Friday Fotos

 

 

 With spring practically knocking on our door,

this will wrap up the Friday Fotos feature for this season.

The colors have been brilliant all around the neighborhood.

 

One plant I want to put on my "it's time to buy" list

is the forsythia.

I've never been too big a fan of yellow in the garden,

but this bush is so striking that I will be on the lookout

for a few to add to the landscape.

Until then, I will have to be content admiring my neighbor's.

 

Queenie

 

This week, we have some good news and some bad news.

I'll start with the bad news (although it could've been worse.)

There was an incident on Wednesday evening while the chooks were ranging.

The neighbors' dogs got out and they headed straight for the chooks.

(These are new neighbors and we kind of agreed to keep the chooks in the run

in the morning so the dogs could be let out,

and vice versa.)

After much mayhem and scrambling,

the chooks got away and the pups were put inside.

I decided to put the chooks back in the run,

as they were fairly freaked out by the episode.

Being a newbie chicken keeper, I didn't think about checking them.

 

When C went to lock the coop up that evening,

he came in to tell me that there was a problem.

When I went to check, the entire inside of the coop

was splattered with blood.

Poor Queenie had been hurt in the commotion.

I cleaned her up as best I could and let her spend the night

by herself on the side of the coop where the nesting boxes rest.

This way, she could hear her friends on the other side of the wall,

but didn't need to worry about being disturbed.

Thankfully, yesterday she seemed fine and I was so relieved

to see her look up at me as I retrieved her from the coop.

It looks like their free-ranging days are over.

We are working on a larger fenced in area,

so that they will be able to forage safely.

 

 

 

On a happier note,

the snap peas are up!

Wouldn't you know that just as soon as I had gone to the store

to purchase fresh seed, I discovered that they had germinated.

Ah well, more seeds for fall planting.

 

The leeks are growing a lot more

since the row covers were removed.

It hasn't hurt that we've had ample rain in the last two weeks.

 

 

I'm not sure how this happened,

but the garlic looks like it's coming up in bunches.

I've never had this happen before,

so I'm not sure if it's me trying to emulate Charles Dowding,

or something funky going on with the cloves.

In any case, there will be plenty of garlic in our future.

 

I can hardly believe this is cabbage that I planted.

It's a first-for-me crop,

and something that I love eating raw,

so if the heads keep growing, it'll be a happy day.

 

 

The parsley is rockin'!

It has been drinking in every drop of rain we've had

and getting ready to host black swallowtail caterpillars

(I hope).

 

The existing blueberry bushes are leafing out,

which is amazing, considering that I wasn't even sure if they were still viable.

I have three bushes that will be transplanted to the new area,

where the three new bushes will be installed this weekend.

I'll be going to pick them up today at our local Extension office,

along with our new asparagus plants.

Soil acidifier was purchased this week,

so that I can add it to the compost mixture and give the blueberries a great start.

 

 

 

 One of the best things to happen this week,

was the germination of eggplant!

There are two varieties seeded,

one a long, Japanese type and the other

the Listada de Gandia variety.

I've grown both before,

and love to pan fry it to perfection.

 

Listada de Gandia eggplant

Isn't it gorgeous?

 

 

The first sweet potato slip of the season popped out

 this past week!

I'm so excited to grow my own slips

and have a windowsill for just that purpose. 

This is so easy to do and is so rewarding to watch.

 

 The gravel project is complete,

and we all love not only the way it looks,

but the sound of the crunching gravel when we walk on it.

Grateful to have finished something on our 2021 project list.

It wasn't easy, but it was very gratifying.

When we renovated the kitchen a year ago,

we decided we'd like to get some stools for the island,

but couldn't find exactly what we both liked.

IKEA saved the day with these bar stools.

They seem to be perfect for the spot and are so comfy!

It makes me love our new kitchen even more.

 

With spring officially just days away,

we'll be starting up with Garden Fridays next week.

Until then,

may the sunshine bless your homestead.