Making Hay

I haven't actually been making hay,

but the saying "make hay while the sun is shining" refers 

to getting stuff done- in my case literally when the sun is shining.

In May I think it rain about 85% of the time

making outside work impossible.

Big E and I installed a new sturdier, taller chicken run in the rain.

l to r: Royal Farms, Louise and Vader the Roo

The girls (and the roo) aren't very happy about confinement of any sort

even if it's a very large grassy area.

I guess it's one of those

"The manure is better on the other side of the fence" deals for them.

We wanted to do something to allow them some freedom and space 

without offering them up as a fox buffet during kit season.

So far (knock wood) it seems to be working.

Nutsy enjoying some watermelon

I try to keep them happy with special treats

like watermelon rinds.

Still, the minute the treat is devoured,

they're back to demanding release from the prison yard.

In the nicer weather, 

Big E and I have finally been able to get the veggie garden tilled.

Because we are also busy at the house, we are keeping this year's garden smaller.

I have beets, radishes, cukes, beans, peppers, squash and tomatoes.

There is room for something else but I'm not sure yet what I'll add,

possibly just some additional tomatoes or peppers.

We also managed to finish digging out the new garden beds at our house.

Now I just need to get some stuff planted in them.

A local new-to-me nursery was having a BOGO sale on plants,

so my mom and I headed out and loaded up the car.

They're still sitting by the garage at the moment,

because I have so much that needs getting done I haven't gotten to them yet.

I'm hoping that I can find time to get that done,

so I can share the progress on the gardens.

I'm happy to report that I was able to get the rest of the milkweed that I needed,

and I can start the Monarch Waystation Certification process.

In other news, 

the bathroom is nearly completely gutted.

I haven't managed to get any photos of that process since it has mostly happened

during the day while I'm at work.  

Thanks to my dad. 

Prepping the Garden

The husband was hard at work Sunday and Monday

getting the veggie garden ready for planting.

This past fall we dumped quite a bit of composted manure

onto the garden- something we neglected to do the year before

and we paid for it in lack of production.

So Big E went to work tilling in the compost.

He also went to work making the edges perfectly straight.

Finally, he limed the garden good.

We have one more bag of lime we need to finish up one corner

but for the most part, it's done.

 I spent my evening making a to scale drawing of the garden

so I could get an idea of where I wanted things to go.

We wanted to make sure we rotated the various veggies

in the hopes that it would help with squash bug issues

and that rotation and added compost would boost our crops.

I paid special attention to companion planting 

and spacing (something I never really paid much attention to).

I ended up having a little extra room for a small herb garden-

on paper at least.

We'll see how well I planned once it's time to get the seeds and plants in the ground.

 

Turning Soil

Last night I finally found some time to see if the tiller was going to start

work on preparing the veggie garden.

Let me put a plug in here for Mantis Tillers.

I have always wanted one and last year I finally got one.

I love it.

And after sitting all winter

it started right up

(well, after I remembered to flip the switch to the "on" position)

I managed to get about 1/2 of it done 

before succumbing to my new blisters.

There's more to do-

hauling manure from the barn

putting down lime

retilling the above in-

but it's started

and soon I hope to have some peas popping up.

(as long as we don't get the potential snow they're forecasting for this evening)

Looking Good

I'm so tickled about how well the garden is doing.

After coming home from a weekend of Cub Scout Camp,

the weeds had sprouted everywhere 

and the task of weeding the garden seemed gargantuan.

Impossible even.

And that's usually where the garden takes a wrong turn and it's downhill from there.

But

my little Mantis tiller makes short work of the weeds between the rows

and this year I have the help of Big E 

and the combined teamwork of man and machine has this garden looking great.

Time to order the canner.

The Garden

I got myself a new tiller.  I went with a Mantis 2 stroke.
I have high hopes for this tiller.
It's going to make this garden produce bumper crops
and keep me canning all summer long
(provided I learn to can).

It got the job done (and nearly did me in- I couldn't move for a couple of days)

Big E and I mapped out the area and marked our rows.

Can't wait to see what we manage to harvest!