Homestead Happenings

 

Well, it's finally happened!

Spring made Her way to our region.

We are still having a few cooler mornings,

but overall, I'd say She's here to stay!

Here's what's been happening on our Piedmont homestead.

All the leeks have been planted in one of our

Birdie raised beds.

There are still a few ready to be harvested 

that were planted in the fall.

They make fantastic soup!

The Walla Walla onions have been planted

in an adjoining bed.

I've never had too much success with growing onions,

but I'm not giving up yet!

We use onions often when cooking,

and this variety is supposed to store well.

It may be hard to see here,

but this is one of two lettuce beds.

By the time it was watered three or four times,

I noticed that some of the seedlings had already been eaten.

The most likely suspects are the pill bugs.

They have been difficult to deter,

so we'll see what we end up with.

Not to worry, there are backups in the winter sowing containers.

We have more lettuce, kale and other goodies

waiting for their turn at planting.

The new strawberries have been added to this round bed.

I've never tried growing them on a teepee,

but it was something I wanted to try.

Now I need to devise a plan to keep the squirrels away.

One decent-looking blueberry bush is leafing out.

There seems to be another next to it,

but I didn't think blueberries could self-propagate.

Any thoughts on that?

In any case, I plan to dig up the smaller plant,

and give it a different spot in which to grow.

Blueberries have turned out to be

one of my favorite fruits!

Color is slowly coming to the flowerbeds.

This vibrant phlox is not only gorgeous to look at,

but the chooks find the flowers irresistable!

I hope they leave some blooms for us to enjoy.

It's wonderful to have this pop of color from the tulips

out in the otherwise rather dreary butterfly bed.

Soon enough, its neighbors will wake up

and fill the space with brilliant blossoms.

Daffodils always seem so cheery,

especially in the early days of spring,

when cold snaps can still wreak havoc!

The way I deal with weeds/grass coming up in the garden,

is to throw some plain cardboard on top of the area,

and follow up with a layer of woodchips.

Works like a charm and no chemicals needed!

Some time was taken yesterday to sift through our 

yard waste compost pile.

We fork or shovel the material and sift it through a sieve

over a cart.

The larger debris is added to a separate pile to use

around flower beds or other areas of the yard.

The final product is easy to clump in one's hand,

just the texture I am looking for.

With half of the compost pile sifted,

I had five 5-gallon buckets of compost

to use on anything and everything I plant.

I'm hoping to be able to complete this task soon.

In the next post,

I hope to show you the redo of this area

just off of the kitchen.

It's quite a change,

but will make my life so much easier.

I'm so happy to report that all 5 of our girls

are doing well.

Even Henrietta, who had to join the Olive Eggers

after she lost both of her coop mates.

It seems that everyone is doing well with the transition.

Our new chicks should be here in a couple of weeks,

and I will introduce them next time.

Until then, look after yourselves.

Homestead Happenings

Hey there!

Welcome back to Homestead Happenings,

where we share what's going on 

here on our Piedmont homestead.

It's been a busy couple of weeks.

Our first rudbeckia of the season has bloomed!

One of the bigger projects this week,

was to get our tall Birdie's beds filled for planting.

As with the hugelkultur method,

logs, branches and twigs are added to the bed,

to reduce the amount of soil needed to fill it.

Everything added will decompose over time.

Shredded leaves from our autumn collecting

makes up the next layer of the bed.

These deep beds take a lot of material,

and it's great having everything on hand.

 

Woodchips make up the last layer before soil.

It fills up any gaps in the bed,

and will break down over time

to enrich the planting medium.

A variety of beets, kale, leeks, 

lettuce and onions fill this bed.

A topping of shredded leaves allows for

moisture retention and weed supression.

It's so gratifying to see veg out there,

knowing it will feed me well.

Succession seedlings await their turn.

We are still harvesting asparagus once or twice a week.

The lettuce that I've been eating off of for the last few months

is starting to bolt, so the new starts will be stepping in.

Since they are still small,

I'll enjoy some baby greens in my salads for a while.

The succession planting idea keeps food coming in

throughout the season.

The irrigation was completed this week,

so the veg garden can be put on a timer

and water itself.

There is still some work needed on our southmost beds,

which contain pollinator plants and garlic.

The flower beds will also get a thorough testing,

to make sure that the drip is working well.

Might as well do everything now,

while the weather is still cool.

The update on the skunk

is that s/he seems to have found somewhere else 

to look for food.

Since adding the hardware cloth around the perimeter

of both runs, there haven't been any signs of digging under.

I did find this lil' guy when I was spreading woodchips.

I added a couple of impromptu fences to areas of the garden.

This area next to our A/C unit has what looks like

cover crops that have come up.

It's been so long, I'm not sure what I planted there!

I like the kind of wild, carefree way it's growing,

but I wanted to keep it off of the pathway in front of the bed,

so I added this brick we had laying around.

Then, next to the two chook runs,

there is a strip of canna lilies coming up.

For some reason, our naughty girls like to eat the leaves.

I decided to add another length of hardware cloth

bordered by more of that brick.

Let's hope they make it!

Speaking of chooks,

our little girls seem to be doing fine.

Here they are enjoying some supervised outdoor time,

getting used to grass, the sunshine

and the strange noises all around them.

They are 4 weeks old this week.

If the weather stays warm,

they should be heading out into their own coop

in about 2 or 3 weeks.

After their size matches the gals we have,

they will be introduced to the flock.

The rest of the birdhouses were hung on trees

instead of using the conduit as in past years.

Another job that will make it easier for me in the future.

Our next-door neighbor's holly 

is loaded with berries!

No doubt the birds will have a feast,

and I'll have some beautiful branches to bring inside.

The loofah has been planted at the base of the gazebo frame.

This will add some shade to the chook run,

as well as provide loofah for anyone who would like some.

Once harvested, it is offered up on a local trading site for free.

Loofah support

The canna lilies are starting to shoot up 

in the front porch bed.

The flower beds are really starting to fill in.

This week, I noticed how the daisies, coneflowers,

rudbeckia and this rue have taken off.

Rue is one of the host plants for the

black swallowtail caterpillars,

so we hope to have many visitors.

Let me know if you want seeds.

With the irrigation project under control,

it's nice to be able to focus on adding to the flowerbeds,

seed sowing and enjoying our flock.

What's going on at your place?

Homestead Happenings

 

It's time for Homestead Happenings,

where we share what's been going on 

here on our Piedmont homestead.

More cut flowers this week included some gorgeous

multi petaled tulips in various shades.

This vessel was actually the milk pitcher

my mom transferred over from the milk bottles

that were delivered to our back porch when I was a wee one.

One of the few childhood treasures I ended up with.

We did it!

We expanded our family and picked up a few

Olive Egger chicks!

It's so exciting having young energy in the house.

They are the softest creatures I have ever felt.

What a blessing to be able to nurture new life.

The unused spa tub is being used as a brooder.

They are not too loud as they cheep and peep,

so they don't keep Big K up at night.

I was wondering if his snoring would keep them awake!

Our hummer feeders have been washed and scrubbed

and will be ready for the first day of April

to start taking care of our feathered friends.

A neighbor had given me the little cleaning kit,

which comes with tiny bottle brushes to clean the ports.

It also came with extra ports so they can be replaced as needed.

We are swimming in seedlings,

which I have to admit,

is a nice place to be.

I've never before had so much success with starting seeds.

Thanks to the winter sowing method.

there are plenty for us and more to give away!

red kale

speckled Amish butter lettuce

leeks

More of the winter sowing seedlings

were transplanted yesterday into larger cell packs.

The root system is absolutely fabulous,

and I'm hoping they continue to thrive in their new pots.

The soil recipe I'm using came from a good friend

and fellow Master Gardener.

She uses organic topsoil mixed with perlite

and vermiculite.

Peat moss is never used here,

as it is not a sustainable resource.

This combination seems to work well,

and we have a local supplier for the topsoil 

literally down the road.

tulips

On my daily walk,

it's hard not to notice the beautiful blooms.

One of our neighbors, and fellow veg gardener,

has an amazing display of phlox sprawling next to his driveway.

This is a favorite, and I have plans to plant it

along our slope, so that it cascades down to the street.

This candytuft fills in another neighbor's mailbox bed.

We have some of this growing in our pollinator bed,

but I plan to add more around the homestead.

It stayed green all winter,

and requires very little care.

Our wonderful next door neighbor's irises

were struttin' their stuff yesterday.

The blues are so intense,

and the contrast between the bloom and the green foliage

is certainly striking.

Life is good here on the homestead.

How's spring shaping up where you are?