A Victory Garden and New Baby Chicks!

Since my store is closed I’ve been spending a lot of time at home and in the yard. I thought I’d give you a little tour! A few years ago I tore out a stone patio and added pea gravel in this area next to the garage to create a potting area. It’s where I’ve been doing a lot of container planting:

I’ve got spinach, Brussel sprouts, cilantro, oregano and chives growing alongside my bonsais trees:

I buy most of my seeds at our locally owned Ace Hardware. I love all the advice I get from everyone that works there too:

I found these old tomato hanging planters in my mom’s basement and brought them home with me. It’s kind of an experiment to see if they work:

All gardening is a science experiment to me. This year I tried out a new method that my friend Renea uses. She starts seeds in these $1 shoe boxes:

Once the seeds sprouted I took the lids off and I drilled holes in the bottom. They will stay in these containers until I’m ready to transplant:

I also save all my containers from years before so I always have plenty of things to start seedlings in and I always plant way more than I will probably use:

I used some huge pots to plant tomatoes in this year. I’ve also got kale, sage, lettuce, cilantro, parsley and other things in containers:

A few onion bulbs:

 

My Old Depot Project is still look great:

In the raised garden I started sugar snap peas a few weeks ago and they are coming up fast. We put an a-frame over top and I used some aviary netting as the “trellis” part (which is really hard to see). I have onions growing in the middle of the peas for now:

A few accidental tomato plants growing from last year. I’ve since dug them up and put them in pots to transplant into our new victory garden:

The other beds have a variety of seeds already (chard, arugula, endive, more parsley:

I put aviary netting on top of those as well to keep the squirrels and birds away. 

I found this little female downy woodpecker one day while working! She must have hit one of the windows. She sat in my hand for a while and then flew off:

I also started an asparagus patch this year next to the compost:

Speaking of compost….I always have lots of random plants growing in the bin…look at all those tomato plants!

A few window sill herbs and a red onion sprouting…I’ll just be clipping the onion greens to cook with:

I had huge bed on the back of our garden that I’ve never planted anything in so we filled that with strawberry plants this year:

I’ve planted lots of bulbs and other flowers around the property but my climbing roses and phlox are the only thing taking off so far:

A few tomatoes and peppers in large pots closer to the house:

Any extra veggie plants I have get put in these containers for now:

I have a whole post halfway done about my succulents and sedums because all of these plants in this bed were propagated from one plant I bought years ago:

For a few years I’ve been thinking about a bigger plot on a flat sunny side of our property. I finally talked Brett into tilling it and we are starting with a 14×14 foot plot that we call our Victory garden:

It might take a year or so to get the soil right but I’m sure something will grow in it this year:

Brett and Sienna built a small fence one day that I can attach mesh wire to….otherwise our groundhog will eat our veggies. 

Speaking of groundhogs eating veggies have you seen Chunk the Groundhog? He is so cute….and makes me want to set up a camera to catch ours! 

 

Part of schooling at home now for Sienna is learning about home projects. She learned how to use deck screws this week:

Me shaping and forming the rows of my garden. I’ll be planting it this week! 

In the back of our property we have a huge rock retaining wall and last year I planted lavender all over it so I’m excited to see that come in this year. Our soil is super acidic and lavender loves it:

Succulents and”creeping” sedums being grown in my rock wall:

I love how luscious and green the sedums are:

The chickens helped us till the gardens…now the aviary netting keeps them from ruining it all:

A few other areas of sedums. I plant them in every nook and cranny in the yard:

They grow great in areas that won’t grow much of anything else:

A rosemary plant that I turned into a topiary…but hasn’t been shaped or trimmed this year:

On a sad note…a few nights ago before I put the chickens up I realized that something was wrong with our chicken M-Lo. It might have started a few weeks ago when she was attached by our dog Wookie…but I realized M-Lo had a bad infection and was not going to recover. I knew I couldn’t put her out of her misery myself and didn’t want to ask Brett to do it. Even at the late hour our friend Dave quickly came over and put her down for us so she wouldn’t have to suffer through the night. I wish I was braver and could have done it myself…but we have some great friends. 

M-Lo was the runt of our first set of chicks. She was always so reserved and sweet. Here she is as a little baby:

I miss her but I am glad she isn’t suffering anymore.

On a happy note, the day before Easter I picked up six tiny little silkie chicks. I bought them from someone in the county next to us that is completely shut down so we had to meet at the county line. It was so cold that morning that I set my car heater as hot as it would go and felt like I was in a sauna on the ride home but the chickies were nice and toasty. New little babies just in time for Easter:

Are you gardening this year? Are you trying something new you’ve never done before?