Gardens

Purgatory

The hens are 2 1/2 years old and laying has significantly fallen off the cliff. Only about half as many per week as a year ago, plus this summer, they are taking turns being broody that also slows production. The first hen to go broody was a Buff Orpington and trying to wait her out was unsuccessful. She sat for 5 weeks. Without a broody cage, the only solution that came to mind was to put her in the Chicken Palace, a large A-frame coop made from scrap wood and extra roofing material that was going to be for meat chickens. It has never really been used that way, but is used to isolate old hens when new pullets are ready to go to the coop. It has proved a good purgatory for a broody hen to be isolated for 3 days and 3 nights with food, water, and an old homemade ladder to perch on, but no nesting boxes. It worked with her and when late last week another Buff went broody, she was immediately removed to Purgatory for three days and three nights. She was freed Tuesday night, just in time for an Easter Egger to go broody beginning last night. Tonight, she was put in there to begin her cooling off period.

She is most unhappy with her current situation, but if left alone, she would just encourage more copycat behavior.

Early in the week, we had two of our grandchildren for two nights. They are 10 and 15, so old enough to do adventures with. We took them to the Amish store in Whitegate for the best sandwiches that are huge and relatively inexpensive, then a few more miles to Dismal Falls or Falls of Dismal depending on which sign you see. Last time we were there, almost no water was going over the falls, but there was still a swimming hole. This time, a lot of water was spilling down, very, very cold water. Still not as much as photos show, but still very pretty. Though none of us were brave enough to actually swim, we all waded, and granddaughter managed to dunk fully under once.

An AT thru hiker and I debated whether this was a water snake or a copperhead. I didn’t want to get close enough to see if it had pits, but it did have the hourglass markings. The hiker thought it was a water snake. At any rate, he knocked it off the log with a trekking pole and it went downstream.

Tonight a thunderstorm passed to the south down the river, producing a lot of cloud to ground lightening that I tried to capture with a photo unsuccessfully, but the storm light made the still standing hay look red.

Even though it didn’t pass over us, hopefully it will cool the 92 degree day down. Tomorrow is still very hot and Saturday is supposed to be 16 degrees cooler, a welcome relief after this week. Our hay is still standing, the deer are eating the lower branch tips on all the fruit trees, the potted plants on the porches and back garden are requiring daily watering.

The garden still has no cucumbers and few sunflowers, corn is beginning to show. More cucumbers and sunflowers were started today on the back deck. The heat is going to wipe out the peas, but the beans are beginning to flower. The potato plants are beginning to die back, so a storage plan needs to be decided on soon.

Oh to be a mechanic

I mowed last week, parked the riding mower in the garage as usual. It took me 3 days to work sections to get it all done then, so this week, we called Grandson local to see if he wanted to get out of the house and earn a few bucks. Hubby had an early dental recheck of some work done two weeks ago, the weather was better than the forecast has predicted, so we took an early walk and went the couple of towns over (only about 20 -22 miles from our house, much less from the dentist office) and picked up the young one. Fed him lunch and brought him home to mow. The riding mower started right up, I put air in the tire that doesn’t hold air for more than 24 hours, and set him to work as I prepared to get the tractor and grade out some of the recent rain damage on the driveway. He pulled off and it was immediately obvious that the blade did not engage. Google sent me to check out various potential problems and it seems that the PTO clutch has failed, not repairable, just replaceable. The shop we have always used closed last year, so research to find a new one was done.

Grandson local said he would do the front of the house with the push mower, not self powered, but it wouldn’t start. The spark plug was pulled and cleaned, reinstalled and three of us took turns pulling the cord to no avail. Yes, it has fresh gas and enough oil. He ended up using the string trimmer to clear an area from the front door to the side of the driveway.

Daughter is going to come over tomorrow and hitch our trailer to her car as we can’t tow it with ours and is going to take us and it to the shop along with the push mower, and pick up a new gas grill to replace our old one that was seriously damaged blowing across the yard in a wind storm and the burners and grates disintegrating a year or so ago. She was going to help us do that in a couple of weeks, but since she has to come help with the mowers, we will go ahead and make that purchase now.

I can’t replace the PTO clutch, the lawnmower issue is a mystery, and the grass is growing as I watch it.

After returning Grandson local home, the driveway did get done, just in time for another intense thunderstorm. I think the driveway survived.

Tonight, we will be rewarded with a couple of new potatoes pulled out from under a plant and a handful of fresh from the garden Sugar Snap Peas.

I should have staked the Sugar Snaps, they are tall and have fallen over and the stems are quite brittle. There are plenty more to enjoy and freeze for later.

Every year the gardens produce new challenges and sometimes rewards. Two years ago, I couldn’t get corn to grow even after three plantings. Last year the popcorn was prolific but wouldn’t pop in the microwave or a pan of hot oil, but the chickens loved it and I still find dry cobs in the yard. This year in the adjacent bed, it is nothing but grass and about a dozen corn shoots about a foot tall in a 14 by 4 foot bed. Last year the peppers did nothing, but I was overwhelmed with cucumbers. Potatoes last year provided a little and volunteers keep coming up in the beds from the past two rotations, this year the bed is waist high in green tops, flowering, and hopefully producing plenty for our table. This year the cucumbers have not germinated, only three sunflowers germinated, but the peppers look great and are beginning to set small fruit and flowers. There were cucumbers and sunflowers in Jiffy pots on the back deck that were started a week or so ago and they were planted out as starts this evening.

The tomatoes and peppers were hand weeded this morning and after our walk, a hoe was taken to the corn bed and most of it was done. After dinner, a hand maddock finished the job. I know the crows didn’t get the corn seed because the bed has a welded wire fence laying over the top of the wooden box frame about 3 inches above the soil. It has been wet. We have had enough rain in the past couple of weeks to destroy our driveway. This upcoming week there are rain showers several days, so maybe the corn will germinate this time.

Peas and beans are thriving, sugar snaps ready to start harvesting to eat, blanch and freeze. Shelling peas will soon follow and the second planting has germinated nicely. No onions or garlic were planted this year, but garlic has been ordered for the fall garden. The asparagus are now as tall as I am, going into their summer fern stage so there will be more next year. Two quarts of asparagus pickles are in the refrigerator to enjoy until they are gone.

Last year, the deer discovered the daylilies until I put a fence in front of them. This year the fence was put in place before they emerged and they are just beginning to bloom, but the deer discovered other treats in the walled garden so the ones they are favoring had low fence erected around them. The deer population is heavy and they have no fear of our ancient pups, coming right up to the house to graze when the dogs are in, lounging under the pine trees even when the dogs are out as long as the dogs don’t notice them.

Each year, I change up what is in the vegetable garden with the staples of tomatoes, peppers, peas, beans, cucumbers, and spinach. I really want a dent corn patch for cornmeal and chicken scratch, sweet corn can be purchased as desired at the Farmer’s Market, but success with corn has not been good. The freshly weeded bed was replanted with dent corn, but there is no more sweet corn seed here. The pumpkins were planted out today even if there is no corn, the seminole pumpkins make good pie, are nice for stuffing with rice and sausage, and they are good keepers.

The hydroponics were shut down and the parts that could go in the dishwasher were run through a cycle. When lettuce at the farmer’s market becomes scarce and the rest of our spinach bolts, the larger one will be reseeded for salad greens. The herbs were all planted out and that one doesn’t need to be reseeded until near frost time so there are fresh herbs for the winter.

The garden is rewarding, but the work to keep it up is getting more difficult.