Rainy Day Blues

I can’t remember a stretch of weather such as Nova Scotia is experiencing so far this summer!  I tried to find some stats to include here, but suffice it to say that we haven’t had a full, sunny day for weeks, and have had high humidity and rain along with the clouds.  At a point in the growing season when farmers are often praying for rain, they are keeping their fingers crossed for sun this year.  Berry producers are taking an especially hard hit this season — not only are some of the berries not ripening, but they are short on pickers.  No one wants to pick berries in the rain, even when U-Pick prices have been slashed by as much as 50% by some farmers.  I lost the little container of lettuce we’d already eaten from — it simply mildewed at the soil level and turned to mush.  Fortunately, it’s easy to replant.

The Calibrachoas are thriving, as is the shade-loving impatience.  It could be worse, I suppose, but it sure would be nice to have a few days of sun…without the moisture, please!

GB Muse Day – Canada Day/July 2009

Canada’s Prayer

I’m dreaming of Canada tonight.
A country where mountains and hopes touch the sky
A country where an ocean of kindness fills all hearts
A country where ideas are a forest of wisdom
Oh God let me wake up in Canada!

I’m dreaming of Canada tonight.
A country where compassion is as tall as a Douglas fir
A country where understanding is as deep as a great lake
A country where confidence grows like grain
Oh God let me wake up in Canada!

I’m dreaming of Canada tonight.
A country where happiness flows like the water of a river
A country where love is a breath of fresh air
A country where peace covers the land like snow
Oh God, please let me wake up in Canada, tonight…

Canada’s Prayer was written by Chris Robertson. Chris Robertson was the first person in history to travel from bottom of mainland Canada 6,520 kilometres to the top under their own power. Enroute he challenged over 5 million Canadians to make Canada better by answering the question: “What will you do in your life to make Canada a better country than when you found it?”

Garden Blogger’s Muse Day is hosted by Carolyn of

Sweet Home & Garden Chicago on the first of each month.

Petals and Puddles

Or make that petals IN puddles.  What a stretch of warm, sticky, and RAINY weather we’re having here in the east!  And the extended forecast is for more of the same straight through this week.  Ugh.  I’ve had tiny herb seedlings rot at the soil level and die.  Enough already!

In spite of the damp and dreary days, most everything is growing well.  That’s Swiss Chard ‘Bright Lights’ in the container above, with a few co-ordinating celosia for good measure.  The chard is actually starting to form its crinkled little leaves — I’ve been thinning it out and using the seedlings in salads.  Yummy.

This small planter of red lettuce has also been lending itself to salads as I’ve thinned it out.

I’ve had a few tomato seedlings get big enough to set out in larger pots — Better Boys and Yellow Pear.  There are more that need to be transferred once I find homes for them. :)

All flower containers are doing very well, despite having little sun, and this lobster-coloured petunia and the peachy verbena are still among my favourite combinations. :)