Category: Gardens

The Other One

A couple of days ago, I introduced you to Ms. Houdini. When she gets out, she comes running toward me to be let back in the pen and coop at dusk. This is Ms. HA (Houdini’s apprentice) who discovered she too can escape, however, at dusk, she does not come running to be put away with the other hens. For the past two nights, I have found her here…

She lets me pick her up and as soon as we round the end of the house, she begins a mighty struggle to be free.

Yesterday, I left them locked in the coop until early afternoon, hoping that they would all lay their eggs in the nesting boxes. I only found 4 eggs.

When we got home from the Farmer’s Market and Nursery this morning, I lured Ms. Houdini and Ms. HA back to the pen, hoping they would lay their daily egg in there. At the Market, I purchased an Elderberry and wanted to get it in the ground promptly, so I gathered my tools, water, hole filling soil, a ring of fence, and a stake and set about the task of digging into our very rocky soil, looked up and there they were again, in the yard. The Elderberry was tucked in and watered and the ring of fence staked over it to protect it.

As I was taking my update picture for one of the spinning challenges first thing this morning, using the succulents that were moved outside yesterday as backdrop, I remembered that I also needed a bag of Cactus, succulent soil which I got at the nursery while we were out. The pots need dividing, some bits discarded, some replanted.

I had two peppers growing in the hydroponic garden that needed to be put in the ground or in pots and decided to pot them and put them in the herb part of the walled garden. While I was doing that on the side of the house, I heard the “egg song” and dashed around the front of the house to see if I can figure out where these two are laying their eggs, but though she was standing near a garden, I couldn’t spot any eggs. I guess I’m going to have to us longer poles for their enclosure and run monofilament or bird net a few feet higher than the 48″ fence to see if I can keep them in. I don’t want to keep them locked in the Palace as it is dark.

The fig half barrel was shifted to near the walled garden so it get watered when the garden gets watered and the smaller half barrel of herbs was placed in the walled garden with the two peppers in pots near where the other planted and potted herbs are located.

The rest of the vegetable garden is going to get seeded before the rain comes in tomorrow, hoping it gets watered in well, though I do have a second sprinkler in the vegetable garden plot.

It has been a fairly productive early part of the day and we still haven’t gone for our walk. I think I will go plant some seed while I wait to do that.

Blackberry Winter and Growing Things

The littles aren’t little anymore and they don’t walk anywhere. They flap and flutter out of the coop and once all are out, bump breasts and fly across the pen. They are an entertaining morning event.

Yesterday we walked bundled up like for winter in a chilly, breezy day. By last evening, it has gotten milder and stayed mild over night and today is pleasant. Our walk was around the pond today, which was teeming with new life. There were thousands of tiny tadpoles, turtles the size of quarters, and small fish but I couldn’t get close enough to get any good photos of them. One of the geese has hatched 4 goslings and she and proud Papa had them out and about, pretty fearless of the walkers on the path.

Salamanders sunning on the retaining wall.

And flowers providing some color where there was none only a couple weeks ago.

The peas in the garden are climbing the trellis, potatoes are sprouting tufts of green leaves, garlic and onions standing tall. The tomatoes and peppers aren’t showing any new growth yet, but as soon as it warms again, they will. The fig moved to the half barrel is showing new leaves and new growth as are the transplanted raspberries. Soon it will be time to plant the cucumbers, corn, beans, tomatillos, and ground cherries. Every year, I plant some lettuce, spinach, and chard or kale and every year they don’t do well and I purchase it cut and clean from the Farmer’s Market. I am still hopeful that the transplants will provide some food for us. The hay is thick and as tall as the deer bellies as they walk through it. Mowing of hay will begin around the area soon, if the rain doesn’t throw the schedules off like last year. It is definitely taking a turn toward warmer weather.

Walk On

When spring came and we dedicated ourselves to a daily walk, we expected to have a day or two each week when the weather was uncooperative. We have walked 28 out of the past 30 days. Only one of those days did we cut the walk a bit short, only doing 2 miles, when we could see a thunderstorm bearing down on us. We thought today was going to be a washout. There was no rain in the forecast, but gloomy gray. Yesterday, I purchased replacement tomato and pepper plants for granddaughter’s garden as something ate every pepper plant to the ground and most of the tomato starts I gave them didn’t take. Today, we planned to take them to daughter’s house after lunch and after picking her up from the car servicing center and helping daughter and granddaughter plant them in their garden. I took two of the flexible poles and bird net to cover the peppers, T posts and the pounder to create the Florida trellis for the tomatoes. On our way to pick daughter up, it started raining, continued to rain while we waited for her to get her car checked in, and part of the way back to her house. Then it stopped. The garden is replanted, the tomatoes a bit larger than the ones I started, the peppers now protected (we hope) by a dome of bird netting. And the only picture I managed to take while the three of us gardened was the variety of lichens on the neighbor’s fence that provides one side of daughter’s garden too.

The picture was accompanied by a lesson for the 9 year old on symbiosis, which her mom said was a refresher from last year.

Our walk followed the garden session, still cloudy, but no more rain. Each week our miles for the week are recorded and shared with a virtual walking group in our community and each week we get a cummulative report with photos. A fun way to keep up with neighbors.