Saturday, April 20, 2019

Attacking the Garden Again

Hello, farm friends. We have been making progress in the vegetable garden. Strong wind and too much rain have slowed us down a little.
 Adam's been digging out his potato beds and now has them lined in metal like the other beds. He has white potatoes in one bed, and the sweet potatoes are coming this week in the mail.
This next area is the old compost pile (grass clippings). 
 He may plant corn there this year after he digs out worms and puts them into his worm bin.
Other happenings in the greenhouse and garden:
Tomato seedlings - Matt's Wild Cherry on the left and Amish Paste on the right:
 Basil, which I sold at the market this morning:
 Those onions I have no idea what to do with:
 Oregano seeds did not germinate well. These are all I have.
 The wind blew under the greenhouse plastic and left a mess!
 The thing growing best in the garden beds is the horseradish, sigh. We've tried to get rid of it.
 Someone gave us a nice yellow squash plant today.
I would show you the peas, lettuce, kale, collards, spinach, strawberries, and asparagus, but that means I'd have to show you how weedy those beds are, and I just can't do it. We will address the weeds after Easter. Been a bit busy around here lately, and the garden has taken second fiddle.

Hurricane Florence ripped up our chicken pen cover. Branches and leaves fell on it, and then the cords broke. Adam pulled it all off and put new netting overhead, plus a new center post to hold it all up. Old:
 New:

The netting looks like somebody's wig.
 Adam got four massive truck tires for free to use as planters for a new elderberry bush and some lavender. 
Elderberry bush:
 I've had no luck with lavender at all. These are varieties that supposedly do well here.

My broody silkie mama hatched three chicks. They are so adorable, peeping away. She is wonderfully attentive.
 They haven't yet left the end of the coop that is their brooder. Those other eggs in the photo were duds.
My other silkie hen likes to pretend she's broody. She sits in one of the laying boxes all day long, on the other hens' eggs with her eyes at half-mast like broody hens do. But if given half a chance, she's outa there, taking a dust bath, also known as chicken spa.
 There's a children's story in there somewhere.

I'm still painting the gourds I grew last year.

 The Lady Banks Rose is lovely this year.


A friend gave us a box of fresh local strawberries which we topped and put into the freezer. I'll make jam later. The fig trees are looking promising this year. Adam and I aren't quite as quick and spry regarding farm work as we were nearly 4 years ago! But we will get around to it all. Thanks for stopping by!

5 comments:

  1. Makes me tired just thinking about all that work! I'll be doing well to start a compost pile this year! :) That's a cute little painting on the gourd!

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  2. Lot of work done, and more to be done. Lots of rewards coming your way for all of your efforts.

    Have a great week ~ FlowerLady

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  3. Horseradish is hard to control! I planted some to have on hand for the Passover seder we used to celebrate -- wow, was that a long time ago! -- and it just wanted to spread everywhere. Where it gets water all through the year like at your place, I'm sure it would be even happier to grow and grow.

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  4. Those chicks are so cute. Hopefully they're not all roosters.
    You've been very busy in the greenhouse and garden.
    You have fresh local strawberries already!! I can hardly wait until our area has some but that will be another 2 months.

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  5. Busy people getting gardens growing. We are just now getting warm. I'm seeing asparagus popping through and just put in some lettuce. Potatoes are going in tomorrow, but that's all for now. It's still chilly here. Cute chickies!

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