Friday, 26 May, 2017

Rain pretty much all day yesterday which was great as we needed it.

Ordered the garden loam mixed with mushroom compost. Should come next week.

Brought home a yard of black mulch and continued working down the driveway...laying newspaper and cardboard on the grass and weeds and then covering thickly with mulch. The edge of the driveway is a mess with the weeds so think that I will start to spray them with vinegar on a daily basis until I eventually kill them. Likely will take the whole summer as I am unable to dig them up. Cannot even get the garden fork into the gravel to loosen them to pull them out.

Have cleaned out the chicken coop and removed all the straw right down to the soil level. Have decided to switch over to pine shavings instead. The girls were not sure what to make of that at first but they like the soft thick fluffy stuff so were soon just fine in there. 

The big Jersey Giant. Hollyhock, was acting oddly. She is going to the vet in the morning to be sure she is OK.

Thursday, 25 May, 2017

Am hoping to resume this blog for my own record keeping.

All the seedlings that I have grown are doing well and are now pretty much hardened off. They have spent the last couple nights outside and are well accustomed to the sunlight.

Have already planted out peas in three beds and also some spinach in front of the peas in one bed. Planted kohlrabi and rapini but it has been eaten to the ground by something. Will need to keep the brassicas under row cover until well established.

Have purchased rolls of Hex plumbing tubing to use for make hoops for the beds and will stabilize with bamboo pole across the top and then cover with the row cover. Will do the same in the strawberry beds but cover with netting to keep the birds off the plants.

We have begun construction on the last beds in the kitchen garden. 20 new veg beds and 6 new strawberry beds. 10 veg beds completed thus far but not yet filled. They still need to be lined up properly and then filled. Ordering the garden loam today.

Been spending most of my time weeding out the area for the last row of veg beds. Lots of weeds continued to grow underneath the tarps that have been there for close to 4 years now. A lot of dandelions and LOTS of couch grass which must be carefully dug out to avoid regrowth.

Asparagus has been producing well. I reckon about 12 pounds thus far.