We’ve had a few dustings of snow since our first snowfall at the start of October, but in between it’s been incredibly mild. Most days it’s still around 10degC, and as a result some of my plants have decided to throw out some new flowers to brighten the days. My violas are still out, and this chrysanthemum has more flowers now than it did when I got it from the garden centre in August.

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Flowers on 2nd November 2016!

As the ground is nowhere near frozen, I’ve finished planting my bulbs, and am looking forward to seeing the new grape hyacinths coming up by my crabapple tree by our front door. I planted the daffodils in with my foxgloves in a sunny patch by the side fence, and put a few more close to the ones that grew well this year. The alliums are spread among my mixed perennial bed by the compost heap, and the starflowers are in with my Russian sage. I hope they all do well through the winter and grow strongly in the spring.

This week, I’ve made some good progress with clearing out weeds and getting mulch down. The weeds aren’t growing back so quickly now, so I can clear bigger patches at once without worrying if it takes a few days to get the roots cleared and then rake and cover the area.

This side section is so shaded that I decided to risk not digging out the roots of all the weeds, and simply pulled out everything I could reach from the top. I think that a good covering of mulch on top of the landscaping fabric will be enough to prevent the weeds regrowing here, as they were relatively easy to manage while the soil was still bare.

 

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Almost completed mulch pathway at the side of our house

I’m going to borrow a neighbour’s wheelbarrow to get the mulch spread out down here, as I’m getting further away from the main pile in the back yard. So far I’ve been doing small enough sections at a time that using a shovel to carry the mulch over has been fine.

 

You might also notice in the picture above that my lamium (dead nettle) ground cover is doing really well – it’s the big patch of green and silver next to the basement window well. It still has some tiny purple flowers on it too. This plant grew from a clump that a kind friend gave me in early summer, although it’s much bigger now. I’m looking forward to dividing it next spring and seeing it fill in a lot more of the empty spaces.

That’s all for now. This is the easiest approach to winter I’ve seen yet in the four years I’ve lived in Cochrane AB. I hope you’ve been enjoying it :).