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We Missed The Frost & Garden Photos

 Around The Homestead, Gardening  No Responses »
May 172012
 

Well last night the temperatures dropped down to about 2C.  Hubby picked up some more floating row cover/frost blanket and we finished covering everything up.  Thankfully we did not have any frost, but I’m glad to have the plants protected anyway.  Tonight is only suppose to go down to 6C and after that it looks really nice for the next week.

 

Our flowering crab apple is in full bloom.  Oh does it smell wonderful.

This past week our strawberries started to flower!  I fed them with some liquid seaweed last week and have been trying to keep them watered.  I need to get mulch for them soon.

Our first garden bed as it looked last Sunday night.  Last night we finished covering the next two rows with the floating row covers.  I also had to add heavier weights to hold it down.  The storm that came through Sunday night lifted the cover off the last two rows.  Now I have bricks and logs holding it down.  It gets very windy here!

I’m going to wait until Saturday to finish planting out the rest of my seedlings.

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Garden Update May 15 2012

 Around The Homestead, Gardening  No Responses »
May 162012
 

Sunday afternoon we were busy in the gardens again.  We tilled up the garden patch a second time.  Then we raked the sod clumps out.  Normally the front garden isn’t bad for weeds, but we had such nice weather early in the season that they started growing early.

Hubby bought rolls of landscape fabric that was 3 feet wide by 100 feet long.  He found a good deal on them for only $10 each.  We will be getting some more!  We cut them in half, giving us 200 feet for the same price, can’t beat that!  We laid out the first strip, using bricks to hold the ends down.  Then had our little ones help hold the edges down so we could rake the soil over them.  That will keep the fabric held down well.  We are planning to use a living mulch in this garden plot, so we used the width of our push lawn mower to space the rows.   We need to put down two more rows of landscape fabric then there will be enough for the tomatoes and peppers.

We are supposed to get lower temperatures Wednesday and Thursdays night so we are using our floating row/frost covers to protect the plants.

Garden Update May 12 2012

 Around The Homestead, Gardening  No Responses »
May 162012
 

This past Saturday we were finally able to start tilling the gardens.  We would have loved to start working them sooner but between hubby’s back and the crazy weather this spring we were running behind.  But the weather this past week has been wonderful!   On Sat. were tilled up all of our gardens and I soaked the corn and bean seed.

 

Garden Photos

 Gardening  5 Responses »
May 142012
 

The weather this past week has been just wonderful!  So I’m following cues from the weather and starting to plant out early.  The long range forecast for the next few weeks looks nice.  They are saying a few cooler nights, so I can just cover up my plants if need be.  These photos were taken a few days ago before I started to plant outside.

 

Heinz Tomatoes

Our Heinz tomatoes were growing really well!  They always do well for me, they are my staple tomato here.  They really needed to be repotted.  But the nice weather saved me from having to do that.  They went into the garden yesterday and most had flower buds on them already, one had an open flower!

Heinz Tomatoes

Peppers

Our sweet peppers are off to a good start this year.  I hope that we get good yields off of these.

Squash

I’ve started our summer and winter squash in the greenhouse a few weeks ago.  I did this last year and they did really well for me.  So far I’m having mixed results.  The germination rate continues to be low.

Lupins

Delphinium

Some lupin and Delphinium flowers for my garden boarders.

 

Raised Bed

This is out of our raised beds.  I turned it over a few weeks ago and transplanted my onions, broccoli, purple cauliflower and cabbage into it.

Onions

Broccoli

Purple Cauliflower

Asparagus

We have been harvesting from our little asparagus patch for the past week.  Weeds have always been an issue with this bed.  This year I’m trying something new.  The old time method of salting asparagus patches.  I just applied salt the other day and I’ll let you all know how it works.

Whats growing in your gardens?

 

Mothers Day Freebies & Contest at CurrClick!

 Frugal Deals, Homeschooling  No Responses »
May 082012
 

CurrClick
CurrClick is giving away 5 wonderful freebies for Mothers day!  They are also hosting a contest for Mom’s and kids.  Mom’s can enter to win  an Ipod Nano and children can win an iPod Shuffle!

The freebies from CurrClick are

Get Ready to Garden lapbook

Girlfriends Guide to Homeschool Conferences

Mammoth Math Place Value 2

Mother’s Day Holiday Unit Study,  Crafts & More.

Printable Coloring Pages Bundle

 

Site Changes

 Around The Homestead  3 Responses »
Apr 212012
 

I’ve made a few changes to the site that will affect how everyone logs in.  Yesterday we were hit with a spam attack trying to login so many times our host had to shut down our site.  That account has been dealt with.   I’ve removed the sidebar login form and we will now use the black bar at the top of the screen.  When you click on login it will take you to a page to login on and we will have to enter a captcha code.  I’ve also set it so there are a limited amount of login attempt.

Everyone can easily access their profile and message areas from the top bar.

 

 Posted by at 6:06 pm

Crazy Weather On The Homestead

 Around The Homestead, Gardening  9 Responses »
Apr 172012
 

Well it sure is a yo-yo of a spring here!  For the most part our weather has been a week of cold weather near 0C, then a few days of low 20C, then back to cold!  Two days ago we were having a pretty good snow shower, then today it was super hot!  This sure is taking a toll on the plants outside.

In the greenhouse the seedlings are doing pretty good.  I have noticed the germination rate is very slow this year, both with seed that I’ve saved and with newly purchased seed.   Some tomatoes sprout in the normal 7 to 10 days, while others in the same flat have taken 3 to 4 weeks.  I was just about to give up on some of them, then I found today they are starting to come up.

In the garden the peas are starting to come up and the rhubarb is just starting to leaf out.  So far no sign of the asparagus, but it is still early here for that.   With our weather going down near 0C again, it’s better that it waits anyway!

How are your seedlings doing?  Has anyone else noticed the germination rate being slow this year?

 

 

Site Problems

 Around The Homestead  5 Responses »
Apr 092012
 

I’ve been working on the site trying to fix some problems.  For now I’ve had to switch back to the default theme, as my old one is giving to many errors.  I’m trying to track down the problems and hopefully I’ll have everything running the way I like again soon.

If you have problems logging in, or with things not working right please let me know.  You can reach me by leaving a comment here, posting in the forums or using the contact me menu tab.

 

Free Easter Printables, Coloring Pages and Lapbooks

 Homeschooling  1 Response »
Apr 022012
 

We are working on Easter activities this week and I thought I’d share the wonderful free resources I’ve found online here.

Scripture Adventures has released a free Easter lapbook. 

If you’re looking for something deeper Scripture Adventures also has a lapbook and study guided titled an Easter Adventure it’s not free, but looks like a wonderful resource.

The Legend of the Easter Egg is a favourite story of our family.  Our little ones ask to read it every year.  Homeschool Share has a great free lapbook to go along with this story.

Resurrection Lapbook from Lapbooking Lessons.

Hosanna file folder game from Bible Story Printables.

Resurrection Egg printables from Christian Preschool Printables.

Easter file folder games from File folder Fun.

Spring Tot Pack from 1+1=1.

Calvary Chapel has Bible lesson plans, Jesus is crucified and Jesus has Risen would both be good family studies this week.  To find them go to their home page and download the New Testament curriculum.  It is an index of all the NT lesson plans, clicking on the plan name links you to the right files to download.  For each lesson there is a teacher guide, devotional, and resource page.  The resources have coloring pages, activities etc.

Easter Printables, 2 pages of resources from Little Bots.

What are your favourite Easter activities for kids?

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