Friday, May 11, 2012

Picture Heavy

I cannot believe how fast the days are going by right now. It seems there is so much to be done every single day and not nearly enough hours to get it all done. The weeding alone in the garden is enough to make a person scream......
And just to make it a tad more interesting.... We planted three more 85 foot rows today just behind the clothesline.
  I think I'm going to have to sabotage the tiller!  Mars just keeps plowing up dirt.  Today the watermelon, cantaloupe, three kinds of squash, sweet potato's and pinto beans went in.  All this stuff is on the "upper" part of  the garden. We had two extra rows that he just HAD to till for next year so those were the ones with the beans planted.  Beans = Nitrogen in the soil.  
I didn't get pictures of it but I will later.
The baby chicks are starting to look like chickens now and are eating regular food. Thank goodness for that.  It pains me to feed that expensive chick feed to all of them.
Here's a shot of the little short beds we started last year.There's carrots, lettuce, broccoli and onions in those beds. On the right hand side up there is the compost bin that Mars made from pallets.


The corn patch is looking pretty good so far. 
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Here's a shot of what used to be beautiful turnip greens.... Dang bugs!  We are trying to get them under control with a garlic pepper spray... It seems to be working but it wasn't done in time to help these poor guys.


The amaranth is coming up now.  There is definitely a learning curve with planting it.  Some places came up like gangbusters and others are pretty sparse. I can't wait to see what they will look like when they start putting out color! The sunflowers here are kicking some butt though!
Black-eyed peas in the front, lettuce, onions and butter cream peas next, spinach in that kinda bare looking spot, Cherokee Trail of Tears beans and pepper plants next to that.. and Kentucky wonder Pole beans behind that.  What you don't see here are the "magic beans" and the dragon beans. They are looking good too.


The okra is just starting to come up in the front row.  There's also borage planted in between the okra.  (Don't ask me... ask Mars why...lol) on the far end are tomato plants  as well as tomato's and peppers in the second row.


Random shot of the yucca in bloom. (Just cause I think its cool!)

 There are several of these planted around the property.

 Ok .... time to get back to my weeding.....

28 comments:

  1. i had to show jambaloney all of the pics and he said exactly what i was thinking - he said "oh it looks like they are off and running - good for them"! good for you Sci and Mars! i am sure that you will have a fantastic harvest with much food to "put by" for the winter. your land is beautiful! oh jambaloney also said that the car rocks! love the pics - keep 'em coming!

    your friend,
    kymber

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    1. Its hard to believe isn't it? Girl, we have all come so far in the past few years.
      By the way, the pictures were posted with you in mind.
      Oh and tell jamie thanks... it's a "beauty"! :-)

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  2. With all that work to do at least you can't get into trouble. My little spot only has tomato plants. Hopefully I can plant other stuff soon. Ditto what Kymber said about pictures.

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    1. Momlady, you sure are right about that. The most trouble it seems I can get into here lately is not pulling weeds every day. It catches up with ya FAST! LOL

      I hope your tomato's go like gangbusters.Thanks so much for stopping by!!

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  3. you and Mars have done a wonderful job! I am putting down wet newspaper with wood chips on top to cut down on the weeds. as the year goes by, I put all kinds of grass clippings and other mulch on top and it has cut the weeds down 95% I'd say.

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    1. HP, thanks! I like your idea alot. I've been thinking about doing something like that as well. Maybe trying to call a tree trimming company and see if they will bring me a few loads their wood chips. The grass clippings right now are all going either into the compost pile or the chickens. Hmmm...... 95%?

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  4. Sci, The chicks are growing up fast. There so cute at that age, then they just turn into big birds, lol. I love the pictures of your garden. Looks like you have been hard at work. Are you getting prepared for harvesting and canning in the near future? The bugs are terrible this year, we used a homemade bug spray and it didn't work, so we had to go to the store and pickup some. That killed the little bastards (oops, I mean little bugs), lol. Your amaranth is doing better than mine. Mine didn't even sprout.
    Have a great day!

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    1. Sandy, I'm just loving the babies but you nailed it. Soon they'll just be big chickens!! LOL!
      I'm almost afraid to think ahead to the harvesting after the summer we had last year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping to be canning and dehydrating soon. If the bugs don't get us that is. I hate the little bast.. err.. bugs too!
      Sorry to hear about your amaranth. Ours is coming up kind of "spotty". Not nearly as many came up as there were seeds planted and now the little bast...err.. bugs are at them too!

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  5. What a great garden! Keep up the awesome work!

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    1. Why Thank You 1st Man! I'm actually having fun even if I do fuss about it sometimes.

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  6. Love the pics, you guys are doing an amazing job. You're going to be up to your neck in canning and dehydrating pretty soon. :)

    Your little piece of heaven is coming along quite nicely, my friend. Have a good weekend.

    Love & Hugs
    ~Fel~

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    1. Hi Fel! I might have to get you on a plane after all... If you hear me hollering OMG WHAT WAS I THINKING!!! I'm thinking "up to my neck" too! LOL
      My love to you and Catman. And tell B's I thought she looked beautiful in her prom dress.

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  7. I am insanely jealous of your garden (although not of all the work involved doing it!). Got to get my bum in gear and get my pathetic seedlings in the ground and those squash & melon seeds planted. It will be summer here before we know it!

    Is your amaranth a "bought" seed or just wild amaranth? I actually saved wild amaranth seed a few years ago and scattered it and DH almost killed me! It gets a "bit" out of hand here, but luckily the goats have been keeping it down so they don't go to seed.

    I've NEVER had a yucca plant at any of our homes so this spring when I happened upon a teeny-tiny little sprigs in the ditch up the road I plunked them in a can with some dirt and have been babysitting them. Hope I can grow them as I'd like to have them around the homestead for looking pretty and for eating.

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    1. Oh, and Sci, would you shoot me an email at CarolynRenee at centurytel dot net? Thanks!

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    2. Carolyn, your seedlings aren't "pathetic"!! But you really do need to get moving... hehehe....

      I ordered the amaranth from ... oh heck.. I think it was Bountiful Gardens or maybe Baker Creek. I guess I need to find out. Folks keep telling me that I might regret planting it but I'm really wanting to try and harvest the grain for some future experiments. And see, if the goats are eating it then I might be able to use it as a food source for mine. (if I EVER get them- sigh)

      I'll shoot an email your way this weekend. I should have already done that.

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  8. Just think of the great eating you guys will have when everything grows including the chickens. What a great little farm you have there.

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    1. Dizzy, I'm all excited and waiting on the goodies to start coming. Thanks for popping in today1

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  9. It's looking good up there! I love your place. - Genevieve

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    1. Thanks Genevieve! I guess you could call me a "Happy Camper" most of the time lately! I just love the place more and more every day it seems.

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  10. Your Garden is looking Fantastic. Love the Picture's

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    1. ccm, thanks! I'm hoping to catch up to you on canning this year! You've already got a good head start on me.

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  11. too late for this bunch of chicks...but if you can get some concrete reinforcing wire with a 4 or 6 inch spacing and bend a circle about 3 feet across, it will let the chicks in but is too small for the chickens to get thru.
    put the chick feed in the middle, and a cover on top to both keep the biguns out and to add some weight so they don't knock it over.
    the garden looks great..kudos.

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    1. xtron,
      That's a really great idea. Maybe I can make something like that for the next round of chicks.

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  12. I've read that the blossoms and young stems of yucca are edible.

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    1. Mr Smythe I surely didn't know that they were edible. I guess I have some reading to do! Thanks for the info.

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  13. It all looks very good and thriving to me. Say: I wonder if i might have a few of your Cherokee Trail of Tears seeds when you harvest them; if they are what I think they are? I tried sprouting a few years ago; didn't go, they were too old. Then getting some from a vendor over in Cherokee, NC, was a real disappointment too - dead seed.

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  14. Carolyn, You got it! Right now they are starting to flower so hopefully we'll see beans soon. (If the bugs don't get them of course!)

    I got these from Baker Creek and yes, they probably ARE the ones you are thinking of. Heirloom black beans brought along the Trail of Tears. A sad story in itself if you have ever read about it.

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  15. There is a lot of time, energy and love there. You should be very proud of all that you have accomplished this year.

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