Spring

[jlhaslip 4]

I love Spring. I get to eat some yummy fresh Asparagus and look forward to playing in the garden once more. Lots of tomatoes and potatoes. Couple of hills of beans, carrots, radishes. All the good stuff.

[Watermonkey 0]

I was just commenting to a neighbor today about how spring time is such a revitalizing time of the year. Our garlic is already four inches out of the dirt and many green onion "volunteers" have begun to grow. In just a few days I'll probably be firing up the tiller to go through the upper level to prepare for potatoes and I'm going to plant some watermelons this year to see how that works out too. It's an exciting time of the year fursure.

[Misanthrope 0]

"Spring" is definitely a 5-star topic! Though not actually my favorite time of year (I prefer Fall), it sure is a relief to see the filth of winter finally wash away and melt into mud season. In two weeks I'm planting Peas, Swiss Chard, and maybe Spinach. But mostly, I'll be organizing stuff in the spirit of spring cleaning.

[sheepdog 10]

Ah Spring................I love it, but it is SO hectic when you are down on the farm. The goats start to kid, the planting and landscaping need done, all the dogs need haircuts, then there's all the fix up stuff you couldn't do in the cold wet winter, like painting dog houses, and all that fun stuff. There are just never enough hours in the day when spring time finally hits. Every year we swear we are going to do a big garden, this year we even got it tilled, but every year we find we hardly have enough time to keep up with the 4 little raised beds we have built in front of the house. Such is life!

[CinnamorollTK 0]

Spring is a great time to garden. I planted my first green onions, cilantro, and tomatoes this year. I have 7 large tomatoes that may be a week from being ripe (I am not 100% sure since I am growing them by instinct and not by instructions) The green onions and cilantro are taking a while but thats because they are planted behind 4-5 foot tall plants. (I didn't plan where I put the seeds so many large plants came out in front of small plants. They easily block sunlight from them.)At least my garden is grown in a 10 by 10 feet place.

[Misanthrope 0]

I love it, but it is SO hectic when you are down on the farm.

No kidding! (pun intended!). We are short the goats and chickens, but yes - even with a garden, Spring is the most hectic time of year - which would explain why it's not my favorite time of the year. Still, watching the earth spring back to life is a site not to be missed or reveled in.
But back on the farm, we'd eventually like to built a chicken coup and have access to our own eggs. Right now, we buy them from a local farmer who has a very small operation and treats his chickens very well. He also has a few goats as pets and makes his own wonderful goat cheese. I refuse to buy store bought eggs anymore. The poor things are forced to operate as machines and not treated as the living, breathing, sentient creatures they are. If you ever have the chance to compare a store bought egg to the real thing, you'll never go back! Compare, if you will, a rich golden yolk to that of the weak, anemic, pale yellow pitiful excuse for eggs sold at grocery stores. And that's not even factoring in the difference in taste.

This year's garden's doing pretty good. My only complaint is that it's not bigger, but that would entail terracing out more of the hillside which equates to spending more money on a back-hoe and extending the deer fence - a huge operation. In the end, the increased produce yield would justify the initial cost. We've got more birds than ever this year. It's a freakin' aviary out there. Of course, putting out several bird houses, feeders, and bird baths didn't hurt matters. I love having them around for several reasons. Their bird song is such I prefer to listen to them than the radio. They are garden befenficials: they get in and around the veggies and eat slugs, ants, and other nasties. And I just plain enjoy watching their winged antics, especially this time of the year when they are in the process of building nests. We've only got one little hummingbird that I've seen so far.

So far we have the following delectables growing: Swiss Chard, Spinach, Peas, Cucumbers, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Dill, Beans, Basil, Arugula, Jalepenos, Green Peppers, Potatoes, Carrots, Radish, and Garlic. The garlic should be ready to harvest next month. I've got some Eggplant on the windowsill waiting to be transplanted. I'll probably plant some in the garden and leave the rest in planters in case they don't make it in the garden. I've heard Eggplant are pretty hard to grow up north so I'll try both methods. I'll have to post some pictures soon. I've also got some watermelon starts I should plant out sooner than later, though I'm a little hesitant as my first attempt was a disaster.

At least my garden is grown in a 10 by 10 feet place

Yeah, it's amazing how much you can grow in a relatively small area. You can use the "square foot method" and pack a lot more in than by utilizing conventional row gardening. For all you folks who are hesitant, there's really no excuse not to try your hand at gardening. Even if you live in an apartment, you can buy or scavenge a few containers and grow a few veggies out on your patio. But that's a whole new topic ......