Thinking of getting chickens?

Now is the season where your local feed stores will start carrying baby chicks! They are so adorable and hard to resist! If you are thinking of getting some and are new to chickens, here are some books I recommend:

Planted my first batch of peas!!!

I'm so proud of myself! I've never gotten my peas in so early before. My Mother-in-law and many others in this neck of the woods, have always said February is the time to get the peas planted, and I was determined to get it done this weekend. Hubby even tilled the garden bed for me after I cleaned it up. It's been in the 50's and sunny for the last week, but rain is supposed to come and stay tonight or tomorrow. So yeah for me!!

We have new baby chicks in the house!

I had to share what has been keeping us busy these last 2 weeks. We got new baby chicks! 13 in all, including 3 Buff Rock, 1 Barred Rock, 2 Speckled Sussex, 2 Ameraucana (aka: Easter Eggers), 2 Silver Polish, 2 Rhode Island Red and one mystery chick that we know is a feather footed bantam of some type who is yellow in color right now. Here's the pic's!







We actually went in on an order with a couple people my husband works with, so you may see some other breeds in the photo's like the cornish. We babysat theirs for a week or two. Now we have to get busy building another coop, as our current one is not quite big enough for those we currently have and these, so that will be our spring project.

I've also been browsing at www.backyardchickens.com for coop ideas. Members there have posted lots of ideas and it's a great place to get inspired. Also been browsing on Craigslist.org to see if I can find a previously used coop or shed at a good price. We are also thinking of maybe using pallets to construct the new shed. You can usually pick them up for free on Craigslist quite often, and it a great way to recycle them. If you have a cool, cheap coop design, please share! I'd love to see them!

Spring Fever!!!

Well, guess what? I got soooo busy in the garden's last year, I didn't post here! Sooo sad! Well now it's that time of year again, I'm just itching to get out there, and it's still too cold and wet to do much.

So let me fill you in on things around here. The gardens were a HUGE success! It is February, and we are still eating our own potatoes, carrots, leeks, parnsips, turnips and winter squashes.........LOTS and LOTS of winter squashes! In the freezer we still have corn, beans, diced green peppers and raspberries.

This year I need to make a few changes. LESS SQUASH!!! Both summer squash and winter squash! Here is just one wagon load of summer squash we had, and trust me, we had many more!



I did waaaaay too much of both last year! This year, I want to do a lot more peas, enough to put a ton away in the freezer. We did a lot of green beans last year, and the kids are not so hot on them frozen. They prefer them fresh. They prefer the peas fresh too, and last year they ate most of them before I could get any in the freezer, so need to plant at least 2 or 3 times as much! Also would like to do a little more variety of things this year to take up the room the squashes took up. Maybe some try some celery, kale and beets and plant a little more cabbage and broccoli and spinach.

Rain Rain go away!

It's been chilly and wet this week, and it's supposed to stick around over Memorial Day weekend. Needless to say, we haven't gotten much done outside this week. My husband did dig another potato row/trench for me. The first row I planted quite few weeks ago is due for it's final hilling. Hoping to get him to do one more row for me for a total of 3 rows of potatoes. I also got in my misc "leftover" 6 packs planted out front. They filled up one row with cauliflower, broccoli and both red and green cabbage.

Because of the chilly weather, I'm glad I haven't put out my tomatoes, peppers, squashes and cucumbers yet. I pulled them all up close to the house earlier this week, and they seem to be doing ok. We've had a few nights this week in the low 40s, so I've been a bit nervous. I'm hoping next week it finally warms up enough to get them all planted.

We also picked up a bunch of bamboo poles to build a support for the scarlet runner beans. Hoping to get that built this weekend along with a cucumber support structure. If I can get my husband to help me build those, and till the remainder of the garden in (again!) this weekend, I'll be happy. I'm really hoping to get the remaining items in next week.

Oh! And we've harvested our first radishes this week and lettuces. Anyone know what to do with radishes? We are not big radish fans, but we have a TON of them coming in! I'd appreciate any ideas! Have a great holiday weekend!

Vegetable Gardening Tips for Beginners

It's that time of year, and a lot of people would like to have a vegetable garden, but don't really know where to start. Especially this year, with the cost of food prices on the rise. Here is my advise for what it is worth.

First, make a list of the things you would like to grow in your vegetable garden. Include all your favorite foods that you would like to grow. Then figure out how big a garden you can have.

Then you need to do a bit of research. You need to find out which items on your list will grow well in your area. Cross off the ones that won't. Take the items left on your list, and you need to find out a bit more about each item and how much space it takes up. Than figure out what will fit in your gardening space. Taking your list to a local nursery is always a good place to get local advice. Or you can do some reading on the subject. The two books below are the best place to start.

My favorite book of all time is Dick Raymond's The Joy of Gardening.



This book not only has garden plans you can use or customize to your liking, but it covers the requirements for almost every vegetable out there. From how much space it needs, to how often to fertilize it. It covers starting seeds in flats all the way through to having a winter garden. It has root celler plans and lists his favorite varieties of vegetables. It explains how to develop the best soil naturally, to how to get the biggest harvest possible. It focuses a lot on wide row gardening, as you can really maximize how much you grow by using this method. It really is a must have if you are even slightly into the idea of having a vegetable garden.

Another book that is excellent for beginners and to those who might be feeling intimidated by the whole concept of growing their own food, is Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew:



You just have to get started. Start with the best soil you can. Add some compost and well composted manure. Make sure it is in the sunniest spot possible. If you are doing rows, try and orientate them north/south. Take notes or keep a journal (or blog!) so you can come back next year and see what did well, what didn't. Make note of what you planted when, how much you planted. Sketch up your garden plan as you plant things, because some crops need to be rotated to limit disease, so next year, you will want to know where you planted things, so you can make sure you rotate the crops as needed. Make note of things you wish you had planted more of, what didn't do well that you might skip next year. If you try several varieties of a certain veggie, take note of which ones did the best or had the best flavor or biggest harvest. Most of all, have fun, and enjoy eating what you've grown. You'll be amazed at how simple it really is. :-)

Happy Mother's Day!

WOW! How did two weeks fly by already since I've posted last? Hard to believe!

I hope all you mom's out there are enjoying our special day! I woke up to breakfast in bed and we are heading out soon to buy all our veggie starts we still need for the garden. Looking forward to that.

Let me fill you in on what's been happening in the garden since my last post! Ok, in the back beds, in the one with the broccoli and brussel sprouts, I nixed the 2nd path on the right, and made one super wide row on the right side of the bed. I did almost half with beans, which went in about a week ago, I did about a 3' square plot of lettuce, and did the other half with another batch of peas yesterday. That bed is now completely full and the broccoli plants have the first teeny tiny heads of broccoli in there if you look real closely.

The other bed in back is full now too. The peas are up about 6" or so now. I should have lots of radishes in another 2 wks or so. I sprinkled them in with all the root crops I planted and they are getting big and leafy. The last root crop that went in were my parsnips and they are starting to sprout now. I already have loads of carrots up, rutabagas, beets and turnips as well. I also planted the lettuce (some starts and some by seed) in the middle row of this bed where I had an open spot. They went in about 10 days ago or so. The walla walla sweet onions are doing great, and have about 8-10" of green on them now.

In the front garden, we got one row of potatoes planted about a week ago. I have plans to do 3 rows, but was hoping to find a furrowing attachment for our tiller, but no such luck. So this depends on if my husband will help me dig the other two rows out because it's a lot of work! Yesterday I planted two more bags of onion sets, one yellow and one white. Also got the shallots in and one 6 pack of leeks. I have another 6 pack of leeks, but ran out of room in that row, will have to stick them in somewhere else. I have been wanting to put in all my "left-over" 6 packs (1 cauliflower, 1 red cabbage, 1 broccoli, the leeks) but have been nervous to do so with the rabbits our front. So yesterday I started with the chicken wire at the bottom of the fence, and need to get the rest of that done this week before I put the new starts in that we are picking up today.

It's warm enough out now to pick up the warm weather starts, so on my list I have some more (4-6) determinite tomato plants (I'm doing them all in pots this year), cucumber plants, zuccini, pati pan, yellow summer squash, pumpkins, acorn squash, butternut squash, blue hubbard squash....I think that's it. I started most of these by seed in flats this year, but they didn't do well. I still have seed left and may plant some of those as well and do a few starts of each with a few by direct seed and see which fairs better. I also have another misc row out front I want to put another batch of beans in, but I may stagger them out a bit since I just planted a batch out back. Oh! and the asparagus is starting to poke through out front! Just a few tiny purple stalks peeking up. I hate having to wait a year or two before being able to fully harvest them!

OK, I think that's about it for now! I'll try and post more pic's this week. It's supposed to reach near 80 degrees by the end of the week! :-)