The Marigold Potager – A Zone 3 Prairie Garden

To palaver is to chat. A potager is a food garden/kitchen garden. I do so love to chat about growing, especially growing food ; )

Welcome to this week’s palaver…

Happy Easter Sunday! Does it not seem like Easter is really late this year? I love it though, as the grandies can play outside, burn off energy.

We never really did much for Easter when I was growing up. I don’t remember any special suppers or get togethers happening while I was living at home.

It wasn’t until my baby girl was born on Easter Sunday, many years ago, that it became a special time of year for us. We were posted to Germany when she was just 3 months old (Canadian military) for 4 years, where they do Easter in a really big way. We now also do Easter in a pretty big way, making it a big family event, regardless of what month and day it falls on.

It has really felt like spring is here these past few weeks. Sunshine and warm weather. I have been keeping track of the daytime high temps, morning temps, and, if I remember, I also jot down the temp at bedtime. Most nights have been above or around 0°C, so that’s not bad! Anything can happen though. Can go from 10 above to 10 below in the blink of an eye ; ) I am tracking the temps outside and in the greenhouse. Hoping that this will help me out next year with my planning.

Inside the greenhouse is ready to go. I have washed down the walls, inside and out, raked out the leaves, weeds, and debris. The bed on the left has been chaos sown with some cool season crops (purple cauliflower, broccoli, green onions, and some lettuces. Might be something else, but I have forgotten). They are starting to come up nicely now that I have remembered to water them!

In the mini greenhouse at the back, I just have a few trays of Artwork broccoli, purple cauliflower, cabbage, and pak choi, so far. They will go out in the raised beds outside in a week or two, just as soon as they are big enough.

Other than that, not much yet has been sown. The fall sown spinach is up in the gardens outside, the fall sown lettuces are coming up, too. I will be sowing radishes, green onions, and lettuces/greens out in the beds next week, after this busy weekend is over.

I have not yet raked up the piles of leaves in garden beds as we know those little critters are still hiding out in there. Wait till you start seeing flying insects and/or the daytime temps are steadily plus 10°C for a week or two.

Psst, if you have not sown anything yet, not to worry, there is loads of time yet. If you run out of time to pre-start or direct sow, just pick up a 6 pack at the nursery. 6 plants of most of these things are more than enough for most families… especially 6 kale plants ; )

Gardening Bits

Mulching with straw. Keep in mind that though not anywhere as weedy as hay, straw will still have a few weed seeds in it. They are super easy to pull or hoe out, do not stress about a few green stalks here and there. Or, do I like I do, and let them grow. The dogs absolutely love to eat them! In fact, I go out of my way to keep them, and let them go to seed in fall so that I have more the next year. Anything for my pooches.

Invasive nursery plants to avoid and plants to choose instead. Great ideas in this post. This article has 20 trees, shrubs and flowers that are native to Alberta, however they must have used AI for the pictures, as several of them are very wrong. For example, our super hardy dogwood shrubs here on the prairies do not look anything like the lovely dogwood trees you find on the Pacific west coast ; )

Everything you wanted to know about growing clematis plants! Watch this video for smart pruning tips, growing tips, etc…

7 garden trends to know for 2025. Love all of these!

These 8 beautiful herbs that belong in flower gardens. I think I have likely mentioned Catmint a hundred times, or more. It is one of my favourite perennials for hot spots, by pathways, to grow in tough areas. Yes, you cat will like it when it is little, will nibble on it, but as soon as it is larger, she will lose interest in it. It is not like catnip, the plant that makes them a little bit crazy ; )

How to grow basil. Super in depth, great article.

Best shade loving plants. We are working on our west and north side of the yard this summer. Not a yard renovation really, but a makeover. Keeping a lot of what we have already, but adding more gardens, plants, and getting rid of the sod. Therefore, these shade loving plants are high on my list.

These 9 ways to attract a higher bird diversity to your garden. I have been working on all of this since we moved in to this new home 2.5 years ago, except #8. I have not put up a feeder (or birdhouses), except in winter, because I have a cat. I have managed to attract some birds by doing all these things, but still not the amount that I would like to have. I want to listen to the baby birds in spring, I want to hear the happy trills in the morning. Hopefully, after we finish the front yard makeover, adding more shrubs to make a variegated hedgerow, adding more native perennial flowers, hopefully then I will see more songbirds : )

The pictures in this article, 6 garden trends for 2025, are so pretty. I cannot wait to see flowers everywhere.

Do you love zinnias and marigolds as much as I do? This article/podcast is a must read/ must listen. And hey, if anyone wants to go halfers on the shipping with me, give me a shout, eh?

This article with the top 9 award winning hardy geraniums. I am looking to put some of these in the front yard when we do our makeover, but want to make sure I do not get one of the very spreading ones, Thinking Elizabeth Ann or Orion are my best bets, but I sure want that Biokovo. What a beauty. Says it is a zone 4 though, so will it overwinter here?

This gallery of 67 small gardens. I love looking at these to get new ideas on plants to use, maybe pathways, seating areas, colours, all sorts of new ideas pop into my head when I peruse other gardens. Now, I think 67 is enough to make your eyes glaze over, but I kept telling myself to pay attention to the details. Consider it research, if you will. I love #2 and #17.

Even better, if you really love the look of a garden, click on the link below it and it will take you to more pictures of that garden. Number 18 took me to that greenhouse in the picture above. Such a fun way to get ideas, or just peruse lovely gardens.

If you love whimsical/gorgeous/fun garden furniture, you need to go check out your local Homesense. This is the time of year when they have such fun things, and at a great price, too. They had a lovely long patio table with 6 chairs for half the price we paid for ours a few years back. They also had a green metal bench similar to this one, that I fell in love with. So pretty. Mother’s Day is coming, you all!

This green bistro set would look amazing tucked in to a lovely garden nook. It also comes in white, but I am on a big green kick right now.

This article ‘Embrace The Latest Trends in Outdoor Living’, has lovely furniture ideas and lovely garden and porch backdrops, too. So much to see here.

And one more article about small gardens with decor and planting ideas.

Homey Bits & Diy’s

Seriously easy DIY for these adorable botanical wood slices to use as coasters, or… here are some slices that are 3.5 to 4 inches wide, so a good size to make into coasters.

Check out this Swedish home at Easter. Love that dining room!

10 old house features that deserve a comeback. Wow, I love. love, love, all of these… but have none in my home, except #6 & 7 and am working on where to put #10. These features add such a wonderful homey touch.

I made these seeded papers last year and trialed them in my garden. They germinated so well! I think it is the paper pulp that keeps them nice and moist so that they germinate really well. They can placed in the garden right now and will come up nicely in a few weeks time. I used sweet alyssum and cosmos in these one, I also have some with lemon gem tagetes that I will be placing in my greenhouse. The cosmos came up beautifully – I highly recommend them for your seeded paper.

Here is the how to…. How To DIY Handmade Seeded Paper Gift Tags – The Marigold Potager. Aren’t they the cutest things ever?

I made the paper with Paper making screens, added some seeds to the pulp, I then used a 3 way tag punch to make them into these cute gift tags that she can plant around her yard. I used the letter stamps to put happy birthday on the tags. I love the stamps so much, use them on every holiday!

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It is getting to be patio season! I love deck and patio season! These outdoor rugs are all waterproof, come in various sizes and colours.

Alternately, maybe like me, you want to use machine washable, non-slip rugs that can be used indoors and out? I use these all the time (my front load washer fits the 5×7 or 6×8 rugs) as I can use them in the kid’s room, the tv room, and outside on the deck. I just toss them in the washer whenever they need a wash. They dry in 20 minutes in the dryer, or quickly outside in the sunshine.

* As an Amazon affiliate, if you buy any of the items through one of these links, I make a teeny tiny bit of money to support my blog. It does not cost you a penny more than it would if you went to the item without my link. Thankful for your support of this blog : )

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Read about red Swedish cottages. How Falu red became the colour that the nordic countries loved so much. My grandmother’s cute little farm house was white (in Finland), but she sure did love that red. It was considered a sign of prosperity at one time. I remember driving to my cousin’s house and my grandmother remarked ‘what a cold looking house that is’ when we passed a lovely blue house. Lovely in my opinion, that is, as I love blues and greens. I understood where she was coming from though, knowing the history of the Nordic house colours.

Recipes & Foodie Inspo Bits

A healthy tuna salad that is full of vegetables.

And, a mimosa mocktail : )

Happy Easter Sunday ~ Tanja