Did I Say Massive Garden Post?

What I meant to say was... when I get back from out of town on Sunday, I will tell you all about my garden. Until then, let us look at the pretty peony that my wonderful Granny gave to me... So, So pretty...

Remember these?

Here they are a coupla days ago... I was a little creative here. I wanted to be sure that everyone knew there actually were potatoes growing, so I circled them. Then I drew a heart on my baby. I love him...

Have a good couple of days everyone! I am going to visit my sister Betsy. She and her lil family are moving into their new house this weekend and I'm going to check it all out. And maybe help a little. *wink*

So Much to Say!

Last Monday we finally took the baby chicks (not so much babies anymore) down to the pen that they will live in for the rest of their lives. They have GROWN!! We had to make sure that neither their feet nor their little heads got stuck in the kennel while transporting them. As you can see, they are a little freaked out.

Getting them to realize that they needed to come out of the kennel and into the pen was hard work! My Lovin' Husband talked sweet to them, though, and they eventually ended up in the pen. Talk about confused chickens. They had all sorts of room to run around, but didn't know what to do about it...

See? Very confused chickens.

They eventually got the point and figured that the coop (which we have not replaced yet) was nice and shady and full of brand new straw to scratch around in. I of course had the very busy job of taking pictures and making sure Adam knew exactly what to do. :)

Potato bins. They are growing like crazy...

Especially out of the sides that we should have wrapped last week... *bashful*

Those are the potatoes in the garden. Also coming along nicely.

These are Adam's babies. See the fence around them? This is what the chicks were in. Now that they are where they need to be Adam uses it to protect his precious plants from the animals.

I can't wait to eat some homegrown tomatoes. My mouth waters at the thought!

Peas!!

Squash...

Corn!!

My sweet baby takin' care of the broccoli...

And when it is all said and done.... I come in to play the piano.... But I have to share the rug with Maggie. No joke. She doesn't move - EVER. I play - she sleeps and keep my feet warm!!

P.S. While writing this post this morning, I fried our modum with a cup of coffee... I'll try to have things back up and running in a short time!!! Have a good day. Smile and laugh!!!

Love,

Malinda

Update... Gardeny Things.

I have mentioned before that we live in a cedar barren in middle Tennessee. One aspect of living in a cedar barren (other than cedar trees like WEEDS) is all of the rock. Everywhere there are rocks. Little ones, big ones, tiny ones. God didn't discriminate! We have rocks of all kinds and sizes. Lots of limestone, but also these really freaky ones that actually break down and become... claylike. (As in "claylike soil". I'm sure some of you have read those very words on the back of a seed packet and casually waved off the thought of claylike soil. How awful, you think. I'm so glad I don't have claylike soil. Well I DO! So the next time you read that and you don't have claylike soil. THANK YOUR MAKER, PEOPLE!.)..............................I digress.

I couldn't find any of my stakes that I usually use to mark beds so I found yet another use for all of the rocks laying as far as the eye cans see. Check it out... Until the relentless summer sun bakes that permanent Sharpie off of there we're good to go on labels from here on out. I may even challenge myself to never spend money on markers again. God gave me all of these FREE ROCKS. Might as well use 'em! Below we see that Adam and I don't discriminate either. Rocks of all shapes and sized can be used to line permanent beds. (I'll show you pictures of the rock piles sometime. We have those, too. Made 'em all by ourselves WITHOUT a wheelbarrow. Just so ya know.) Below is my reseeding/asparagus bed. I've had cilantro growing there for three years now. This makes me happy. :) Mmmm cilantro!

The tater bins doth work. Yay!! We were worried because we hadn't seen any sings of life in there, but I went out yesterday and saw leafage. We are gonna have SO MANY potatoes for our lovely little farmer's market.

The grassy lookin' stuff is from the bale of straw. Look closer. See the round leafy stuff? In the center toward the bottom? THAT, my friends, is a potato leaf. Potato leaves mean that down in all that straw and dirt baby taters are being made as I type.

Peas.... we will have lots of peas! Planted beside these very peas are turnips and kohl rabi. And if you don't know what kohl rabi is, you are missin' out people. I don't have any big enought to show you, but when I do you can be assured that you will then know! I also know that a lot of you probably think that turnips are gross. We beg to differ. They're pretty darn good when you GROW YOUR OWN!!!

Hello little baby pea shoot. I am going to eat you when you get a couple of inches taller. Yes, I know you didn't know you were edible, but you are. And quite tasty I've heard. We'll see...

This is the corner of the garden that I thought would NEVER AND I MEAN NEVER get done. It is done - and planted. *Thanks, Dad, for letting us use the tiller.* There is quite a bit of corn and squash planted there now. Before you get on to me for planting my corn early lemme say one thing. EARWORMS. I don't like them and they are gross, so this is my (our) plan. Plant the corn early (Early Sunglow - 63 days - can be planted a little early because it can take a little cold) and plant the squash in with the corn (Our squash lasts longer into the summer if we do this. The corn keeps it shady and cool.). Hopefully we will trick the worst of the bugs.

Below is Fuzz one of our wonderful kitties. He hangs with us in the garden a lot.




Here is what has been done for a while. Tatoes, then peas back where you can see the trellis. And Violet, of course. I can't take 2 steps without her on my heals. She is so NOT a country dog. We adopted her when she was dropped off here at the homestead. She does pretty good for a city girl, though.

And it is finished. Planted. Full up. We (well, Adam) are madly tilling and creating new raised bed systems for our summery warm weather stuff. We only had a tiller for the last few beds. Everything else we did by hand. It was sweaty, dirty, rocky, cloddy, hard, hard work, but it is done and I weigh about 5 pounds less than I did when we started. Adam has some serious muscles goin' on and we are looking forward to the fruits of our labors.

Have a great Tuesday!! Do something nice for someone today. It is good for your soul, ya know!!

Much, much love,

Malinda

Please tilt your head to the left...

I don't know why I thought this was funny, but I did. So there.

Yes I'm goofing off while Adam is working hard, but that's ok. He says so.

I love him...