4th of July weekend!

Friday off!

Well, I got an extra day off for the 4th (Friday) so I was able to get some lawn mowed and finally back to chipping some wood debris!  I worked on the wood debris most of Friday (I took some time to mow) - I wanted to finish it Friday, but there was a problem with some bees!

Ahh, theres the problem!  See that roundish object in the center of the picture?  Thats a hornets nest!

I eradicated the hornets (I sprayed them Friday evening and then again Saturday when I started shipping again) an finished the job!

Feels good to get that done.  I wish is was not so wet so that I could move and mill some of those logs!

Many of the little logs are just for firewood, but those big old logs may have some lumber value yet (if not, I will try to cut them into chippable sizes and chip them up too - wood chip mulch is great for most of my purposes!)

Thats a big pile of mulch!  Maybe bigger than the original pile that I had from the 2013 planting season.

You can see the fungi on the old logs - probably not much good lumber there anymore.

Tractor is in the garage and the chipper is disconnected (on the right)  Ready for the next big thing!  Which will probably be mowing the fields with the flail mower.

First harvest!

I was finally able to get into pick the peas!  Actually, the garden was really too wet to do anything; just MUD!  But the peas were past ready and I needed to spray the cabbages and stuff, so I forced my way in.  Picking the weeds was like playing in mud.  I hope this rain stuff slows a bit like it did last year.  We still have time to get a decent harvest!  We shall see.

Here they are.  That's all of them.  Actually more than I thought I would get, tbh.

Those two rows of weeds on the left?   Yeah, that's where the peas plants are/were.  I got most of the peas off the ends of the rows where the weeds hadn't totally overwhelmed the peas.

Here's a shot of the brassicas  they are fighting.  If the rain lets up they still have a chance.  In fact, the broccoli at the neat end of the rows does have little heads of broccoli starting!

The peas all shelled out.  About a quart.  Not bad.

All vacuum sealed in 1 Cup portions - 4 cups total!  Headed to the deep freeze.  First preservation of this years harvest!

Blueberries

Well, the blueberry bushes are definitely missing some nutrients.  Their leaves are red, and thats a sign they need magnesium (if I understand what I read on the internet).    I will put some epsom salts on them when it isn't raining.   Despite the bad conditions and poor growth, the plants still produced some berries!  Here they are:

There are more that aren't ripe yet.  Maybe twice this many.  Total yield will be about a cup, I estimate.

I washed and froze these.  I figure I will mix them with the strawberries and make something.  Maybe I will just eat them.  I haven't decided yet.

Putting out the seedlings!

Planting the seedlings in PA

We took the seedlings for the cabbages, eggplant, bok choy, and tomatoes with us this weekend so that I could plant them at the farm.  It was dry at the farm, a little too dry for my tastes, but not so much that I needed to water anything - yet.  Anyway, I got right into planting the seedlings because I was afraid of the predicted rain storms catching me.  I had a problem with the black plastic.. not that I ran out but that I didn't have enough sod staples to hold it down!  I used rocks as best I could.  While I was here I got noticed that the staples got delivered to the city house, so next weekend I can reinforce the rocks, as needed.  I have some figures for the garden layout (planned and actual); see below. 

Big patch layout - to date.  Big section in the center there needs something - if not, then at least cover with BP.

Front patches.  Squash needs to go in yet, but the tomatoes are in! and everything else looks good.  I need to start putting down more weedblocking paper or cardboard - weeds are starting to grow fast!

Paw-paw garden.  Beans an pumpkins are up!  Probably need to thin next weekend.  Hopefully, I will have my sweet-potatoes to put in then too!  Sweet-potatoes go on the left.

General overview of front lawn.

General overview of front lawn. 

General overview of front lawn.

front patch - unfenced part.  the tomatoes are in!

you can see the tomatoes!

The potatoes and onions are coming along too

See the little corn plant coming up?

Strawberries blooming!

Big patch

The cabbages are in!

I think I had better put some black plastic down on the center there before the weeds take over!

See the cabbages?  They look like they transplanted well.

Bok choy on the right there.  Eggplants are further down that row

Peas are coming along.  I need to start de-weeding

Cucumbers are up!

castor beans are behind the cuc's.  They're not up yet.

Big empty area in the middle!  2nd corn crop? Maybe?

elderberries showing blossom activity!

I am hopeful of a good harvest this year!

Paw-paw patch

Green beans are coming up!

Lots of green beans!

And shell beans!

Pumpkin!

More pumpkin

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And I made a carpenter bee trap.  No bees yet...

More planting. Spring is here

Just posting some pics from this past weekend.   I stopped at the farm on my way back from PSU so I got a good bit of work in.  I immediately tilled my gardens and even plowed neighbors garden because I was expecting rain Thursday.   I even planted my onions and potatoes by headlights Wednesday night to be sure they were in before rain.   It didn't rain until later on Thursday though,  so I was also able to plant some peas, kale, and onion seed in the big patch.  Even put down blackplastic before the rain.

I had gout flair up and some tummy issues one day so I stayed close to house and set up the electric fences and closed up the front garden.   I was afraid that deer might get in and eat off strawberries!  I extended the blueberry electric fence to surround the new plantings.   I also extended the orchard fence around the new apples and elderberries.   On the same day I  put wood chips around the persimmons.

Another day I got up and decided to finally move the firewood out of the basement.   It took a lot more effort than I thought;  those basement stairs are steep! Also, I think the pieces of wood leaned to the larger side than the ones I had previously moved from shop.  On that same day I also decided to burn the trash and leftover scrap wood from the woodshed build.   After moving the wood I used a push broom and shovel to get up the dirt in the basement.  

On another day I went over to mom's to pick up the apple wood and fence posts, as well as some blackberry plants and forsythia plants.  I managed to get 21 blackberries and 21 forsythia!   I could use a few more of each to fill out my planting spots.  I moved the spruce trees from the front to the hill across from the sheep.   They looked rough.   The deer really worked them over last fall.   If they don't grow,  no big deal.  I have kinda lost my interest in them.  The forsythia will be much better there!