Spring Garden and Chick Update

Moving the chicks outside this week was quickly followed by a lot of cloudy rainy days.  So there are no photos.  I don't want to stress them out in their new coop.  They are adapting, eating, drinking and pooping.  I have the tall brooder warmer in the pen and they will get under there when they get chilled. But mostly, they are loving their roost bar and acting like "big birds."

The new 12 chicks arrived that are already presold.  They are, of course, cute little fluff balls. Six Barred Rock and six Rhode Island Reds.

Garden is the big factor here this week.  Plants in the greenhouse are finally picking up.  I had purchased some cloned plants to supplement the plants that did not start well in the greenhouse. The Onions and Garlic starts are looking good in the back section of the square garden. We have covered the broccoli and cauliflower starts to help keep them a bit warmer but also protect from the cabbage moth, and other bugs that like to eat broccoli.  The strawberries, peas, and lettuce are looking quite good. Also, the wintered over plants are thriving.  I have already cut half of the oregano for drying and cooking.  The rest will be cut in a week or two. Potatoes finally came up and are looking strong.

Pea starts planted 2 weeks apart	Potatoes - not sure which are what
Potatoes popped up a little later	More Potatoes that finally popped up
Strawberry blossom	Wintered Over Parsley
Wintered Over Oregano	Wintered Over Marjoram
Winters Over Thyme	My starts next to a Cloned Tomato Start
Pepper, Tomato & Lavendar Starts	Some of my lettuce starts 1+ month old
Lettuce Start 2+ mo	Onions Left and Garlic Right
The new garden space	Cover tunnel for Broccoli & Cauliflower
Inside the tunnel	Wet dandelion Seed Head

Last Week of June (post Solstice) Gardening Update 2019

Photos after the rains we received a day earlier than predicted. Luckily, I thought to harvest the garlic today before the rain and didn't wait one more day!  The roots on the garlic were nice and deep this year.  I think I had the best crop of garlic ever, this year.  Let's see, when I planted, I loaded the soil with bone meal, potash and biolive fertilizer about two inches under the soil that I planted the cloves in last fall.  Then, when the stalks came up, I put a layer of steer manure in the top layer of soil.  Then, after the frosts (April), I put on another layer of steer manure.  I probably should have done a final blast of blood meal in May, but I forget. 

After the garlic dries, I will brush off the dirt, cut the roots off and braid the leaves to let them hang and cure.  Then I will fill a box, that I can cover with a lid, with straw and lay the garlic in there, out in the garage, for a cool dark summer storage.  I wish I had a well insulated room in the corner of my garage, but, alas, that's not an option.  I have to find other ways of storing my summer harvests. 

Fresh Harvest Garlic Plants

The Cucumbers are, for all intents and unintended purposes, in two different stages.  Will see how this works out.

Newly Germinated Cuke Plants

Older Cuke Plants

This is a blurry photo of one of the two Walla Walla Sweet Onions that I salvaged from the square garden in the spring.  The two plants went to seed and are blooming now. After they die, we can shake the seeds into an envelope for planting early next spring.  

Walla Walla Sweet Onion Flowering

These are the two green leave lettuce that I planted a few weeks ago. The Red leaf is struggling, but I might get some from it, as well. 

One Type of Leaf Lettuce

Another Type of Leaf Lettuce

Gardening Update June 9 2019

I took a lot of photos, so let's start with the newest sprouts. The radishes are sprouting and so is the lettuce.  The radishes have full sun in my square garden bed. The lettuce is planted in small two gallon pots in the shade of my trees to minimize burning from the sun.
Tiny radish sprouts even cool weather	The lettuce sprouted too this week
This past week (Wed. - Saturday) we had very cool weather and rain, which normally would have little impact on bell pepper plants, except we had a heavy hail during one thunder storm on Friday... And, yes, the poor bell peppers got hit hard.
Holes in the Pepper plant leaves	Pepper plant leaves sliced and diced
A different type of damage to my berries.  I pulled the berries into the greenhouse (along with the tomatoes) before the cold temps set in. So they were protected.  On Saturday, I even ate my first sweet taste of strawberries of the season. But, I'm not the only one who loves sweet strawberries.  The ants came in for the meal last night.  I have since sprayed WD40 around the buckets to keep new ones away. This does a nice job of keeping them out of the berries (since they can't fly) and I am not inclined to spray anything ON the plants. But, yah, those little buggers make quick work on some very nice ripe strawberries!
Looks GREAT from the back side. Ha!	Half the berry eaten by tiny ants!
Newer Berry Plant from Last Year	Biggest Producer this Year
Okay, so now let's look at the Garlic and Onions.  Hey the fall planted Garlic is still looking great.  Fingers crossed that we actually get nice, solid garlic from this crop. This is the last month and they should start sending up some spiraly scapes soon. Cut those off for cooking since leaving them will hinder the size of the garlic. I never seem to have very good luck with onions. But I keep trying.  So, this year's got pummeled in one of our thunder/wind storms back in May, and I just don't think they are going to revive. In two 5 gal buckets are the ones I salvaged from the garden bed before I prepped it for this year's garden. Some are surviving, two have gone to seed, and three are struggling.  So it is anyone's guess.  I have photos of the "buds" on the two "seed" onions, below.
Garlic near the end	Beat Up Onions
Salvaged Onions	Onion Blooming for Seeds
At least I was smart enough to pull in the tomatoes before this week's storm hit. They are doing well; growing fairly fast.
German Blooming	Purple Cherokee Blooms
SunGold Tomatoes -n- Blossoms	SunGold Different Angle
The hail storm did NOT phase the potatoes.  The potatoes are developing a lot of blossoms which is a sign that the potatoes are on the vines under ground and are growing.  We will need to pull these barrels under the trees for the cooling shade (like we have for the lettuce), or the hot sun will stunt the growth of the potatoes. Once the blooms die back, the leaves will also start to dry, and then we can dig up the potatoes for storage in a cool dark box in the garage for the rest of this summer. Red Potato Blossoms
And that sums up the first week of June's crazy weather!

End of May is Planting Time in PacNW

I don't have a lot planted this year because of weather, compared to last year.

Planted and doing well:

• Tomatoes - 2 cherry tomato varieties and 2 heirloom standard varieties
• Sweet Peppers - 3 varieties; 1 red, 1 yellow and 1 green
• Potatoes - 2 barrels of Red Pontiac and 1 barrel of White California (no blooms yet like last year at this time)
• Onions - 24 walla walla sweet, 8 yellow and 8 white.  
• Garlic - 10ish purples from starts last fall. 
• Greek Oregano - (first harvest today)
• Strawberries - 4 sets with berries on 2

Just Planted or prepping to Plant this week

• Sweet Corn - 40 planted today
• Cucumbers - 4 in pots tomorrow 
• Carrots - 4 rows
• Radishes - 1 row
• Basil - 6
• Bush Beans - 4
• Dill - 8
• Lettuce - 8

Cherokee Purple heirloom	Chocolate Cherry heirloom
Sun Gold cherry	German heirloom
Green Bell Pepper with Oregano in background	Red Bell Pepper
Yellow Bell Pepper
Red Pontiac Potato (not yet blooming)	Red Pontiac Potato (starting to bloom)
White California Potato
Onions blown over from storm	Corn Bed Planted day 1
Garlic almost done
Strawberries (almost)	More Berries