After a hard rain last week, these sunny but not overly warm days are highly appreciated! The plants are loving it too! Next week is really warm! Hot actually so things will really start to grow!
We can start with the chickens- the pullets are now 9 weeks old and about to start puberty. They have their more adult coloration but still peep and can be very flighty. They get to go outside when it is nice weather and eat bugs and scratch etc. They seem to enjoy it. They even get “teenager” grower food now. The hens are doing their thing out in the pasture and we get anywhere from 3 to 5 eggs a day. Vin is not laying at all but seems healthy. She had trouble with Shelless eggs and never really got an egg laying schedule going. It’s been 2 months now since she has laid. Unusual for an Easter Egger and she had such beautiful blue eggs. Oh well…our first truly pet chicken. Looks like Hermie is trying to go broody again already. Sheesh!
The orchard is moving right along but some bad news- we appear to have fire blight in our pears. One definitely needs to be pulled and possibly the other also. We will have to replace them with resistant varieties. We also never planted another apple tree or peach/ nectarine tree. Next year! Im going to find out if I can still get a dwarf lemon and cherry tree for our little yard. We have five cherries and maybe four persimmons on the trees out in the orchard, but the mandarins are done. Still have a couple oranges and lots of lemons. And SO MANY apricots and plum baby fruits! I take 20-30 off most days and still so many. So there is that! Too many plum trees on the property!
The onions and garlic in the front bins are starting to look like they are maturing- especially the onions are starting to get “necks” but still no blossom stalks. All of my lettuce is pulled and most of the collard greens are also done. None of Jenny’s flowers came up so that was sad but she’ll try again when she’s home on maternity leave.
My seasonal bins are starting to sprout with so many squash varieties! We have zucchini and yellow summer squash coming up, patty pan, butternut, Delicata and Lakota too. There are green beans sprouted, honeydew melons, watermelon, carrots (both long and short), radishes and pickling cucumbers all coming up these days. And it will be hot this next week so they will take off. I have to resist the urge to plant more because they are so far apart right now but after the chaos of last year… I have also planted all of the different pepper and tomatillo seeds so they can be transplanted in a couple weeks.
So no harvests really there now but on to the permanent garden. So many absolutely delicious raspberries. I think I eat as many as I collect. Good thing they are pretty low glycemic index! We are probably getting more than 2 cups a day right now and still some flowers blooming. I know they will not flower once it gets to 90F next week but at least two of these varieties will rebloom in the fall. Yay! The blackberries are also almost ripe. Matt and Dave both tried some that were not quite ripe but I can see they are losing their super shiny sheen so I think it is close. There are a lot of blackberries but they may also ripen very fast with the heat next week. So far the blueberries seem to be on hold as far as ripening, and there are only two huckleberries still on one plant. Hopefully next year. There are still artichokes although most have started to flower. They are really pretty purple flowers. I also planted 4/5 tomato plants at about 5-6.5” tall into the permanent garden just so I can practice trimming them up. And the kiwi plants are growing very quickly. Matt will soon need to start their trellises.
The herbs are taking their sweet time sprouting. The basil and thyme came up in two weeks but are barely growing. The parsley and cilantro also came up about that time but are still tiny. The Zataar oregano took 4 weeks to sprout and still no rosemary or lemon balm. Guess they will show up eventually? I may replant this weekend for them.
And finally are my silly Romaine plants that didn’t grow fast enough to plant in a bin this winter. They sit in the mostly shady back patio and I give them some ice cubes and they are still giving me leaves!
