Howdy everyone!
Things just keep on growing here! We hope the weather where you are has turned favorable and that your gardens are plumping up as nicely as ours are! Our weather has been so nice that we've been able to start on a few other homestead projects in addition to the ever important planting and nurturing of crops. With no further ado, check out what we've got going on this week!
Our lettuce is just about ready for our first salad from the garden and given that we planted 2 full rows of leaf lettuces, we should be able to harvest and come again for more in a few weeks. I can't wait for our first crispy, flavorful harvest! The Half-Pint Peas have blooms on them and are adorable as can be with their miniature little vines that are only about 4-6 inches tall right now. The strawberry plants have their first little green berries filling out and from the looks of things, our first flush of fruit will be plentiful.
In the mini-orchard, the Bruce Plum and our Red Delicious Apple trees are fully leafed up, and the new Honeycrisp Apple and the Native Plums are catching up quite nicely. Not pictured, the currant plants are looking robust and lovely as ever and the Pink Champagne Currant has a few small green fruits on it that I'm hoping to get at least a little taste from this year.
The peppers and tomatoes still have yet to get into the ground (It has been a busy week here and we need to pick up some more compost for the bed before we plant), but we do have a few small peppers and one little tomato growing already! I think this is the earliest we've had fruit on peppers and tomatoes yet!
Nate started work on our chicken coop renovation this week as well. We're adding an external nest box that will come out of the side of the chicken coop and allow for much easier egg-collection once it is installed. I'm sure the girls will be mystified and probably more than a little irritated by the change, but long-term, it is a much better and easier egg collection solution than we currently have with our bucket nests. Right now, one of us has to climb into the coop daily to collect the eggs. The addition will not only give our girls more floor space, but will also make it so much easier to collect eggs and avoid accidentally broken eggs. Once installed, we're going to shingle the roof (previously it was only tar-papered) and paint the coop. I'm thinking a pale blue and off-white in honor of our girls' signature blue eggs.
The most exciting news comes from our duck-house this week! Nibble has decided to try again at being a mommy duck and has a nest of 12 eggs that she has been tending diligently for the last week or so. When we first realized she had a clutch that she decided to pay attention to, we put a nest box into the coop for her (made of an upside-down mini-pallet with end-boards attached) and moved her eggs into the safety of the nest box to avoid them being tromped on or accidentally rolled out of the nest. She likes nesting right beside the doorway and last year, she had a lot of challenges with losing eggs right out the door of the house. We counted and numbered the eggs earlier in the week and we're thinking of having a contest when it gets closer to hatching time to see which egg will hatch first. Duck-nest cam may be coming sometime in the near future so we can all keep an eye on Nibs and her brood.
Things are looking lovely at Jamie and Kenny's Micro-Farm as well!
This week has been basically hot and that's about it. My yellow squash and zucchini are getting HUGE, and I'm incredibly pleased that my lettuce, broccoli and spinach are looking lush and also developing well.
I made the mistake of building my trellis just a couple of inches too far away from my peas. Thankfully, I've gotten them mostly untangled and they're finally grown enough to actually reach the trellis.
My green beans (in the middle just in front of the squash) are also going pretty wild. The eggplants and tomatoes that just got moved to the garden last week (barely visible in the soil next to all of the other beautiful green things) seem to be having a somewhat rough time with the ruthless Southern sun and high temperatures, but I'm pleased to say they're at least hanging on.
Much like the squash(es?) in the vegetable garden, the pumpkin plants are getting quite huge. AND I have little watermelon plants sprouting in my recently (and somewhat haphazardly) planted watermelon patch. This little guy is one of 5 sprouts.
We have also got an update from Stell who has thawed out enough to get some growth happening up there.
I have things to show finally!! My bulbs are GORGEOUS right now, and I finally got outside and got to work on Monday, which was also a gorgeous day. I got all the beds fork-turned and ready to go this week, planted one with scarlet nantes carrots, the next with broccoli (Pacman and some other one) and cauliflower, the next with chioggia beets and javelin parsnips, the next with mixed cabbages, joi choi bok choi, winter density lettuce, and mixed leaf lettuces, and then beefed up the herb bed with plenty of parsley, thyme, and cilantro. I dumped some chive seeds in a patch, too. If they do anything, great. Then I planted 20 cherry tomato plants along the front wall as part of my Food is Free project, and put the last 4 in one of the straw bales in the front garden. I alternated Sweet Million, Sungold, Yellow Jelly Bean, and a red grape tomato so we'd get the full color effect. I also threw some Brussels Sprouts seeds in the corner bale in the front garden, and then did the three back bales against the house with Super Sugar Snap peas, Cascadia snap peas, and another snap pea I can't remember. The three bales on the wall got Red Russian Kale, Rainbow Swiss chard, and Lacinato kale. I'm hoping to get potatoes in tomorrow, but I also have a pottery project so we'll see how far I get with that. The tires all need to be moved, cleaned out, and dug under really well to get that job done. It's coming along! -Stell
Until next week, Happy Gardening!
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