Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Rainy Days

Well my hurry ten days ago turned out to be worth it. Half an acre if pasture mix and eight types of vegetables have now benefitted from this incessant rain.

Last year it kept us from getting my garden in, but being prepared early allows us to benefit from the rain. And I don't have to stretch my garden hose out every night.

My indoor starts are doing pretty good. My only issue is I haven't started to harden them off. I either think about it too late, or the rain is too heavy, or I'm afraid it's too cold. Sooner or later I'll get around to it so that they can join the outdoor garden.

I started another batch of tomatoes, peppers, and corn. I wanted to be able to stagger my harvest times a bit more than last year. I'll probably do one more round in a couple weeks, but by then it should be warm enough to do it outside.



Sunday, April 14, 2013

Asparagus Frittata with Morel Mushrooms

My lone hen has begun to lay eggs again. Asparagus is sprouting up, ten at last count. Warm wet weather is upon us, meaning morel mushrooms are soon to be found.

I'm thinking up recipes that would include these three early spring home grown delicacies. The frittata, introduced to me last year seems like a perfect choice.

If only I had milk goats (for the cheese) here on the east half of the southwest quarter




Monday, April 8, 2013

Garden Beginning

Last night Susan, Grace and I planted the beginnings of our garden.  First we weeded around the onions that are growing up from last year.  Then we planted seven short rows.  Peas, spinach, spice mix lettuce, romaine, cabbage, broccoli, and the last row is a combination carrots and radishes.

I have been told that planting carrots and radishes together allows for thinning the carrots by picking the radishes.  Neat idea, thought we would give it a try.

I also planted a half acre pasture for the horses and another 1/4 acre to grow hay.  I used a pasture mix that I got from Deno's Farm & Feed.  Hopefully the rain we are expecting is for real, because I don't have the ability to water that much land.

Tonight I plan to start some more indoor seeds and do a little pruning on my first batch.  Some haven't grown well, and I think I will put them out of their misery and reuse the soil and space for hardier stock.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Volunteers

I was born in Tennessee so I should be a fan of volunteers. More on that in a minute.

Last year I kept getting rained out of tilling up my garden. The result was a very late planting. Last weekend when I told that the asparagus patch I noticed how dry the ground was.

I decided to take advantage of that by telling up a section of my garden tonight. This is about 20 x 60, much smaller than last year but good for my indoor starts and early planting. I plan on staggering my starts this year In order to stagger my harvest times.

Back to the volunteers. I was talking to my gardening mentors about garlic and onion and how they might still be in the garden from last year. Sure enough, a few garlic and onion "volunteers" are there as you see in this picture. I tilled right up to them and left them undisturbed. I'll weed around them and throw in a little compost and hope for the best here on east half of the southwest quarter .....



Celery update

A few weeks ago i attempted a project to take the base of store bought celery and regrow it.

So far, as you can see in the picture, it is working splendidly. It is doing so well, I thought lets try this with green onions. Again, as you can see next to the celery, success.

I am anxious to get everything outdoors and see how they continue to grow. Now to get some lettuce and more onions started.