Bee~ Journal of then...

[lorihadams]

hey Bee, can I move in?

My chickens get treats all through the day, especially at mealtimes cause they usually get what the kids leave on their plates...they love it when the kids don't eat all their grapes!

 

[Beekissed]

lori, I would dearly love to have a SS commune here! I feel so alone most of the time, as noone knows what the heck I'm doing but they sure think I have some strange ideas!

Guess what?

I finally got most of my veggies planted and under the grow lights!

I know that sounds a little slow to you folks, but last year I got things in a little early and the soil hadn't warmed up enough, so they were still a little sluggish.

I planted:

Tomatoes: Brandywine Heritage, Old German, Abraham Lincoln~original, and Big Boy Hybrids. Also planted some Sweet Million Cherry tomatoes. 102 plants total.

Peppers: Big Bertha Hybrids~2 doz., Hungarian Wax(hot)~2 doz. and I would like to pick up a few California Wonders, as I forgot to order the seeds. 48 plants total.

Squash: Str. Neck Yellow- 1 doz. The rest will be sown later.

Cucumbers: Str. Eight, 1 doz.

Perennials: Black-eyed Susans, 1 doz. , Tickseed(Coreopsis), 1 doz., Shasta Daisy, 1 doz. , Echinacea(Purple Cone Flower), 1 doz., Pyrethrum(Painted Daisy), 1 doz., 48 plants total.

Annuals: Calendula, 1 doz.

That almost filled up the bottom shelf of my grow frame. I have two more shelves yet to fill!

Yet to be sown:

Herbs
Squash
Broccoli
Annuals

Planted some onion sets and lettuce in my cold frame yesterday.

The rest of my veggies will be sown directly in the ground when the soil is warm enough:

Pumpkins
Winter Squash
Corn
Beans
Onions
Potatoes
More annuals, including some companion plantings.
Dill
Cilantro
More lettuce
Raddish
Mangels

This will be my biggest garden ever, with more square foot methods, green manure, urine side-dressing, mulching, trellising of tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, etc.

If I can get my system in place, this will be the first year I use drip irrigation also, using a barrel at the top of the garden and recycled garden hosing for a main line. I will be purchasing the connectors and the thinner, drip irrigation lines from the local hardware.

Let the garden season begiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnn!

 

[Beekissed]

Forgot to add....my future sow is being born today! I hope all goes well with her first litter.

Also, you should have seen the looks I got today as I was sewing seeds in cells on my front porch......with a half-grown cat on my head!!! My younger cat, Mooch, just needed some attention and wouldn't leave me alone....all the while, the wind was blowing and I was in fear of losing my smaller seeds as I planted.

Crazy cat! Instead of Cat in the Hat, it was Cat for a Hat....

My farmyard is sooooo very peaceful without the 3 rd roo! I loved watching all the quiet activity today, with the mama and babies joining the big flock for scratching in the sun. I'm beginning to suspect I have not one, but two, little roos running around....the big, grey one has an awful big comb already! :/

ETA: A little sidebar....I made $78 on egg sales last month!

 

[Farmfresh]

I LOVE Calendula!

When my sissy first bought her place there was a whole field of Calendula growing wild!

Unfortunately that alone does not make very good pasture. Plus the whole field was full of trash and metal chunks - old appliances and the like. Sissy tried to save a goodly patch - she even tried to save seeds, but unfortunately they succumbed to guineas, horses and mower. In their place she has a decent orchard grass, brome, and red clover hay field. I guess sometimes you make tradeoffs.

 

[Tallman]

I know that sounds a little slow to you folks, but last year I got things in a little early and the soil hadn't warmed up enough, so they were still a little sluggish.

I operate under the theory that it is never too early to plant the first time.

 

[Farmfresh]

I am with you Bee.

With the weather THIS year - I am waiting to plant LOTS of things.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Yes, we are waiting, too.

 

[Beekissed]

Growing my own seedlings is all new to me, so I'm pretty excited. I've also read that, to make strong plants, I would either have to run a fan on them at times or just brush over them each day.

In the interest of saving electricity, I believe I will be swishing the plants!

I still haven't found a tiller but am praying about it daily. I would like to get some taters in the ground long about right now and I would if I could till.

BUT, first things first. Must get the electric fencing up around the garden, as the stupid scrounger hound will dig up my taties and eat them. He eats all the tater peelings we throw out and, last year, dug up my taters and placed them in a pile under one of the trees~to eat them at his leisure!

 

[Tallman]

Maybe you ought to plant the hound!

 

[freemotion]

I still haven't found a tiller but am praying about it daily. I would like to get some taters in the ground long about right now and I would if I could till.

You have two tillers still living at home! Hand 'em each a spading fork and point them in the right direction!

I do my turning by hand now, after living between two old Italian ladies who turned their gardens by hand. I asked one why, when another neighbor would do it for nothing with his tiller. She said it doesn't go deep enough (!) and it leaves behind gas and oil, which she doesn't want in her garden (! again!)

I sent dh out to help her after that.

I do a little almost every day, and let the chickens do the rest. A new plot takes two or more turnings, last year's takes one light one with the chickens helping turn in the compost.