Time for a little catch-up post on what's happening around our place these days. It's been a busy, busy time, as it usually is in the spring.
Baby chicks! I got them about 2 weeks ago. These are barred rock and Rhode Island Red pullets and a couple of unknowns that are straight run, meaning they could be pullets or roosters. Our hens are 2 years old and older so it is time to start looking at replacing some of them.
They are so cute when they're this size.
The potatoes are up and thriving on all the rain. This was taken about a week ago, and they are twice this size now. Larry planted them on March 21 in a lull between rainstorms. It's been tough getting things in the ground but we did manage to get all the spring veggies in.
We went ahead and planted new raspberry and blueberry bushes in the rain. We figured we had to water them anyway, why not? These are lovely big plants I bought at Green's Feed in Charleston with a gift certificate that was a retirement gift from people at work. They knew I liked to garden so this was a perfect gift. We got 4 blueberry bushes with berries already on them and 3 raspberry plants, plus some new herb plants. In this photo you can see the peas climbing up their trellis; they're about twice that height now and blooming.The hay mulch is around the cabbages and broccoli--those plants are struggling because of all the rain. It's been dry for like 24 hours now so maybe they can catch their breath a little.
The big snowball bush in the side yard is coming into its own. This bush is out of sight most of the time so I have to remember to look for it--unless I am hanging wash on the line. Which is what I need to do right now.
I found this lovely, big porch swing at ReStore, the Habitat for Humanity resale place. It's made of oak and is 6 feet long. We need to buy chains for it to hang it, and I think I'm going to put it on the front porch, where I used to have a swing. We took that swing down in favor of rockers but I've missed it. This is a better, bigger swing and I am in love. Can you just see it with pillows, me and a cat or two? That box of junk you can see to the left is another story:
Can you say auction? Can you say $2? The truck is still full and I will be sorting and listing on eBay for a good while from the haul we made. More on that later.
That's a quick catch-up on all the side projects going on in addition to the usual grass-mowing and so on that keeps up hopping in spring.
We also have a special event for this evening. More on that in tomorrow's post, I hope. In the meantime, Happy Mother's Day to all of you! I hope you have a restful and memorable day.
Love baby chicks, even when I worked in the feedstore and had to feed & water & cleanup hundreds at a time. The only thing that I didn't care for was when the snake people bought them, ugh.
ReplyDeleteHappy Mother's Day!
The rain's been interfering with a few projects I have going over here, as well. At least mowing the grass every 5 days is keeping me busy. If I let it go any longer than that there is a real danger of Buddy getting lost while he's on cat patrol. He wouldn't hurt a fly but he dearly loves chasing them out of the flower beds!
ReplyDeleteSuggestion for growing potatoes:
ReplyDeleteStacks of old tires (4 or 5), fill with dirt. Plant 4 or 5 plants inside each stack and water well. Water collects inside the tires and keeps them moist; the tires gathers heat and spuds grow fast. When it's time to harvest, just kick over the tires: no digging or risking sticking a pitchfork into a potato. I usually have 8-10 stacks of tires, each housing 5 plants: 40-50 plants in 10x20 area.
Neat idea! I've never heard doing that. Any problem with snakes? We did try growing them under heavy mulch once and found a nest of snakes when we uncovered them.
ReplyDeleteSounds as though you've been busy! I love that porch swing, I'd love something like that but porches and swings aren't really a British thing. Mind you I'm sure a swing could be found if you were willing to pay a high price!
ReplyDeleteMy mother adopted the swing pretty quickly when she came here, Rowan. I remember one always being on our porch. How else can you watch the neighbors go by? :)
ReplyDelete