Gardens update

Well, things are definitely happening outdoors here!  :-)

The spinach, lettuce, beets, chard, peas and kale are growing well.  I let the asparagus go to seed again this year without harvesting (though I was very tempted), I will add soil to the bed and plan to harvest next year.  We are moving around the front "cold bed" to the side of the house and will fill that with flowers and bushes - to make room for the deck that we hope to build this year!

We are increasing our fruit trees.  We now have 2 apple, 2 peach, 2 fig, 2 kiwi, 75+ strawberry, 3 blueberry, 3 domestic blackberry, and a thriving rhubarb which I have already harvested 2 quarts from.  We plan to add 2 pear trees to the "orchard" this year.  I am very excited about these additions.  :-)

I am sad to report that I pretty much killed all our little seedlings.  It was just too busy a time to be trying to remember to turn lights on and off and water things daily.  I have a few living still, but many, many died a sad, dry, weak death.  :-(  I haven't taken tally of seeds yet, but may need to buy some plants to make up for the loss.  I do plan to put beans in the ground soon - but we had a frost warning last night again, so won't be doing squashes or tomatoes for a bit still.  I am waiting on hubby to go get the truckload of manure for me also, so most of the beds aren't quite ready yet.

On the flower side... right now the iris and wild violets are blooming, lilac is almost done, lilies are on their way.  There is 1 bud on a rose bush and many plants that have shoots and leaves and growth.  The peonies are looking good, hosta are full and lovely, coneflowers filling in, butterfly bush getting tall.  Love this time of year!

We have sooooo many projects that need doing this year.  Work has been very busy for hubby and it is way past dark when he gets home lately... so we'll see what really gets accomplished.  I'll report back again before too long.

New plantings and baby chickies!

We are adding to our fruit and flowering trees, and adding some color to the yard while we wait to be able to plant out the veggie garden.

Ordered from Arbor Day Foundation and planted last night:
2 Golden Jubilee Peach trees
1 Fragrant Lilac
2 Blue Hydrangea bushes
4 Bar Harbor Junipers
1 Orange Azalea
1 Red Maple Tree (free)
2 Forsythias (free)

I also purchased from Lowe's yesterday:
2 blueberry bushes
2 fig trees

We also dug up lots of baby forsythia bushes from under our bush at the corner of the house, so many in fact that we were able to line the back of the house with bushes - that will be pretty next spring!

We received our order of baby chicks yesterday also.  We ordered 25 hens (just a mix of brown egg layers) and they sent a free exotic chick also.  They are chirping away from their cage in the laundry room.  We need to work on adding to the chicken house and making an additional run for them.  They will be inside for a few weeks though.