Garden prepping is in full swing here. My husband Chuck has started his seedlings. We moved some existing plants, planted last year from the front gardens, into different gardens in our backyard to protect them from deer. If I had realized the deer would be a problem I would’ve done more research when we started revamping last year. And of course, the chickens are doing their part turning over all beds in prep for ng.
Other Garden Prepping
We dug out flowers from neighbors who were looking to thin or remove perennials. Then planted them into our gardens In addition, we have reworked some of the garden beds from last year. We made some larger and added another new bed. We are trying to make the beds curved in such a way as to accommodate our riding lawnmowers ability to navigate with ease.
Some of the flowering plants we recently have moved are Iris, Hydrangeas, Roses, Periwinkle vines, P, and Lenten Roses. We also planted a few flats of Pansies, which I learned the hard way, are a favorite of chickens.
My dad came to visit this past week and when we weren’t doing fun tourist things he offered his help and expertise. He did really great things like help me learn more about my camera and he sharpened all our knives. How great is that!?! My dad is a very good problem solver and can make or fix pretty much anything. Therefore, with my dad’s help, we managed to create additional double height raised beds.
New additions to the Garden
Chuck and dad also added some trellises. They made them using Cattle fencing and metal posts. These should be great for growing beans, peas and other vining vegetables. In the photo below you can see the trellises if you look closely, they are where the green posts are. There are two more to go in that are currently laying across the far left beds to inhibit chickens from scratching up where we have planted some lettuce seeds. The lettuce has already sprouted and we humans would like to enjoy them when they are ready.
When we plant our gardens I like to laminate all the seed packets and sample them to yardsticks. If you look closely in the photo you can see this. As we plant the seedlings into the beds I’ll add in their labels.
In order to keep the chickens out of the gardens in the future, we are adding fencing and a gate to the yard side of the garden that will match the fencing we installed February 2018 around what we deemed the backyard of our property.
As you can see the chickens currently are doing a great job of turning over the soil so it will be nice and loose for planting.
What we plan to grow
For the garden prepping I mentioned Chuck started seeds. He started assorted varieties of tomatoes, cucumber, beans, peas, and herbs just to name a few. In addition to vegetables, we already have blueberries, grapes, blackberries, and apple trees. This spring we will be adding raspberries and strawberries as well as a fig tree.
The lettuce, a few different varieties, were sown directly in a garden bed and they already popped up. We also have a nice crop of radishes. I’m the only one that likes radish so I’m sure I’ll be sharing these with the chickens and the dogs.
Chuck also started several varieties of Zinnias. I would like to have a healthy cutting garden so we can have fresh flowers all summer long. That is more my department, the flower gardens I mean. I would like to add a tea garden someday, too. I believe he planted 60 or 70 tomatoes plants. T makes my head spin a bit.
Bird Watch 2019
Do you remember BirdWatch2018? I will be keeping an eye out for interesting birds and those nesting and raising chicks for Bird Watch 2019.
Chuck and Tim found an old nest while doing some Holly trimming. Then I found one laying on the ground at a shopping center. I’m closely watching around our yard and all the birdhouses we have up. I’ve seen inspections and one spot where there is the construction of a nest.
Pin It for later
Happy Gardening.