School's Out for Summer!

I haven't had much to blog about lately, and have been busy with end of the school year activities and preparations. I have not had much motivation to do anything and our garden has suffered for it. We planted some tomatoes, peppers, onions, carrots, radishes, lettuce and what not back in April. We had such cold, wet weather, than only the onions sprouted and survived, even though they were in the greenhouse. I put them in the garden about a week ago to keep the volunteer onion sets that sprouted up company. I think it is going to be one of those years, you know, not as productive as you had hoped. It seems already that we are fighting an uphill battle with weather and insects and plant diseases. I am really wanting to get some canning done and had hoped I would be canning more of our home grown food rather than the local farmers market.

 

We did manage to put 20 potatoes in the garden and I finally planted some green beans and peas today. Yesterday, DH and I put some boards along the bottom of the fence and strung up some string for the beans to climb. We had corn in there last year, but failed to thin it and had stumpy corn. I salvaged what I could, and I hope the green beans and peas do better. One section is next to the mint, so I am hoping that the mint will not cause any kind of growing problems for the beans. I think mint has a bad reputation, and I don't want to find that our for myself. I have no idea what kind of yield to expect. We eat a lot of green beans that I can up and freeze. I usually buy a 25# box at the farmers market and can them. I guess I planted about 40 seeds.

As you can see my strawberries are starting to come on. I've noticed that some of the leaves are turning blackish-brown. Not sure what causes this or how to remedy it. Suggestions?



My rhubarb was prolific last year and started coming up just fine and in the matter of about a week to 10 days, the leaves are full of holes, reddish and dead or dying. I can only find some ants and some flying things that look like little  ants with wings. I read that ants can eat the roots of rhubarb, but the damage seems to come from above ground. Ideas anyone? I will miss my rhubarb this year.

Garden Planning

We usually sit down in February when seed catalogs come out and dream up our garden configuration and what we want to plant. Last year, our garden was not as successful. Our potato plants suffered from disease and/or insects, our lettuce did not grow, onions were few and far between, and our corn was not thinned so did poorly. The last two years we grew starts in our greenhouse but for some reason, I just wasn't on the ball, or it wasn't my year.I am hoping we are more successful with our gardening efforts this year.

This week we are cleaning out our greenhouse. It is about 12x12 and there are trees shading the southwest side. I want to get a thermometer and some planter boxes and try growing more in there and not transplanting everything. Does anyone have good suggestions for veggies that grow well in a greenhouse? Also, we need to board up some broken windows in it so it will heat up more. We will start some seeds as well. I think I will plant some lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and maybe some spinach. Oh, yeah, my spinach last year did not do well. Why do some veggies turn bitter before they have even bolted? At any rate, this is our big project this week. We need to prune some shrubs and other miscellaneous yard care, but it is also supposed to snow this week. We'll see how things pan out.

I have rhubarb coming up along with daffodils. The chickens have been gleaning around the strawberry plants and thatching under our tree in the front yard. I like them around to fertilize, but boy they can sure make a place look like a pig sty, as they scratch and throw rock and leaves around that I have swept numerous times. Our driveway is a landmine of rocks that they have thrown onto the cement as they glean for bugs in the rock that borders the driveway, not to mention the excrement they leave behind. DH is considering enlarging their pen so they stay put. I like having them around but they do create a mess.

Labor Day Weekend and Updates

Labor Day weekend is like the official end of summer weekend. Summer doesn't technically end until around September 22 or so, and we still can have hot and humid days. But it is back to school time and children are swarming the store with their parents buying back to school items. It is also the last time for many families to have an outing, go camping or be with friends and family for a while. Memorial Day weekend starts off the summer season, and Labor Day winds things down.

I don't know about you, but I am happy for this transition time. It is very hectic and busy in our household with back to school, and county wide events in our town that draw in thousands of people over the weekend. My sister-in-law and her family are coming to visit, a rare occasion, and we are going to have a nice visit, hang around the house and go to events and activities in town.

My garden is going ballistic all of a sudden. We had a week of warm (80-90 degrees) weather, and suddenly the weeds and our crops are growing like crazy! I have never even had butternut squash, but I planted 3 of them and they have grown so long, and now there are baby squashes growing all along the vines. My tomatoes are loaded, and potatoes are coming coming along as well. Does anyone need some rhubarb? I planted it last year and I have made rhubarb bread, rhubarb pudding, strawberry-rhubarb jam, and frozen some rhubarb. I still have stalk after stalk of this plant growing. I have even given some away to my rhubarb lover friends. It is like zucchini. It just keeps on coming. You always know who doesn't have any friends when you go to the grocery store in August and September and see someone actually paying money to buy zucchini. Really?

A friend offered for me to pick some plums at her house and I have made some plum jam. It is very light and refreshing as jams go. Don't you just love it when friends share their bounty? I am so blessed to have friends like that. Last year a friend gave me a bunch of strawberry starts that were creeping all over her garden. This year, I had enough strawberries to have some fresh for eating, making strawberry jam, and I have 4 quarts in the freezer. Give and it will be given back to you.

Creature update: Well, we haven't heard any noises in the garage, and we didn't trap anything but ants, so .. not sure what it was. But, today while I was watering our garden, Cooper, our golden retriever was chasing something all over the place. I didn't think much about it because he is a great mouser and is always catching mice, voles, and birds. Sometimes cute bunnies and he even caught and killed a marmot on Mother's Day this year. After watering I walked up to the front porch and there on the walkway was a weasel. Yikes! My husband has seen them in the shop on rare occasions, and we have seen one or two dead ones over the years, but we have never had Cooper catch one. Now, weasels are not a rodent (are they considered rodents?) you want around. Well, they are good at keeping the mouse population under control, but they are notorious for getting into things and can be very destructive. You don't want them taking up residence in or near your house. Our shop has not seen any destruction (that we have found up to this point), but my thought came back to our garage. I know we have had mice in there before because we have found them, but I do not want a weasel in my house! Has anyone dealt with weasels before?

Chickens: Our Barred Rock is as arrogant as ever. We isolated the one hen he kept servicing to the point that she wasn't laying and was bald on her back. She finally laid an egg today and I put her back in with the rest of the flock. Mistake. He didn't give her a break and she promptly went up on a roost out of his reach. The Buff Orpington is not being bothered by the rooster and continues to sow his oats. We got 3 "new" eggs this week from our pullets. One was in a box and two were on the ground. We haven't found any since. Cooper,though, did bring 3 eggs up to the front porch that he helped himself to. The shells were cracked so not usable. I'm not sure how to break him of this habit. He is just doing what retrievers do. I keep saying I'm going to stew that rooster but we just haven't got to it yet. I will let you know when his day has come.

That's about all that's going on here. I love my new job and hope to have a great year. Have a safe and fun weekend, my friends.

Blessings

Our Garden

We have gotten off to a late start on our garden. We have had another cold and windy spring. In fact, today the winds are already picking up, 26-30 mph, and later today we are supposed to have 30-40 mph winds with gusts up to 50 mph. Notice the trees in the background acting as a windbreak.

Here is a picture of our greenhouse. This is where I decided to actually start my plants. Instead of paying upwards of $2.50 per transplant, I was able to purchase a package of seeds for the same amount along with some transplant mix, and start seeds on my own.

I started tomatoes, onions, peppers,spinach, lettuce, and cabbage in late March.Almost all the spinach bolted, and I have only 4 plants in the ground. The 2 cabbages I put in the ground a couple of weeks ago are doing great, but the others I just planted yesterday and you can see how small they are.

Romaine and broccoli are in the foreground, the small cabbage is in the middle and you can see the 2 larger cabbages in the background, underneath our potatoes.

Here are our onions spinach and Swiss chard.

DH planted the corn patch and it is doing quite well.

We planted 70 potatoes. Norkotah russets, reds, Rose Finns, and Yukon Gold. Reds are in the foreground (lower right), and the rest of the taters are to the right and background. On the left side are 14 tomato plants, cucumbers, butternut squash and 3 zucchini plants.

I also have rhubarb, strawberries, green onions, some basil, oregano, mint, dill and sweet peas in the ground. I have not gotten green beans planted! I must do that soon.I am not having luck with lettuce this year. It is tough and bitter. What am I doing wrong with the lettuce and does anyone have any suggestions? What is everyone else planting in gardens this year?