She's a Beauty

Beauty is top hen in the pecking order. And she is so friendly, too. She comes right up to us, jumps up on us, snuggles with us, and lets us pick her up.

Meet Beauty...

Summer is...

 taking chances...

 cuddling with doggies in the grass...

spending time with Dad...

 perfecting your handstand...

 making new discoveries...

 (a cicada)

 cloud watching in the grass...

 and feeling the sun's warmth, and the beauty of a sunset...

Happy Summer!

We have BEES!

We have wild, or perhaps feral, bees in one of our mulberry trees. So pretty...look at them....

Of course, this has sparked a whole new topic for research!!  Library here we come!!

Stem Propagation

I thought I might be able to try stem cutting propagation while pruning my lilacs.  I also tried it on some Rose of Sharon and Cotoneaster.  I kept the trimmings moist, put in sterile medium, and tented them to keep humid.

Every day I sprayed the inside of each tent with water.

These are the lilacs (above). The leaves were cut in half to reduce moisture intake.

What happened was...some of the clippings dried and died.  And most of the rest ended up becoming moldy.  I have three Rose of Sharon clippings in my kitchen windowsill that are still hanging on. 

Not the best first try in propagation by stem cuttings.  Next time I'm going to try a variety of methods and see which ones I have the most success with.  Perhaps the type of plant itself will have a favorite method.

Next time I will try using a rooting hormone on the stems.

I may also try just planting some clippings to see if they take root. (Some people have said they have success with this.)

I may try some in water.

And I may try the tent method again...but pay more attention to mold growth! I will admit...life got busy and I didn't pay as much attention to them as they should have had. Next time....

Our July Garden

Here is our garden in early July.  First year in this spot, and only our second year growing anything. Last year we bought tomato, jalapeno, and basil plants and stuck them in the ground in a 4' by 12' plot. This year we started everything from seed. It is so much fun.  A lot of hard work but so worth it.

These are 4' by 12' beds. Having them four feet wide allows us to reach in from both sides without having to step into the bed. Also, having the beds split up and having grass aisles is nice.  No weeding between rows needed, and a nice soft spot to sit down and get to work.  Plus...it's pretty, lol. I have to use the push mower around the garden. I attach the mulch bag to it and collect the clippings to use for mulch.  We used rocks from Mark's parents farm to put a border around the beds.  We still have a lot more beds in the back to put rocks around. The rocks are ones that Mark and his brothers collected from the fields over many years of their youth while helping their father work the fields.

We have six 4' by 12' beds to the west end.  Then we have six 5' by 12' beds in the back, and two 2' by 40' beds going around the outside of the chicken run. I have them numbered on a garden map. Here's my breakdown of what we planted where...

4' by 12' beds

                                                 Bed 1: spinach, peas, lima beans, romaine

                                                 Bed 2: green beans, wax beans, carrots, beets

                                                 Bed 3: roma tomatoes, basil, marigolds

                                                 Bed 4: potatoes

                                                 Bed 5: cauliflower, broccoli

                                                 Bed 6: jalapenos, tabasco, bell peppers, basil,

                                                            oregano, cilantro/coriander

2' by 40' beds

                                                  Bed 7: rainbow grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes,

                                                             marigolds, cucumbers, zucchini

                                                  Bed 8: sunflowers

5' by 12' beds

                                                   Bed 9: watermelon

                                                   Bed 10: canteloupe

                                                   Bed 11: sapomiel melon

                                                   Bed 12: birdhouse gourds

                                                   Bed 13: spaghetti squash

                                                   Bed 14: pumpkin

We planted half a bed at first on some things, planning on planting the other half a few weeks later to have a staggered harvest.

zucchini and cucumbers

Roma tomatoes, basil, and marigolds

Green beans, wax beans, carrots, beets

potatoes in background

lima beans, spinach, peas, romaine

 

peas, limas, spinach, romaine

 

jalapenos, tabasco, bell peppers, and cilantro

 

cucumbers

 

zucchini

mammoth gray stripe sunflowers

You can find the full list of what we planted here.

Update: Our cayenne never germinated. The bell peppers started but then fizzled out. Oregano germinated but didn't like being potted up. It got too hot for the broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, romaine, and peas. Our second planting on some things didn't make it because we had extremely high temps and dry weather through most of July. It just killed the seeds in the soil. We had a squash bug and cucumber beetle infestation.  We lost all our zucchini.  We planted a second bed and they are doing great. Chickens and rabbits, and something else keeps eating our spaghetti squash and pumpkins.  But man oh man, those birdhouse gourds are growing!!