Monday, April 29, 2013

Things you encounter.



As promised, here is my salad and everything is either from our garden or our chickens.

They mowed the horse pasture this past week end and the copperheads are heading to higher ground.  While this isn't the one Jonathan and Lowell encountered, this is what they look like.  Our's is now "deader than a doornail" and they threw it over the fence before I could get a picture.

Another thing I learned this weekend,  Shiner, our Blue Heeler, loves fresh spinach.  He eats it right off the plant.  I wondered who/what had been eating it - now I know.   

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

It's been a while.....but things are going nicely.

Well, it has been over a month since I posted last.  Sorry for the delay but I got a new piece of technology (an iPad) and my brain doesn't exactly wrap about Apple's thinking.)  :)   

We actually have 288 sq ft under cultivation (sounds better than 24 x 12 patio, doesn't it?).  We'll make the move off the patio next season.

If you recall a month ago, we didn't have much to show for our work but what a difference a month can make.  We have collards above, lettuce and radishes to the right and Jonathan's Golden Sweet Tomatoes, below.  (I don't do tomatoes, I'm allergic to them.)  The Yukon Gold potatoes are at the very bottom.  Those are the ones that I thought I killed.  
It turned out, the only thing I've killed so far is the Florida Cranberry (a/k/a Red Hibiscus Tea).  I've replanted twice and not much luck.  I think the weather changes (we have a cold spell - lower 40s - about every other week) is getting to them.  I'll try again in mid-May because I love Red Hibiscus Tea and it's too expensive to buy. 

I think is it cool how the potato sacks are about 2 feet tall now and getting taller everydayIt was interesting to find that sweet potatoes and regular potatoes are grown differently.  You mound regular potatoes but not sweet potatoes and sweet potatoes don't like any kind of cold weather so we planted them in 5 gallon buckets in order to move them in the greenhouse when it gets too cold.


The beans are finally coming up.  I got impatient waiting for the first ones so I planted another crop.  Now I have twice as many beans as I intended.  I'm going to need to learn to can and/or freeze our produce.  If you know of anybody, message me.  

The corn, cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli and squash are still at the small stage but they are getting them.  I'm still waiting for the okra to sprout. 

We have started cutting lettuce and spinach for salads.  You harvest different parts of the patch on different days and you continually have fresh lettuce to eat.

Puppy (a/k/a Shiner) is still our major culprit that gets into everything but he is getting better.  We just have to keep him busy and out of the garden.   

Lastly and I'll take a picture tonight, it was such a great feeling to know that everything (except the cheese and I'm working on that) is from our garden.

Eventually, we'll have the whole yard as a veggie/fruit garden and when maybe Chateau Willow will come to fruition (get it?).

More later.........