Garden Surprises

 

I found this on one of the gardening sites that I read on Facebook.

It's all about the journey!

Potatoes peeking out.

It took a bit but all the rows have potatoes in them.  I can't wait until the harvest to see what we get.  It is about time to cover them again.

I found seven of these little volunteers way over in the paper bed from last year.  I'm thinking cucumber but we will just have to wait and see.

I can hardly believe it.  The boys planted white pumpkin seeds and one is actually coming up.

The chives are getting ready to bloom.

Our only snap pea so far.

cucumber?

Whatever they are I planted them in the yahoos bed.  We may be transplanting them somewhere else when we figure out exactly what they are.

Here We Go Again

 After seeing what has been done in the backyard, Michael suggested that we rename the 'farm' from Notta Lotta Farm to Lotta Farm.  Murph has been at it again!

What a beautiful day to work in the garden.  The weather was perfect as long as you were working but the minute you stopped to rest...and I stopped several times...you got a little chill.  Murph loves a good raised bed.  He doesn't like to waste a spot of usable garden space. So we 'planted' 18 new raised beds in what was the old pumpkin patch.

What better way to celebrate Earth  Day than to make raised beds from repurposed wood crates.  We hope they will last a few years before they need to be repaired because they are not made of treated lumber.

This is how we roll around here.  Leveling Murph style.

Digging the trench to place the bed in.  Murph would dig with garden implements.  Then it was my turn to clear out the trench.  I just used my good old hands.  I work better that way these days.

The perimeter is almost finished.  Now it is time to till up that good soil and fill the boxes.  And Murph loves to use the tiller and make powdery soil.

Count them.  16 beds!  I know that strawberries will go in the three short beds in the center.  We will be mapping out what goes in the rest.  Oh, see the space in the two corners?  Today Murph came over to measure the 'waisted space' for two more itty bitty beds.  So that actually will make the total 18 BEDS!!! Don't tell him but I might plant flowers in them.  You know for the pollinators.  As we were taking this picture it began to rain.  Thank you Jesus for holding off so we could get this project finished.

You are looking at two very tired and very sore gardeners.  But boy are we happy!!!

We still need to figure out what to put in the paths but I think Mark has an idea for that.

Want to see the VERY LAST garden spot on the perimeter of the yard...(except for the back fence which is the yahoo area and he can't have that...yet!)

Right now it is the catch-all for the bamboo and tomato cages.  The little raised bed is going to be moved to the back raised bed area right beside the Yahoo's raised bed garden.  We have already removed the old split-rail fence.  Hopefully, this week I will be able to work on removing the rocks that are in there as well as the flowers. Murph is going to figure out a new configuration for the watering system.

We are going to love it and we don't even know it yet!

said proudly by Murph

A Very Funny Story

 

I grabbed this from someone else's Facebook page.  When I am in the garden I really don't care what I look like...just ask Mark and Murph.  I am there to work...no a beauty pageant for me.

So here is a great example of my garden hair.  But the funny story happened the other night during Whiz Kids with Connor.

We were reading a cute story and there was a grandma in the story.   We were reading the picture and I ask Connor how he knew that the grandma was in the picture on the page.  He looked me straight in the eyes and said, I kid you not, 'Wammy she has cracks in her face just like you!'  I cracked up laughing and I thought Bridgit was going to lose it right there!  I will never ever EVER forget that as long as I live!  Guess I need to use more wrinkle (crack) cream.

Itty, Bitty, Greenhouse

 

Trying something new with the yahoos.  We will all be making an itty, bitty greenhouse.  I have no idea if it will work or not but we will try.  If only the weather would work with us.  Today it is overcast, with some rain, lots of wind, and cold.

OH THAT MURPH!

 We (Mark and I) have said since last year that we can not make any more raised beds. Murph (since last year) has said that we needed raised beds in the Pumpkin Patch and the corn area.  It kills him that every year we have to add dirt because lots of it has washed away.

A few weeks ago I get a pic from Murph.  He had some crates that his company is just going to throw away and he just knew that we could use them as raised beds with a little tweaking.

So over the weekend, we (Murph mostly) made something close to 16 raised beds from recycled wood.  The man is crazy!  When he gets something in his mind it drives him crazy until it happens.

We did need to purchase some wood to be used as braces on the inside of the boxes so they would hold up better.

The first bed is complete.

This is all that I am allowed to lift until further notice.

Like a well-oiled machine.

And yes it is gardening season.  Murph has his shirt off.

Like clockwork, these turn into...

...these. 

 We stacked them just because we could.  But when they eventually go into the garden they will only be two boards high.

We are still working on the configuration.  But I think it will look close to this.  I'm dreaming of taking the two in the middle out and replacing them with a meal bed to be planted in strawberries.

The bird's nest view.

We are going to love it and we don't know it yet.

There is still lots of work to do...till up everything, level everything, get rid of the ugly lettering, fill the boxes according to Hugelkultur gardening, fill with good soil, and then finally plant.  And my favorite part and Murph's worst nightmare..zhuzhing!

WE COULD NEVER DO IT WITHOUT HIM!

 THAT'S FOR SURE!

Planting Strawberries

 

While I was cleaning out the beds, Mark picked up some good mushroom compost and cow manure.

The green that you see are strawberries that I missed in the fall.  So hopefully they will bear fruit this go round.  I planted 29 Honeoye strawberries. (I did it before heading to CEI for cataract surgery).

This bed has 27 AV Valley strawberries.

I can hardly wait to taste the sweetness.  I think we will have enough to share because I still have at least one other kind to plant.  We just need to figure out where the best spot will be.

A Little More Work

 

Some little varmint keeps trying to get to the potatoes!  I keep checking to see if they got anything.  So far so good!

The garden fairy got me a new bumblebee/bird watering station.  It is so cute!  I love it and love the little hands that delivered it!

We have been shredding every piece of paper that we have around the place.  The yahoos love feeding the GOAT.  And this is what we are using it for..the Secret Murph pathway to the raised bed gardens.  So Wammyville send us all your junk mail and newspapers.  We still have some ground to cover.

Planting and Trimming

 

I braved the pollen elements today because it was just too pretty to stay in and Murph came to help.  We planted 24 seed potatoes of various varieties.

Then we set our sights on massacring (trimming) all the trimmable bushes.

Sometime before it gets too hot I will be taking out the last of the split-rail fencing.  We trimmed the scarlet honeysuckle back to the ground.  Praying it will eventually come back because the birds like to hide in it and the hummers love the blooms.

Today's job in the yard is to pack as much of the trimmings in the truck so we can take them to Bzak to be turned into mulch.

Gardening With Murph

 I really can't begin to tell you what all Mark and Murph did on this day.  I was so far under the covers that I thought I would never be able to hold my head up ever again.

Murph sent me pictures so I would know what going on.  I know that he worked himself into a sweat.  He threw the straw that we are using for the weed barrier this year because we had it left over from the Wammyville October Pumpkin Patch fun.  He also added some good stuff and dirt to each of the raised beds.  That man loves a good garden project.  And we are so very, very thankful for him!

Onions planted.

We are off to a good start.

I Can Smell The Fresh Dirt

 

The ground just needs to be a little bit warmer and we are ready to plant onions.