Time for some harvest!!!

This is starting to be the time that makes all the hard work worth it.... when you finally get to start eating all the fruits from the plants you have planted, weeded, watered, fertilized... you get the point.  For me I spend most of my time after work and on the weekends out in the yard and garden.  To me it is not "something I have to do...."  but something I love to do.  It is so rewarding to sit back after you spent almost 2 hours mowing the lawn and have a nice cold drink of  choice in your hand and take in how nice the property looks, and for the garden there is NOTHING more rewarding than sinking your teeth into that 1st ripe tomato... not putting down all the other veggies that might come 1st, but nothing beats the garden tomato in my book!

Well no tomatoes are ripe in our garden... but we are getting close!

"Cupid" cherry tomatoes....so close I can almost taste them!

Margarhita  - can't wait to make pizzas with these!!

Mortgage Lifter variety

A few days ago Mo and I enjoyed some broccoli and cauliflower from the garden for dinner (cooked and cheese on top!).  Tonight I was able to harvest peas, fava beans and some green peppers.

PEAS!!!   Kind of wish I would have used a not so stained
container right about now....

"Carmen" variety

This was the 1st time I've ever grown fava beans.  They are a cool weather plant like peas.  I grew them in the area I had corn last year to help fix the nitrogen in that area.  Like many the only reason I had heard of a fava bean is cause of Hannibal Lecter... knowing that killers eat them with human liver and a nice Chianti. Our plan is to make some hummus with the beans, so everyone's livers are safe!   =)   I didn't know what to expect when getting ready to open the beans... I knew the beans were gonna be big since the seeds were huge.  But the inside of the pod was nothing I've seen before.  It is really thick and almost like a velvet liner, all fuzzy like these beans are so precious they get this nice padded soft protection.  Was really neat to see something new like that. 

After I harvested the beans, I pulled out the plants and tilled up the area.  There were some marigolds that came up on their own within the bean patch - so I dug those up and sat aside.  After we got the bed all nice again I transplanted the marigolds along the pathway, and then Mo planted 2 more rows of sunflowers.  As you can see her 1st 3 rows are going crazy  - although they are supposed to get 10' high so they have a lot of growing yet. 

Last night I worked out in the flag pole garden after work.  I tilled up all the soil around the perennials again, as some weeds started to pop up.  There were some marigolds that came up right around the brick edging where the tiller didn't hit last time.  So I transplanted all the edge marigolds to inside the bed.  They are still going through a little bit of transplant shock, but looks like they should all make it.  The white cone-heads are really starting to open up now. 

The patio is really starting to look nice, the lilies are all in bloom and with a nice breeze the smell sitting on the patio is AMAZING!!!   I took another shot of the new landscaping since the lighting was better.  Oh and did I ever mention we love daisies??  =)

 

Back to the garden for a minute....  the 3-sisters part of the garden is starting to take shape.  I'm still worried about there being enough corn for proper wind pollination tho.  Never had the best luck with corn in my garden, it might be the last year I try for corn since its so cheap at farmers markets.  Takes up a lot of room in the garden too.  Along with all the squash plants in the 3-sisters area, there are 4 mounds of cucumbers and 2 mounds each of watermelon and cantaloupe.  All of these are getting hit with the dang cucumber beetles!!!!  Its my mission this year to try not to use harsh chemicals that also kills the 'good' bugs.  So my plan of attack is a bottle of soapy water and tweezers. I feel like Mr. Miaggi (sp? from Karate Kid) trying to catch flies with chopsticks!  Any spare min I have I'm gonna go out and remove any beetles I see and drown them in the soapy water.  I started this tonight and already killed over 20 cucumber beetles as well as a Japanese beetle and a stink bug.    I'm also using Actinovate this year, an organic fungicide.  My neighbor who has all the greenhouses told me about it earlier this year.   Mix 1/2 teaspoon of the powder with  1 gallon of water. They say to do both soil drench when planting and foliar spray every 7 days.  Tonight was my 1st night doing the spray - using it on all squash, mellons, cucs (mildew) as well as tomatoes (fights blight) and potatoes (blight as well) and roses (black spot).  I bought mine from the Gardeners Supply online store.  Here is a great article about what Actinovate is and how it works.

The bug death bottle! Look close enough
and you can see the yellow stripe dang cuc beetles!

3-sisters garden:  corn, beans, squash

Edging the Patio...

We finally got to our project of adding some landscaping to the edge of the patio.  Not only does it make a nice little transition but now its a straight line from the flower beds at the back of the garage so makes it even easier to mow!  =)   We had bought 2 of the plants over a month ago and they were hard to keep watered since they were getting root bound in the nursery container.  So this is the "before photo" - I had already marked with landscaping paint where we needed to dig and got the edging I had leftover from other projects.

So the digging starts....  Mo worked on digging up chunks of sod and my job was taking a hand cultivator and getting off as much of the good soil as I could.  Mo then took the clumps of sod and put them out under the pasture gates where the goats have worn the ground down.  As I was knockin dirt off I could hear Mo screaming "They are eating the chunks as I lay them down...  they are picking them up and moving them GRH!"

As I'm getting the soil off the clumps I'm finding all sorts of soon to be Japanese beetles - they aren't in grub stage anymore but they aren't full beetles either.  I saw about 3 different stages... I just had to take a picture of it.

Unlike in films and such where they say "no animals were harmed in this production" - I can honestly say they were harmed because I smashed these guys flat after takin the photo... 5 less beetles to eat my roses!

Once we got all the clumps of sod out then we were ready to put the edging down so the patio pavers won't move into the bed since its not hard compacted soil anymore... now its light and fluffy.  But we didn't have enough edging to do the full 18' - so we had to run to Marion to go to Lowes.  I got the edging and real metal spikes to use instead of the crappy plastic ones that normally come with it.  We picked up new lighting to put in the bed and 10 bags of mulch (for this project but mostly to finish the front of the house).  After we left Lowes we decided to try out the new fozen yogurt place in town - Groovy Spoon.  Was really good - interesting way they do it - all the soft serve is along the wall - you serve yourself and then they have a bar of toppings - fresh fruits to  syrups to candies.  You pay by the ounce.  Was more than we normally spend at the little dairy bar in town - but was a nice change!  I had all sorts of fruity yogurts and Mo went with a choc/peanut butter/vanilla/coffee combo. 


So back home and we install a full line of the paver edging and start putting some plants in.  Really starting to look good!   This photo has one half of the plants in the ground.  We picked 2 different dwarf  grasses that won't get too high as we want to be able to sit on the patio and watch the goats be their crazy selves!  We picked a dwarf maiden grass called Little Kitten (Miscanthus sinensis) which should get 1-3' and a dwarf fountain grass called Piglet (Pennisetum alopecuroides) which should get 18" .  Along the side of the pathway in the middle are 2 Threadleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata 'Zegreb') which should grow to 12-15".  

As Mo figured where the plants were gonna go, getting proper measurements between the plants based on the nursery labels...  Mopar decided he would like to try to help in the project as well!

Once we got everything planted Mo was having fun with the hose and squirting the patio off since we were messy and had gotten lots of dirt all over it!  We noticed some of the muddy water coming back onto the patio so I took the trowel and made a small 'gutter' along the edge.  That seemed to fix that problem.   Next we added 1.5 bags of mulch and the pathway pavers.  Watered some more....  added the lights and BAM - Done!   We started this at 3pm when we went to the nursery to get the grasses and finished up around 9pm.  Figuring 2 shopping trips (and stopping for ice cream!),  we got this done pretty darn quickly today!  

Dreary Day....so why not blog! =)

Today is overcast with it raining off & on... so don't really feel like doing much work outside tonight.  Had to go take some photos of the raspberry canes that died that I got this spring to send to the company to figure out what might have happened.  While I was out with the camera figured I would take some shots around the house since there was no blaring sun to contend with.  Start the blog off with the funny goats...  as I have mentioned before that we have border patrol goats... this is a great photo to show you their pathway they created... its only along this side of the fence - the other 3 sides have tall grass...  its just the side closest to the house/barn...  like they are trying to figure out their next escape!

I now have THREE batches of wine going...  still have my 5 gallons of blackberry from Jan aging in the basement which I hope to bottle in a month or so.  Then I have the 5 gallon batch from my 1st try of a wine kit...  its a Raspberry White Zin...  its a lower alcohol summery wine - only takes a month from start to bottling... So that will be ready to bottle July 5th.  Then just yesterday I started a new 1-2 gallon batch of Mulberry.  I only had about a 1/2 gallon of actual Mulberry juice from my neighbors trees... so rest was Welches white grape juice concentrate... should be interesting to see how it turns out!  Won't be able to bottle that one till maybe Dec or even next year...  Wine making is not for the impatient!  Oh wait why am I doing it then?!!  Here are some photos of the fruit production here at the farm as of today....

Strawberry patch that needs picked!

Can't WAIT till the blueberry bushes ripen!!

All the little baby grapes... my next future wine batch!!  =)

The garden veggies are doing well - having some issues with bugs... but that isn't anything new... pesky buggers!  Just can't wait to start eating everything!!

My Maters...  the front left corner is called 'Mortgage Lifter'. 
My mom gave me one of her starts and its going CRAZY!  Almost to
top of the cage already!

all 4 of my margherita plants have a few maters this size.
Fruits get 5-6" long... but its a start!  You can tell I'm a
true gardener by the dirt underneath of my thumbnail!  ;)

HOT (Serrano) peppers starting to really go crazy.

One of Mo's sunflower areas... its gonna look
SOOO cute when they are in bloom.  Mo seems
to be starting to really get into the gardening too!

Soy beans.... I can't wait for Edamame for dinner!!! 

Potatoes are flowering....

Corn mounds in the 3 Sister part of garden.  Pole beans & Squash
planted yesterday (6/14).  Look forward to seeing how long till they
all pop thru the ground.

Garden Peas....  can't wait to shell them and have with a big old
pile of mashed potatoes (potatoes from the garden too of course!)

Landscaping is really growing!  Oh did I mention before that we REALLY like daisies...???

Canas popping up...

 

The lambs ear went crazy blooming this year!!

Now I'm ready to go outside....  cook some dinner on the grill and sit back on the patio and watch the border patrol goats....

If anyone is in the area and wants to stop over.... I'll have the bonfire ready to go!!  We love to get company (and a reason to have a fire!!!)

It is June and finally some decent weather!!

The last week has been so nice - warm sunny days!  Sure change from the cold rainy stuff we have been getting for what seems 2 months straight!  The goats had to get placed back into the barn as the pasture was just a swamp and the goats were covered in mud.  I think they were in the barn for over 2 weeks till it dried up out there.  During the Memorial Day weekend we did a major barn clean out - removed everything from the old tack room which is the cat house now... I raked up all the old straw - and we dumped all the old bed (boxes).  Mo put all the old straw down along the fence line in the pasture to aid in keeping it from being so muddy.  I sprayed down the cat house to clean it good - let that dry then made 2 gallons of bleach water and sprayed the walls and floor down good the next day.  We just today were able to put new beds back in there with their food, water & toys.  Not sure the barn cats knew what was going on!  The goats are back in the pasture as of 5/31 but I think they need some lessons on being goats - they are more border patrol than anything else - just back & forth along the fence that is close to the house.  The need to eat the pasture down!!

Border Patrol Goats

The last week all I've been doing is trying to get the garden going.  I had to move a huge pile of moo poo from the side all around and then till that all in.  I also added 100lbs of rice hulls into the ground to help drainage.  I can honestly say tho that adding the drain lines around the garden this year was a huge success!  With all the massive storms we had over the last month or so - the garden drained quickly and I know it was because of the tile!  

Tonight I finished up my planting for the time being.  I had to make all my mounds for my 3-Sisters planting.  I followed the directions I found on this website, and added mounds since my area was 15x20'.  Info:  http://www.reneesgarden.com/articles/3sisters.html   The corners of the area should have been squash but just from the other areas - we will have PLENTY of squash/pumpkins!  So I had Mo plant sunflowers in the 4 corners.  She also planted 3 rows on the north side of the garden.  We have like 10 packets of different varieties of sunflowers to plant this year - from 2' to 10' and all sorts of color combos.  Over Memorial weekend I got the tomatoes all planted along with basil between every plant.  Also got the row of peppers planted. Rest of the week at night I worked till it got dark out... I got bush beans, soy beans (edamame), quinoa, onions, carrots, cilantro, cucs, watermelon, & cantaloupe planted.  The potatoes are going crazy - both normal (4 kinds) and the sweet ones (we got 2 starts of 3 varieties from local garden center).

The stuff I have left to do is put thick layers of newspaper down in the paths and place the bedding from the goats stall on top of it to hold it down.  Should be good fertilizer too as it gets rained on.  I have hundreds of marigolds coming up on their own in the other flower beds, so will transplant and place on the outside of the pathways to help with pests and just look cute!  Once the corns gets going I have to plant the pole beans - using Kentucky Blue and Cherokee Trail or Tears (black beans).  For Squash I'm planting Waltham Butternut, Spaghetti squash, Winter Luxury Pie (pumpkin), Small Sugar (pumpkins).  Also need to move empty hoop house and put some garden fabric on it - use that to grow spinach under. 

Here are some pics of what the garden looks like as of today.... (you can click on them to see larger version)

View from Red Barn

Fava Beans blooming

TOMATOES!  (*and basil)

Peppers from mild to med to HOT

Sweet potato mounds,  normal taters in the back

On 5/28 the chickens were officially moved from the basement and their 2 box condo to their grown-up chicken coop in the barn!  Tonight we let them out to go free range for the 1st time.  We stayed out there with them then entire time to make sure barn cats or what ever didn't try to attack as they are still small.  Here are some pics of how much they have grown!  They are officially 8 weeks old.  Daisy Mai has more white on her chest.  Lucy Lu is more plump too.

In the coop.

Lucy Lu on left, Daisy Mai on right.  Chickens on 1st go at free range.
They were more interested in the gravel/grit on the barn floor than the grass/bugs...

Other things that happened since last post was I bottled my 1 gallon batch of dry red wine and it was good!  I purchased my 1st ever wine kit - a raspberry white zin.  I haven't had time to start it yet - if I'm not working then I'm outside in the yard!  It only takes 28 days to make, its a 6% alcohol wine so will be a good light summery wine to drink at parties.


Hopefully I remember and post more often with how things are progressing around the yard/garden.  This is the busy time of year!   That is all for now... thanks for viewing!