Community Garden: Week 5

All I could think when I saw the garden the other morning was, "You're going to have a lot of weeding to do!"  It's rained a lot lately, but I was not prepared for how much the garden grew and all the weeds that have taken off after not seeing things for about four days.  I now have a nice green carpet down the path to my sister and my plots and do believe there are more weeds than plants.

This gives me hope that things will look half as bountiful in the next week or two at the cabin garden.

My Japanese squash are looking fantastic.  Have I ever told you all that I love squash leaves more than any other--I know I'm not the only gardener that has a thing for leaves...right?

Can you find my peas among the weeds?

Potatoes!

And those shell beans are looking good.  The snow caps are semi runners and I haven't staked them....oops.

And look at this guy hanging out by the garden gate.  He's a sunflower seeded from last year's.  The darker coloration means he's either A giant telegraph pole or one of the evening suns.  I've voting telegraph.  I think I should put a little sign around him that says not to pull him, please.

So I better get on those weeds....hopefully by this weekend it'll all look clean and civilized.

Three Eggs {Again}

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Being back by the chicken coop yesterday working in the garden allowed me to see how these girls spend their day exactly.  I went out to find Eva in one of the nest boxes pretty early.  I have been giving out extra laying rations and all sorts of goodies, padding the boxes with fresh grass, all different kinds of things to make her feel loved and ready to lay again--I think all worked, because this morning she laid the first egg in almost a month.  The other girls probably thought she was too much of an early riser, because they usually don't lay until noon or a few hours after.

Later that day I observed Ida hopping into a box and settling in.  Pansy followed to investigate and chit-chat, then went to hang out in the next box over.  They talked back and forth for some time before both finished up business and went down to join Eva going through the new dirt I had brought into the coop floor full of leaves, ants, and whatnot.  Not a bad day for a chicken.

Really, I was working in the garden--not just chicken watching--back in the garden finishing things up today.

Happy solstice everyone.

Edible Decor

Loving the colors involved in my lettuce planters out on the deck--black seeded Simpson looks the most brilliant shade of lime green and the red romain the most interesting hues of red, green, and purple.  Going with more edible planters on the deck this year full of herbs, lettuce, and even cherry tomatoes, although there are flowers as well.

Community Garden: Week 4

It's hard to believe it's been four weeks since most of the community garden was planted.

I haven't been as attentive as I should have been when it comes to my beans.  I have no idea whether they sprouted and were plucked by birds {as in Arizona} or if they just didn't sprout.  There are some big gaps, so I replanted in the empty spots.  These are brand new seeds from a new variety I'm trying so they should have all done well.

And I only have two lima bean plants...I've never had problems with these before and the seeds are fresh.  Hopefully the second time will be the charm.

I'm also noticing that I need some more sunflowers seeded around the perimeter of the garden.  I had forgotten that I was going to go back in and sow the Arikara seeds between the others I had planted.

The weeds on the path and by the back fence and in the garden need to be addressed.  Otherwise things look pretty good and are on the verge of taking off.

Wildflower Time

The wild rose by the front steps bloomed this afternoon.  Last year it didn't bloom until July.  There are also daisies in the woods.  Wildflower time.

Tramatized

Eva is alive and well {picture from just a few minutes ago}.  I guess my previous mention of her led some of you to believe she wasn't...sorry for that.  Remember how I said we took apart the hen house?  It's been almost four weeks since the chickens have had their home shook up and Eva is still so upset with the change that she's stopped laying eggs.  She stopped the day after demolition and hasn't laid one since.  Not sure how to get her back to happy.



*And for those of you who are worried {after talking to my sister}...I really am okay.  I know you all are looking out for me...Eva and I will get back to ourselves sooner or later.  It seems something can be done and my doctor up here has more sympathy {and wants to recommend me to some study due to my rare susceptibility--I passed on that opportunity for the time being}.  I should hopefully be feeling better in a few days and it's giving me the needed excuse to commit to more chilling out.

Project {Almost} Completed

Before my clearing efforts...

After clearing and tilling....

It seemed like an insurmountable project to complete on my own to clear the extra space at the cabin for a garden.  After I mentioned to some of you that I didn't think I was going to get the garden at the cabin going and got all sorts of protests in response, it made me start thinking about all the seeds waiting to be planted that I had been thinking about all winter plus the plants already started and ready to get in the ground.  I snapped out of it and stopped being a wuss.  Friday I went out with the hatchet from our camping gear thankful it has always been kept so sharp and charged into clearing the little birch and the brush that filled the area of the planned garden.  In the process I stirred up ants that were very upset about being disturbed and had wood ticks crawling all over and up my clothing, but avoided getting bit by either somehow.  Actually, it was quite satisfying to wield damage with that hatchet.  Charlie hung out with me and faithfully observed all of this destruction without even a raised eyebrow while Jewel took cover under the deck.

Dad {who is up here right now} let me use his truck to go pick up a rented tiller Saturday morning after I bribed him with the promise of plenty of his beloved collard greens.  The rain luckily took a break and within three hours the tiller and I had things looking nice--it was a very fulfilling workout.  Things went so smoothly that on a whim I extended the garden by 40 feet so that I could plant even more winter squash making this a 15' x 80' garden.

Tomorrow afternoon the rain is suppose to let up and I'll string the fence and start planting.  Thanks for the protesting and encouragement from those of you who insisted I get going with this.  Things are over a week late in completing, but finally almost done and it does feel nice to look out on the almost finished garden.

Community Garden: Week 3

This time around at the garden I was met by a friend who also has a plot and brought her own stash of cider {homebrewed} and a daisy plant to share with me.  This bodes to be a great gardening season.

The community garden is still in that beginning phase.  I'm waiting on things to sprout still.  There has been some uneven germination among my bean varieties, but it's still too soon to count the ones that haven't sprouted as losses and replant to fill in the gaps.  The week the garden went in was unusually warm and then it cooled of, so that may have something to do with the unusual progress in some places and lack of it in others.

When I stopped by this afternoon I was happy to see my Japanese winter squash--black futsu--starting to form their first leaves.

My new heirloom cucumbers {that should not get bitter} are also doing well.

Wax beans have reliably germinated...every single seed.

These shell beans have some huge leaves forming.  These would be the calypso beans I had seeds left over from 6 years ago that I never planted after ordering them from Gurneys.  They are not heirlooms, but I decided to give them a go since they had been waiting so long.  All seeds germinated.  I also have an heirloom snow cap shell bean that is also starting to sprout.

All of the flower plots in the front of the garden have also sprouted and the tarahumara sunflowers around the boarder of the garden as well {still waiting on the evening suns}.

It was nice to see all the growth that's started after not seeing the garden for about 2 weeks.  Other plots have some nice things going on as well.  The rain has been good to things so far.

I finally got my seed potatoes sliced up and planted. I'm trying a purple variety one more time {my purples have notoriously not turned out well}.  This would be a purple Russian I picked up at the co-op in town.  I crammed the potatoes in between the Japanese squash and shell beans instead of where I originally had them planned because there appeared to be more space there.  If it looks like they're struggling I'll thin them out, but last year they had about the same amount of room and turned out medium sized.

Beets were also planted.  I had saved seeds from the Detrioit red, golden, and chiogga hodge-podge I planted last year.  The chiogga were by far the best beets, we'll see how it goes this time around.

Now, all that's left to plant are the onions and leeks...and eggplant too...and ground cherries....

Around Here

Tilling of the house garden was suppose to take place last week.  It's now on my to-do list for this week.  It will be put in at about the same time as last year's garden and the only thing going in from seed will be the winter squash, kale, spinach and some other greens.  They'll be fine.  I do have a few black krim tomatoes that will have to be planted pretty deep and lots of leaves to take off due to them having to wait for their permanent home.

I'm told I have a hummingbird battle going on.  Two are disputing territory in midair over rights to the flowers on the deck and the feeder.  I'm also told the oriels are back and a bald eagle keeps cruising over in the evenings.

My sister unloaded tons of flowers on me.  One of my projects this week is to try to plant them in something.  These are ones she started from seed.  I've never seen the green or the pink/brownish/purple petunias before.  I think they are named lime sophisticas and antique sophisticas.

I have a chicken coop to finish up.  We had taken apart 95% of the hen house and had plans to build one with a window in the back and hinged opening for egg collection {kind of like some of these}.  Their hen house wasn't bad, but just boards that created a simple house and a door with a ramp.  Now the girls just have a bottom floor with their crates {yes those are from the former classroom...}, but it's summertime and fresh air is good, so the project can get done little by little.  The girls act completely fine with their simplified digs so I'm fine with it too for now.

I have committed to getting my rabbit barn squared away with better hutches this week.  The girls will get their new homes first.  They've all been very patient through the long winter and deserve a little spoiling.  The two current batches of kits have been living in the traveler this past week.  My sister went out every 2 or 3 hours at night to make sure they weren't being eaten by anything while I was away...I owe her big time. Certainly in need of more housing and some more outdoor movable pens for the summer.  I've decided to wait a year on bees.  Last week I was suppose to pick up a hive, but with all that happened obviously did not.  Instead I'm going to throw my efforts into the rabbitry this summer and finish getting it set up.  I can't keep up with all the people inquiring about silver foxes and so focusing on them would probably be wise.  There's a local honey bee club I learned about that I plan on delving into though.  It will mean I'm even more prepared for bee arrival next spring.

Most of Sunday afternoon was spent outside checking up on things and mowing grass and it felt good.  I have had paint waiting to finally finish up the barn trim and got that started this evening too.  I think the color scheme is going to make it look like something straight out of New Mexico.

Flower seed planting was finally finished {I had planted in front of the cabin and things are sprouting...but the battle to keep the dogs out of the beds of cosmos and zinnias has begun...there are a few spots that will need to be patched up}.

And I'm trying to appreciate this phase of gardening more this year.  I've often found that I get impatient during this first stage when things are so small or may or may not sprout {things almost always germinate}.  I don't know why...possibly because in my mind there's this race until the fall frost {or in previous years a race to get the harvest in before things got too hot}.  But things will grow and harvest will come and this is an exciting time in the garden.  I'm glad I put in a few planters of lettuce earlier than everything else.  They should tide me over...I was able to cut some mizuna this evening for supper.

I broke down and stopped at a nursery I used to go to growing up a few days ago on the way back to Minnesota and bought some herbs I had not gotten seeds for and never grown before just for something fresh and new--purple basil, fennel, and marjoram.  My Mom had marjoram in the kitchen window when I was very small and it brings back happy memories of a pretty free spirited childhood in hot and humid Florida with America on the radio and my sister and I collecting toads in the evenings and running in to the kitchen sink to fill a container for their water dish in the bottom of a 5 gallon drywall mud bucket, and then letting those same toads go on their way in the morning and watching them happily hop off across the yard to freedom.  Sometimes I would reach up and grab a leaf to eat.  I don't know why I never thought of planting marjoram before, but when I passed it in the greenhouse as I aimlessly browsed around it instantly brought back all those memories and resulted in the other two coming home to join it as well.

It was good to be greeted by the crew.  They have been in good hands and spoiled even more than usual under my sister's care.  Them being there and hanging out does make the cabin feel more welcoming to return to.

And Jewel and Tuesday seemed to be getting on fine.  It took Jewel months to get used to niece Sophia {which meant months of hiding under beds and behind end tables}.

Most of you already know this, but for those of you who don't--Mike was killed on the 29th of May in an accident along with a friends little boy while visiting a friend from the service and it all feels very unreal still.  Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.  I don't know what else to say.  My mind is a mess right now.