weekend gardening
Prepping and planting mostly.
I'm growing hops this year - less for the hops themselves, more as a vine to try to shade the west and north of the house. I'm growing them in pots, so they'll need regular feeding, watering, and mulching over the summer in order to properly grow as a shade cover.
I planted beans yesterday morning, direct into the garden, and some more plantings in the evening: eggplant (black beauty), tomatoes (marchand), corn (glass gem), pumpkin (sugar baby), cucumbers (lebanese) - the basics of a summer garden. They've been planted and put in the 'greenhouse' - an aquarium in the sun with a lid to keep things warm. I think this year I'll plant a few of everything each month and try to keep track of how well they do month by month.
Over the weekend, I set a new post in the chook pen to help create a frame for a netting to go over the top. It's not the best post - a little wobbly - but it'll do, I guess. I also removed a fence that I'd been using to espalier apple trees. I'd like to put a couple of posts in place to put the wires in for proper espalier training, but that requires more digging and setting of posts. At least one branch of the apple tree is in full flower, though! Very promising!
One of our chooks is broody, I've had to take her out of the laying boxes several times a day, and it wasn't so bad on Sunday because everyone who was going to lay did their business in the early morning, but yesterday not everyone had laid, and so I couldn't lock her out all day. I've been getting her off the nest to eat and drink and waddle around in the sunshine some. And she makes outranged noises when I do, but she's so fluffy and beautiful and warm when I pick her up and deposit her down in the tractor! It's terribly cute.
And God knows we can all do with some cuteness right now...
I'm growing hops this year - less for the hops themselves, more as a vine to try to shade the west and north of the house. I'm growing them in pots, so they'll need regular feeding, watering, and mulching over the summer in order to properly grow as a shade cover.
I planted beans yesterday morning, direct into the garden, and some more plantings in the evening: eggplant (black beauty), tomatoes (marchand), corn (glass gem), pumpkin (sugar baby), cucumbers (lebanese) - the basics of a summer garden. They've been planted and put in the 'greenhouse' - an aquarium in the sun with a lid to keep things warm. I think this year I'll plant a few of everything each month and try to keep track of how well they do month by month.
Over the weekend, I set a new post in the chook pen to help create a frame for a netting to go over the top. It's not the best post - a little wobbly - but it'll do, I guess. I also removed a fence that I'd been using to espalier apple trees. I'd like to put a couple of posts in place to put the wires in for proper espalier training, but that requires more digging and setting of posts. At least one branch of the apple tree is in full flower, though! Very promising!
One of our chooks is broody, I've had to take her out of the laying boxes several times a day, and it wasn't so bad on Sunday because everyone who was going to lay did their business in the early morning, but yesterday not everyone had laid, and so I couldn't lock her out all day. I've been getting her off the nest to eat and drink and waddle around in the sunshine some. And she makes outranged noises when I do, but she's so fluffy and beautiful and warm when I pick her up and deposit her down in the tractor! It's terribly cute.
And God knows we can all do with some cuteness right now...