like spring has sprung in Kalispell - did you manage to get any skiing in before the big melt?
Sandy
There is over 31" of new snow in the last week up on the mountain. Tomorrow I go do the powder thing. Tree skiing is fun. Well I don't know much problems there are but she was fine last pm and had to go in today for her surg. She was reluctant to advertise but 2 or more need to pray. Go Lillypon!!
There is more and more green.
We usually go to Fernie, where my folks are, on a ski trip on March Break. They say there's a TON of snow up there this year. Go figure, last year they had hardly any left when we were there and it rained every day to boot. Enjoy your powder!
Sandy
Fernie gets the same moisture Big Mt gets but it is often warmer up there. I have skiied there several times. I tried last year but yeeeuuuuch.
Lots of snow here and more probably coming now that it got started! March is usually a very heavy snow month in Calgary!
We get most of our snow pack in Dec and March. It is the best time to ski. But down here at 5000 M we are quite protected by our banana belt valley. We are really a zone 5 almost 6 except for the rare artic blast off the tundras up there. That brings us down to zone 4b.
Fancyvan,
What is your last frost date? And what happened with the rain last year? I heard it was the worst in a 100 years, is that true?
Michelle
Snowing again this morning!
Michelle - cant remember the offical last frost but can vary from late April to early June. General rule of thumb around here is dont plant your annuals until 24th of May weekend, Althought of course lots of us pay no attention to that!
Yes the rain last year was terrible. I was not paying much attention to the garden in May and early June because of dog sport involvement - had petunias and a few other things in container - checked them one day whe it wasnt raining - they were swimming. Some of the pots had no holes and also they were grouped around a bird bath which of course just kept overflowing! So I took them out of the pots, drilled holes where necessary, wrung/drained the dirt, refilled pots with half wet half dry soil and replanted. They were OK although only half the usual size (Spreading Wave petunias)But I was lucky - I had a bit of water in the basement once the water table got really high , nothing like people who were flooded out of their homes down by the rivers.