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

Day 1 2019 - Corn Seeds in the Ground before June!

I have my fingers crossed that the weather predictions will finally kick in and be as predicted... What a mess.  The Sunday (Memorial Weekend) temps were supposed to be in the mid 70Fs but, no... In fact the whole week was supposed to be nice and warm both during the day and no lower than the mid 50s at night. But, the predictions were wrong.  The cold air kept blasting in from the mountain, making it cool and overcast most of the week, with occasional thunder storms. So my seeds were in a watery limbo, starting to sprout and no where to go.  Yesterday, finally, a good day and the ground today was perfect and warm. Now the hope is that the seeds all come up.  I planted 40 seeds this year in the ground, with six backups in sprout starting pots in the green house. 

This year, to prep the soil, I purchased a new dark tarp (no holes) and covered the raised garden beds the last weekish of April. Last week, I pulled back the tarp, chased away the family of snakes living in there, pulled out the dead plants/roots, etc and tried to stomp down tunnels/burrows. I watered the ground heavily and have been going back each day to "stomp" down the new mounds that keep popping up.  That's the nature because the tarps tend to bring the "vermin" in to eat slugs, bugs and bug eggs.  On the positive side is that, essentially, the soil is tilled, and the weeds are dead naturally, without any chemicals.  Plus, a lot of the bugs are gobbled up by the snakes and rodents. It is a win, win, but then, I have to work a bit harder to keep them out of there until the garden takes off.  Then the daily watering keeps them out for the rest of the summer. It's a process of persistence. 

This is the beginning of the corn journal for this year. 46 seeds started in all with the hopes of having 40 plants, five rows, with eight per row in my six feet by eight garden spot. Last year, I planted a lot of "double seeds" here and there, but chose not to do that this year since they had already sprouted before planting.  Plus, I feel like the double stalks became more hassle than it was worth.  

May Showers... Wha?

We have no May Showers.  In fact, next week our temps are supposed to be in the high 80s and possibly the low 90s! 

First off, the processed chickens weighed about 6.5 pounds with the exception of one small one being about 5 pounds.  So that's done and we have our summer supply of free-range Cornish Cross meat. 

We had a frost the last week of April, and it impacted the potatoes, even in their barrels! I didn't think it would. Now we are in the extreme opposite. The temps the first few days of May were in the mid 60s, and have gradually been getting warmer and warmer each day. 

Last weekend I pulled most of the weeds out of the corn bed and the other raised bed. I have them covered with tarps and the final process may be done quicker with the extreme spring heat anticipated next week! Normally it would be raining and cool, taking the "burn out" weed process all month. 

Mostly weeded and ready for....

The TARP!

I found about 10 sweet walla walla onions left over and growing from last year in the one bed, so I pulled them in an attempt to save them in some buckets.  They are not looking too well.  But, it has been too hot since I replanted them.  Moved them into the shade today in hopes that will help. 

RePlanted Volunteer Onions

Strawberry plants are looking good. Oregano and garlic, too.  Picked up small tomato starts today and potted them early since we are getting this hot weather, it should help them get a good start before the rains return. 

The Strawberries I "volunteered" last fall

Field is all mowed and now we just wait to see what the rest of spring is going to bring us. 

Final Mowing for Spring

In the Process Earlier - Potato Sprouts

We took the current flock of Cornish Cross in to the "processor" a week earlier than normal. They grew fast.  It might be due to having more roos this time and they grow faster than the pullets. We had six roos and three pulls... we lost one pull last week.  Not sure why, but she was dead in the morning last weekend when we went to let them out into the run. I may have mentioned it when I talked about the yotes... Anyways, eight to the processor and to be picked up tomorrow by noon.  Quick turn around. Then in the spare fridge for 48 hour cure, then a quick chop chop and ready for the freezer.

It's been a few weeks since planting but the potatoes are starting to sprout out of the dirt! Our temps have been wonky... briskly cool more days than usual... I have the onions planted too. I way over planted the onions in hopes that we get more throughout the summer. Fertilized the fall garlics last week.  We are off to the races on the "under ground" plants. 

Pesky Coyotes

This weekend, a young pair of coyotes were scoping out the Cornish Cross. During the day, they were right up to the pen, trying to figure out a way in. They quickly ran off as the back door opened with the guys walking out there, clapping loudly. This was pretty gutsy of these rascals. The guys reinforced the hinges on the pen door to make it hard for them to get in, but who knows? We do close up the chicks at night in the coop so even if the coyotes were to get into the pen at night, we would know it before releasing the the chicks in the morning. 

The chicks are about ready to process, and then we won't have to worry about this factor in a week or two.

Potato Starts and Nine Cornish Cross Outside

The nine Cornish Cross have been in their "outdoor" coop for two weeks in the garage. So they are sufficiently acclimated to it and will be easier to herd back to it in the evenings.  Three are pullets and the rest are roos so most are quite large already. They are five weeks of age, and we will process them in about three to four more. With the extra mouths of "over eaters" we have gone through more feed than I anticipated.  Looks like we will be going through over a 100 pounds of feed this spring! 

Today, we moved the coop outside and they are all outside in the day run enjoying the sunshine, lots of bugs and worms and, generally being all chicken like.  I wish we could have moved them out sooner, but our spring, truly, is just now setting in. 

It pushed our potato planting time back by two weeks.  We planted California Whites (12 starts) and Pontiac Reds (24 starts). This is double the amount of potato starts we normally plant. I plan on planting the onion starts tomorrow. I have not yet started the spinach.  We had some mold issues in the greenhouse over the winter with the crazy mix of a hot January, and a freezing frosty wind-whipped February. January did in my carrots that I had wintered over in the greenhouse.  I was pretty disappointed to be throwing out a beautiful looking bunch of carrots into the compost pile! I should have harvested them as soon as January started to warm up. Garlic is doing okay. I was worried with the January.  I threw a bunch of leaves on, as mulch and frost protection.  I need to get more fertilizer on them. And I guess that's about all I can report on, for now. It's TRULY Spring 💗❤💗💝😁

Marching on in Snow - Winter 2019

So we seem to be stuck in the winter despite the groundhog signaling an early spring. 

January was pretty warm, and even one (or maybe) two of the Welsummers started to lay an egg, now and again. But that's stopped by mid February as the cold snap settled in and we started getting snow. The Rhodes continued to do their best, with at least two eggs every day. But this crazy weather is wearing on them, as well.  We are almost to 12 hours of sunlight per day, but it sure does not feel like it. Yesterday was another round of rain, sleet, hail and snow. Then we received another half-inch on top of that, last night. All together, it was a little more than a dusting, but not much more than. 

We only have 11 more days until the season changes over to spring, and I can't even plant potatoes yet! What a Mess! I may have to start them in the green house to minimize the freezing. I'm hoping that my garlic starts have survived that were started last fall. 

Some More Snow 3-9-19

Not Much, but More Than We Wanted