Veggie Warrior #3

There's really nothing like the taste of this easy vegetable with a nice bbq on a warm summers evening. I like to grow mine right by my doorstep mixed with some flowering annuals for not only a rich multicoloured accent to my flowers but also a delicious one!

Leaf lettuce will continue to re-grow so harvesting regularly is recommended. If you see a flower starting to form remove it immediately, if not your lettuce will go bitter! Luckily if this happens transplant replacements are ready to eat when you plant them!

Wow, what a difference a year makes! Last year it was cold and wet on Mother's Day weekend and every weekend after that until late July. We had great weather this year and both garden centres were busy! Thank God, now we can pay our hard working staff, they like it better that way. I must apologize to our customers at our New Glasgow garden centre for the long line-ups. I don't know what caused the difference from last year but the dial-up system for handling cards just did not perform, causing needless headaches for staff and customers. Live and learn with technology, so my good wife Colleen immediately instituted steps on Monday morning to connect our machine to the internet lines, hopefully a go for this weekend. Also, we've only been open till 5PM all along and I probably should have changed it sooner, what with the much warmer weather. We probably will extend to 7PM this long weekend to make it easier for everybody. Again, thanks for your patience as we attempt to reach full operating speed.

I don't know if you've noticed but we have some steady characters hanging out at our garden centres lately. I don't think they're all that dangerous. They're pretty quiet and they tend to hang out in the not too well lit places. Some folks actually come in and seek them out, even take a few home with them. We're just glad to see them gone.

Last week was difficult. We lost a young man who was a good friend at the too young age of 35 and we lost another good friend and fellow farmer down the road, who made it all the way to 90. We have a plaque that hangs in our kitchen that reads in part, 'The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hand will stop, at late or early hour!' That verse certainly came back to me this week and causes one to take value in each and every day and realize that tomorrow cannot be taken for granted, so be sure to hug your loved ones and tell them how much you love them.

Twenty years ago this week, we had a tremendous loss as a county and a province, when the Westray coal mine being lost. It was devastating for so many families with many of those lost being in the same age range of the young friend that we lost last week.

Brrrrr! This past weekend, we were all shocked back to reality with some real cool temperatures. On a year where we've had some very warm April days (not to forget March 20, when we hit 27 degrees), these cold temperatures down to -5 or -6 at night can do more damage as growth is much more advanced then normal. Not a whole lot a gardener can do other than throw a blanket or two over that special perennial or shrub that might be at a critical stage.

Some forsythia in their full yellow dress of blooms can be damaged as can any grapes that have pushed out early leaves due to extra warm April days. Plants are pretty tough and will usually push out another set of leaves but for blooms, you'll have to wait for next year.