The pepper tree is gone

Yesterday I took the day off for a long Easter week end. As a worked around in the yard weeding and such, Fred chopped down the pepper tree. It was a bittersweet moment. That tree has been the play equipment of our kids for 20 years. Well, ok, no one has climbed it for the past 8 or nine years, but it has so many memories. It needed to go. Every year it gets tangled in the phone lines, it shades the garden, and it grows new shoots from the ground. I'm glad its gone. It was the last hurdle to being able to buy some laying hens.

It will take a week or so to get the mess cleaned up. I still have a raised bed to plant in my garden. So by the beginning of May I should have some chickens.

The garden will get a lot more sun now. Hopefully we won't have to battle with mildew this year. So long pepper tree; it's been nice.

A stay at home day

Today was a stay at home day.  I love these days.  I don't get enough of them. It had been two weeks since I had mown the lawn, so that was the first order of business. It was a warm day so I needed to get it done before noon. We went to Home Depot to get lumber and pvc pipe to build our next raised bed.

Elaine and Chuck Davis came by for a few minutes.  They had extra compost from their yard remodel and they brought us a barrel full. It was nice to see them and share our gardening adventure with them. They are great friends!

As soon as I got the mowing done, I decided that the weeds near the house needed to be pulled. It was not a hard job, just time consuming, and I enjoy the process. The compost tumbler has been ignored for a while so I had Fred turn it a few times. I dug around in it and pulled some of the good stuff out. I won't fill it so full next time!

Tomorrow we'll get the new bed set in the garden and I can plant my next set of vegies.

My garden

sage and basil in the containers

Black berries

Oregano 

This is box one the salad box, beans, carrots, beets, onions, lettuce

snap peas

strawberries

snap peas and black berries

My friend, Michaele gave me some blackberry starts last week end.  I got them in the ground and they are sooooo happy! I will have berries next year perhaps.  Not counting on them this year, but you never know. The lavender she gave me is not so happy. I am hoping it will come around in the next few days.

The snap peas have sprouted, and I am anxious to begin my three sisters area. I bought some basil and thyme and sage for the herb wheel. Elaine gave me some mint.  So things are coming along and moving quickly now.

I need to get some tomatoes and peppers in soon!

snap peas

Tuesday, I dug up a 1ft by 12 ft section in the ground just under my chicken wire frame. Then, I put compost and potting soil in the hole and planted my snap peas! 24 peas to be exact. Now I have to wait a week for them to sprout. Hopefully they will do well in the compost mix.  We will soon see.

Sprouts!!

After a beautiful week end away, I come home to find strong new bean sprouts! The carrots have sprouted as well. I love spring time.  I have decided to plant my peas and cucumber straight in the ground with a good bit of compost and vermiculite. The frame is up and filled with chicken wire, so tomorrow I plant peas.  I will buy a kiddie pool this week at Lowe's by work for my herb wheel garden. I am excited about the prospect of a beautiful herb garden in the center of my garden plot.

My oregano from last year is beautiful and full, so I will leave it alone. I will pant basil near my cucumbers to keep the spider mites away, but the other herbs will go in the herb wheel.  More info about this in my next post.

planning, planning...

Today I planted some chard and carrots and beets. I watered the spots that I planted yesterday  and the already growing spots of onions and lettuce.  I picked a few strawberries, too! I am debating about the expansion of my garden plot. I want another box or two for squash, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, peas and melons. Squash takes up so much space, 3x3 for summer squash and 1x2 for winter squash. Maybe I'll plant the three sisters pattern with corn beans and squash. It would be something new to do. I wonder if I could do it in a sfg? Maybe I'll make one of those charts and post it here. Hmmmmmm