A bit late getting this one up. We are still getting a lot of rain here, really slowing down the gardeners and farmers.
May 172011
May 022011
Update on whats growing around the homestead. Still 4 weeks until our frost free date and the weather is rainy and cold.
Apr 282011
It’s been a cold wet spring so far. We’ve been lucky to get a few nice warm days, but they are followed with a week or more of cold temperatures and rain/snow. Thankfully it’s been about a week or so since we’ve seen any snow!
This past weekend we were able to get some work in the gardens done. The raised beds have been turned over. I’ve planted garlic and onions in half of one. Also started some spinach in another. It’s far to cold to start anything else in the garden yet. Although we are hoping to get our new pea trellis up soon! Then they can be planted. We found the trellis we used last year was far to short for this variety. Most pea plants I’ve grown only went 2 to 3 feet tall. But this Laxtons Progress peas we’ve been growing the last few years, wow do they grow! Last year they went up a 4 foot trellis, over the top and down to the ground again. The problem was the vines would rub on the top of the chicken wire and break. I’m hoping that a taller trellis will fix that.
In the greenhouse I’ve started some of our seeds. So far cabbage, broccoli, celery, basil, parsley, catnip, sage, thyme and some green peppers. Also a flat of Hinze paste tomatoes, and another flat of tomatoes that are a mixture of types. I can’t remember all the names right now, but they are mentioned in the video below.
I’m hoping the weather clears up so I can get back out to the greenhouse and finish starting my seeds!
Nov 212010
Do you have gardeners on your Christmas list this year? All gardeners are different, some love to grow heirlooms others are into giant plants or maybe flowers are their thing.
If you have a gardener on your list maybe consider getting them gift cards so they can buy the special plant when the growing conditions are just right. Burpee is having a 10% off sale on all gift cards until Nov. 30th.
Use the coupon code below!
Sep 012010
I can’t believe that it is September 1st already! This summer seems to have flown bye so quickly. In some ways it wasn’t quite the summer I had thought it would be. The year started off with heat waves in March, sooo not normal for us. Early summer was very dry, with gardens needing to be watered almost daily. Then the rains started… And seemed never ending for much of the summer. I think I lost count on how many times our gardens were flooded. We lost some things, like the new potato patch and 100 or so tomato plants and others were stunted. But other things did quite well! The huckleberries are loaded with fruit, potatoes in the dryer gardens have done nicely. Despite the squash bugs, the zucchinis yielded very well to.
I’m still working canning my way through the garden. We should be digging up the potatoes for storage in another week or two. I really am looking forward to Fall and Winter! I’m ready for a quieter time of year.
I haven’t been on here much lately. In between the gardens and canning, I’ve been reorganizing the house. Sorting, packing and purging. And lots of school lesson plans to! I’ll share a little about them latter. 
Aug 272010
Well I’m finally feeling pretty much better. I’ve talked to a few people hit by this virus. Its a nasty one. Anyway now I’m playing catch up with the garden.
Harvested the onions today, yesterday (forgot to post last night lol). Then laid them out to dry. They will need a few days to harden the skins well. After that they can be safely stored in the cellar.
Then I started working on the tomatoes. I lost some that got over ripe and split. But they’ll make good chicken feed. Still ended up with lots of tomatoes. There are still green ones out there to.
I guess I’ll be starting more sauce tomorrow! Also going to dehydrate some.
Aug 072010
I haven’t posted a garden update vid in a while. We’ve been getting almost non stop rain. So some things like our new potato patch rotted, other things like the cucumbers are doing well.
Don’t mind the weeds. With all the rain the ground is so soft you can’t till it and the hoe just gum’s up with mud. I’ve been hand weeding when I can between rainy patches. But most of my time is held up canning right now.
Aug 062010
This week hubby noticed something strange on some of the corn plants. The kernels looked gray and hugely deformed. We had no idea what this was and hadn’t seen it before. We were growing a heirloom type called Golden Bantam. After posting this short vid on YouTube many shared with us its called Corn Smut. And in Mexico and other southern areas people actually eat it. Ok I think I’ll pass! LOL
This has been a very wet and humid year for us. That’s led to more mold problems then normal.
Jul 312010
This past week we’ve been fighting a flu like bug. It really knocked Hubby, ds and myself for a loop. The girls were a little sick as well. Thankfully it didn’t last long, although I’m still fighting it. I’m sure if I can get enough rest it will pass quickly.
Wednesday we had a cold front move through. Thankfully the heavy rain and storms staid south of us! I was finally well enough to head out to the garden this afternoon. I did a lot of weeding, still have much more to do before I will be caught up. But weeds or not, the garden is producing great!
I harvested a large bowl of cucumbers, 4 more zucchinis and our first cabbage. Then from the children garden we harvested more cucumbers, a few purple beans and cherry tomatoes.
Huckleberry’s
Okra finally starting! This will be our first time growing and eating this. Anyone have good recipes I can try?
Eggplant flower, I think they are pretty!
Sunflowers starting to bloom in the kids garden!
Jul 222010
Well today was a busy day on the homestead. Today I canned 7 pints of pickled beets and 6 pints of cherry jam, if you don’t count the 3/4′s full jar. That’s getting tuck into the fridge to enjoy now.
We headed out to the gardens this afternoon, to find the Italian zucchinis had exploded with the last rain. We harvested a whole wheelbarrow full. Two had already been taken out before I took this photo. I will have a lot of canning and drying to do! I might start on my zucchini relish soon to.
I also picked 1/3 of a storage bin full of green beans. I guess I’m canning and drying beans tomorrow to!
Hubby just finished building a grape arbor for us. We have a grape vine planted on each end. I love having it as an entrance into the raised beds!
The Swish Chard is growing great to!
