allium |
It's nearing the month of May,
and there's been a lot of activity in the garden, and beyond!
Here's some of what we've been up to.
Yukon Gold potatoes were planted in two different spots,
both in the ground.
Using grow bags is my preferred method for growing spuds,
but there were none available,
so I found a couple of bare spots.
They popped up about a week later.
The wire seen on this crop (and others),
is to deter chooks from scratching up plants,
and to keep squirrels out of my food source!
The Seminole pumpkin seeds germinated quicker
than I thought they might.
This was a new-to-me crop last year,
and I was quite impressed with it.
No pest issues to speak of, which is very rare
for squash of any kind.
The loofah sprouted up in mere days,
so it was transferred to its resting place
underneath the gazebo frame.
This will provide the chooks with some
much needed shade come summertime.
The bonus is that I hope to have many loofahs to give away!
The first harvest of salad greens took place
yesterday, and it looks like we'll have ample lettuce
for the coming weeks.
There are also seedlings that will be
transplanted into another bed in a week or two.
Gotta keep the greens comin'!
Although we have five blueberry bushes,
this is the only one that is loaded with berries.
I sure hope I get some before the squirrels
try to take them all.
I will continue to work on improving our harvests each year.
The strawberries are ripening,
and care was taken to surround the circular bed
with welded wire to keep the squirrels out.
New plants may be acquired next season,
as they have to be replaced every few years.
A recent trick I learned to deal with pill bugs,
is to slice medallions of white potatoes
and place them in the beds.
The theory is that the little pests
go for the spuds and leave the other crops alone.
So far, so good.
The potato slices need to be replaced every so often,
but it beats using pesticides!
ajuga |
A tray of both food and flowers was sown
using the soil block method.
This process is still very new to me,
and it takes some practice to get the consistency of the soil
just right so that it stays in the metal form.
I'll keep working on it,
as I'd like to do away completely with using plastic.
Our flower beds are really starting to fill in,
with familiar favorites and a few new plants.
There is still room for additions,
and I'm sure I won't have any trouble finding just the right ones.
All of these plants must be drought tolerant,
as there is no irrigation in this bed.
What a pleasant surprise to see this pink yarrow blooming!
There are many areas in which we have the white variety,
and I had pretty much forgotten that this beauty had been added
just last year.
The baptisia seed was sown a couple of years ago,
and this is the first time it has bloomed.
It's so exciting to see new things popping up!
A few projects were finished over the last two weeks.
I was able to get five 5-gallon buckets of compost
sifted and put in containers.
This process is done once in the spring and in the fall,
and it gives me compost to add to the beds
each time something new goes in,
or to top off the raised beds.
I think it has improved over the last few years,
as the chooks scratching it up and adding manure to the pile helps.
The compost/storage area was tidied a bit.
I call myself "chronically organized",
because I just don't do well when things are a mess.
Why waste time looking for things
when keeping things organized is so easy?
A big project that has begun is that we have added
a 6 foot wire fence attached to the chook run.
We have three escapees who refuse to be confined,
and they simply climb or jump over the fabric netting we currently have up.
This new system is at least 3 feet taller, so we are hoping
it will keep them inside.
The fencing is kept in place using conduit.
It's not a fancy or super sturdy fence,
but it's what I can do myself, can afford and it will
also allow us to put bird netting over the top,
to keep flying predators away.
We still have a larger area to fence in this way,
and we hope to finish that before the hot weather ensues.
It's probably not clear in this picture,
but we have a mole problem.
The center part of this photo shows the ground
raised up and disturbed.
The vole issue we were having in the runs
seems to have been improved by the vibrating spikes
we installed a few weeks ago.
That, and I also add cayenne to the chooks' feed
and select areas in the run where we see holes.
The girls don't taste the cayenne, but the voles do.
Ah well, we have to learn to live together.
The three amigas |
Isn't springtime just magical?
So many gorgeous things showing off
and the signs of new life all around.
We had a family of wrens in our porch birdhouse,
and the babies just fledged this week.
So exciting and joyful.
I'll take the joy where I can get it.
How's spring coming along where you are?