Garden Friday

 

 

Welcome back to another Garden Friday,

where we share what's happening in our Zone 7b Piedmont garden.

Well, the snow is gone, but the winter chill is not.

The temperatures are usually in the 20's or 30's in the early morning hours,

but sometimes it has gotten up to the high 50's during the day,

thanks to abundant sunshine.

Today we will have rain all day long.

 

It took me a while, but I finally got the loofah sorted out.

I'll be listing this online to see if anyone can use it.

Our crop was not as prolific this year,

and the gourds never got a chance to dry completely on the vines,

so we ended up with a lot less than last year.

 

 

I'll keep a couple for us and look forward to growing it again this year.

One thing with loofah, 

there are plenty of seeds left for growing again.

 

While working on a closet organizing project,

I discovered that some of our sweet potatoes 

have started to sprout.

Not to worry, they will be saved in a brown paper sack

until it is time to create slips for this year's crop.

I also found a bag of white potatoes that are even further along

and they will get planted as soon as it warms up just a bit.

 

We started our work on the new chook run

using this welded wire and conduit.

In the fall, our rooster, Gandalf,

was attacked by a stray dog,

and was quite badly hurt.

This is our attempt to keep them all safer.

 

The conduit looks more streamlined than using t-posts,

and are much easier to install.

Simply pounding them with a mallet does the trick.

In no time at all, the posts were put in the ground.

 

 You can see here that the new run will give them

quite a bit of extra room to roam.

The girls will be happy to have more space

to get away from Gandalf's romantic advances.

Once the fence is completed,

the inner flexible fencing (shown here on the left),

will be removed.

That will be used for allowing free ranging during the afternoon.

 

Another idea I'm working on

is creating what I call "grazing tractors"

using cattle panels that have been cut in half.

These frames were originally used on the raised beds

so that row covers could be used in the winter.

I'm finding that they are a bit too tall

and the row covers are not completely covering them,

so I decided to make new frames for that purpose.

These cattle panel frames will be covered in either bird netting

or 1x1 wire so that the chooks cannot escape.

It will also keep any stray critters from getting at them.

They can be moved around the yard every day.

 

This is another "grazing tractor" idea I had,

using some leftover wire and shaping it into a rectangle

with the bottom open for grazing.

 

 I'm trying to use what I already have on the property,

and it looks like Queenie doesn't mind being in there one bit.

(At this point, the ends were open

and she willingly walked in there with no prompting.)

 

 

On other chook news,

someone is blessing us with blue eggs again!

We've gotten 5 over the last two weeks,

and we're hoping it starts a trend!

The girls have been on an extended laying break,

and I've had to buy eggs from other chicken keepers.

 

I was able to get my self-made "shed" moved this week.

It was too far out into the garden space.

 

The easiest way I could get it moved

was to lay it on its side

and drag it to its new location.

 

It's tucked underneath some trees

and nestled right next to the compost bin.

I need to clean up the leaves around it and lay down some wood chips.

I also tidied up the equipment after moving it.

 Now I have another area in which to plant,

as well as room for the mower and trailer to get by

in case I need to dump compost or soil in their designated spots.

The mailbox, which contains my tools,

will be moved closer to the "shed".

I'm thinking about planting an azalea here

that our neighbor gave us.

This spot is between our houses, so she would get to enjoy it too.

 

 

Can you believe this?

We rescued a squirrel from the inside of our gutter pipe.

The poor thing got himself stuck up there and it took

a swift yanking of his tail to get him out.

He took off for parts unknown and we wish him well.

 

 

It's been a fairly cold winter,

but I'm not complaining.

I absolutely adore living with the seasons.

How do you feel about winter?