March 2006
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After a few spring like days when we got some of the fruit trees pruned we are back in a winter wonderland! more snow! The trees look wonderful with their coating of snow. All this in one day! And still snowing!
March brings more snow and beautiful trees.
This photograph was taken from inside. The netting on the window, used to keep insects out in the summer months, can be seen in the photo making it look like the land is humpty and ploughed under all that snow!
This beautiful Silver Birch is the tree that had big branches blown off it in February's storm.
April 2006
I spent most of April in the Uk so was unable to do much around the farm. However on my return on 24th April I saw that the area I had rotertilled last autumn was once more grassed! We have begun rotertilling again! It is a slow job but am sure we will achieve the results we are after eventually!
The cherry tree is in blossom and the plum trees are just coming into blossom. The apple trees are beginning to get their leaves. The grass is growing and I have already mown the grass at the front of the property.
I am unable to plant any seeds directly into the ground. However I have begun planting seeds in the greenhouse.
In our absence we have got out three acres at the back ploughed and ploughed again. It will be harrowed next weekend and then it will be seeded with grass seed.
The silver birch tree in the garden at the front of the house has had it's top branches lobbed off. This is because it was dying from the top downwards last year and we are hoping to prevent it going the way of the other silver birch tree that used to be in the yard. That one had to be chopped down completely last year due to some infection or another that had killed it completely. That one has now begun to sprout at the bottom.
May 2006
May 1st and the field is being harrowed. Our neighbour brought his equipment over, then our neighbour came with the tractor and harrowed it. he used three tyres to weight the harrow down for the first time over the field, then for the last harrow he used no tyres at all. This harrowed field is now level with the grassy field that was already there. It will make one big grassy area.
Bosun and Jaxx decided to take a look at the equipment before harrowing started!
After harrowing you can see that both fields are now the same level. It is all nice and neat and looks like one big area with no dips in it.
May 3rd. Today I started digging a hole beside one of our outside taps. It is leaking and we need to sort the problem out. Unfortunately the pipes we know are very deep down. By the end of the day with help from our tennants' visitor the hole is about five feet deep and four feet wide. There seems to be a hodgepot of pipes there! More investigation needed!
May 4th.
The universe works in mysterious ways! I have been wondering how I was going to get the vegetable garden ready for seeding. We have rotertilled some of it (we rotertilled on the autumn but it has grassed over again). Unfortunately I find the rotertiller very difficult to start. I am alright when it is going but the starting is another story! So I need soemone to start it for me each time and that is where the difficulty lies since there is usually no-one around that I can ask. Now, today I have a visit from the father of a neighbour who asks if he would mind if I let him tidy up a bit of our land near the roadway that the person who harrowed didn't do. He asks for nothing in exchange. Would I mind?!!!!! NO I would not!!!! We continue chatting and he asks about us,etc, the usual small talk. I mention that we are doing our vegetable patch but it needs more work done on it. He immediately offers to do it for me, in exchange for some of our horse manure. WOW! Great! This is really a wonderful place to be with such helpful people.
The first photo shows the bit around the post that is untidy. The second photo shows the veggie patch before much has been done to it. Notice the grass that grew again even though we rotertilled it in autumn.
It is afternoon now and the bit of land round the lamp-post has already been ploughed and looks better. Also the veggie patch has been ploughed so looks much better. The person who ploughed it says he will rotertill it too using his plough and rotertiller.
Here it is, ploughed and rotertilled:
The geranium seeds I planted a few days ago are beginning to come up. I planted more seeds today, some cosmos, some chives and some marigolds. As yet the herbs seeds I have planted have shown no signs of growing but it is early days yet.
May 6th.
Manure for veggie patch:
Our friendly neighbour not only ploughed our veggie patch but also built a sled like contaption for me to put horse manure on and he towed it behind his tractor. Yesterday we loaded it up, he moved it to the veggie patch, I unloaded the manure, spreading it around half of the veggie patch, then he towed it back so I could reload it. Then he towed the loaded sled to the veggie patch, and unhooked it and took his tractor home. Today I was up early with Bosun so we went to the veggie patch and spread the manure on the other half. What a great neighbour! He has made our job of preparing the veggie patch so much easier!
In these photos Bosun and Jaxx explore the veggie patch after it has been ploughed.
The basil and oregano seeds are growing!
5pm in the afternoon and I have just seen my first Hummingbird of the season. It was in the front garden by the plum tree, getting sugar from the blossom. Lovely!
May 7th
The veggie patch was rotertilled this morning. I was given a few hints for seeding the patch and also informed that for this year I am too late to plant tomato seeds. We will buy some tomato plants instead!
Apple Blossom in May:
Plum blossom in May:
May 9th.
Today I manaaged to get the irrigation system working to the paddock nearest the house and also it connects to the back field. It wasn't an easy feat for me as the pipes move and they are heavy to move once in place and with water in them. We had put them in place a week ago but I had not used it as I was busy mowing etc.
May 12th We discover an ant hill at the base of the plum tree at the front of the house. We buy some liquid that will get rid of them.
We bought two trees today. A Peach tree, which we promised ourselves we would buy as our memorial to Otis. Plus we bought a Nectarine tree. Both trees are now planted in the field at the back of the property, next to the fruit trees already there.
May 13th
My husband erects the fence round the veggie patch. He put the wooden posts in last autumn in readiness, and left some of the metal ones that were already there. We made the patch bigger last year. Deer are a problem in this area. We get lots of deer in the garden all year round, and I love to see them there. However we do NOT want the deer eating our vegetables, hence the fencing round the veggie patch! (Most people in this area have their vegetable sections fenced off for this reason.)
He put the ant hill in a bag in the wheelbarrow and put it on the fire in the garden. most of the ant hill is destroyed in this way and the remainder that are left on the ground are treated with a bought substance that kills insects and ants
We pick our first lot of rhubarb and make a crumble today! delicious!
We have a new patch of rhubarb growing too:
May 15th
Before 8 am our person who had ploughed the field and rotertilled it was back with a neighbour's 'Brilliant Seeder' and was seeding our field as requested with a mixture of grass seed, so that we can have a meadow like field. An hour later it was all done.
The dificult part was setting up the irrigation to water the grass seed in. It works BUT it means I have to keep ,moving the irrigation pipes to get all the grass seed watered. It wil take some time to do but is possible I am sure!
By the end of the day I had watered half the field. I had to move the irrigation pipes a further three times after the initial set up.
May 19 2006
I planted corn, beans, onions and chard.
May 20 2006
We planted courgette (zucchini), cucumber and melon from the greenhouse into the veggie patch and also the three tomato plants and the pepper plants we had bought.
May 21 2006
I planted radish, cabbage, and carrots from seed into the veggie patch.
End of May 2006
The seeds in the greenhouse are doing well. The geraniums are up though mostly only one out of the two seeds grew in each pot. The basil, oregano, and sage , are looking good. The parsley is beginning to grow even though that was put in later than the rest. The zucchini and melon seeds have begun growing enough for me to put them in the veggie patch. The marigolds are up and ready for me to transplant but I am not sure where yet!