Michigan

[Dascountry]

:watering Still waiting on the rain here. This evening I put some of the tomato and pepper plants in the ground. Uncovered a couple pumpkin and sqaush plants that were getting to big under the milk jugs. Hope they continue to do as well. Waiting for the beans to pop up. Played Mother Nature and watered the garden. Snuck a radish out of the garden yesterday. Small but good. I think by the end of next week I'll be picking them and some spinach. Can't wait! Love this time of year :bouquet

 

[swampducks]

I didn't plant spinach this year as it bolted last year before I could get any. And I htink I was right for this year because it's too freakin' hot too early again! My lettuce has barely sprouted and mostly just looks wilted. Just planted more beans, got Masai, Provider and Jade in. My snow peas are finally starting to flower, could have some to eat in another week or two. looking forward to those!

Started cukes and zukes and pumpkins in little pots the other day. Meant to do it a couple weeks ago but best laid plans..... Still some are already sprouting so even if they're inside for only a week, it will be good head start.

Sure could use some rain though. we really, really need it. :watering

 

[swampducks]

Today I transplanted some of my hollyhocks around the outside of my chicken/hutch brooder. Indian Spring and Happy Lights from Park Seeds. Got a few more to plant somewhere. Also planted some razzmatazz and Italian white sunflower seeds. Still need to transplant the clematis vine I got in the mail last week. Planted the other one next to the chimney. Maybe I'll go do that after this post. Yes, that's the ticket! As long as I don't let dinner burn.

Looks like rain may happen later tonight. Sure can use it!

 

[Dascountry]

Swampducks sounds like you've been busy with the transplanting and new seedlings. I put in some more radish and lettuce seeds today. Looks like the rain is going to pass me by, but Sunday afternoon looks like I'll be getting a storm.

Just got to let you all know that one of my little roosters is finding his voice. He has tried to crow the last couple of days. It sure gets our attention. Made my DH and me both chuckle today.

 

[fair weather chicken]

we planted all of our seedlings, radishes, corn , beans, onions on Friday, just need to finish putting up the fence to keep the dogs and chickens out, no pigs to worry about this year , sold them all. got some rain today, just the right amount, how about that! sunday 90's monday 90's and rain possibly t-storms. 10 miles east of lake michigan s.w. lower.

 

[Jared77]

Well I dozed off on the couch and instead of going straight to bed I got the dogs out and figured I'd poke my head on here. I got my garden 98% planted. I still have a handful of tomatoes to put in but I'm mostly done. A bit of a sunburn but otherwise I'm pleased with how everything went. I have tomatoes left to plant because after spacing everything out I realized I still had room. As my wife says "Heaven forbid you have an empty space in the garden". I have the "If I have to keep it weeded I want something there to benefit from weeding instead of just space" mentality.

All my peppers have buds on them ready to open, both sweet and hot including my 4 colors of bell peppers. I supplimented with a calcium suppliment hoping to avoid the blossom end rot that plagued my bell peppers last year. I must have tossed 50% of the bell peppers that I grew due to blossom end rot. They were the only thing that was affected, so we'll see. I did both Red Beauty and Early Red bells this year too trying to find a variety that will actually give me a good red bell pepper. Valencia is my orange that I'm trying. Who knows maybe Ill have a ton of green peppers since nothing colored up this year. We'll see.

I also have 2 Black Krims, over 3 dozen Early Girls, 2 dozen Romas, a handful of Lemon Boys, and 2 Jet Stars for tomatoes. I've never grown the Black Krims but they come well very well regarded so I figured why not? The Jet Stars I got on a whim since I had some extra room and I wanted a bigger slicer than the Early Girls but to me the Big boy and Better boy varieties take too long for what I got out of them. So I figured I'd give the Jet Stars a try. Based on what I've read they hopefully will fit the bill and will be a staple in my garden just as the Early Girls, Romas, and Lemon Boys have become.

The Black Krims are my one "weird thing" for this summer. My wife says I'm allowed to have 1 "weird thing" a year and this year its them. Last year it was a handful of purple potatoes. As far as the definition of "weird things" its anything that isn't traditional. Like purple potatoes, yellow tomatoes, green tomatoes chocolate peppers, black tomatoes, purple bell peppers, etc. After doing both both yellow and green tomatoes we really liked the Lemon boys which are a yellow slicer, the Green Zebras were a pain since you had to palpate each tomato to determine if it was ripe which was a big time killer when I can easily pick just by looks with the other varieties. The flavor didn't make it worth the effort when harvesting.

Sometimes my weird things are for flavor like the tomatoes. I've heard good things about the black varieties so I figured why not? I bought them at the nursery and with only 2 plants its really not a big deal to try it. The yellows I started with 2 of those the first year I grew them year and now I've got a bunch of them. The other reason I grow my "weird things" is for the kids be it mine or our nieces and nephews like the purple potatoes and next year I plan on doing the mixture of colored carrots literally for the little people in the family. I plan on having them all come over and help dig them up and watch as they find all the colors of carrots. I won't tell them what I've done Ill just say I need help and let them discover what I've grown. Having fun things for the kids is VERY important to me. I want them to try new things and be willing to experiment, and help encourage them to get into the garden or at least outside and exploring the world around them. Heck I'm also the one who wants a mix of hens from EEs to a Marans and a Welsummer for a mix of colored eggs which is going to be a 2013 or 2014 project darn it!! Maybe I'm crazy but I see it as I can always get white eggs at the store, why not have the kids go out and flip over finding a blue chicken egg, or a really dark, or speckled one? They taste the same and cook up just as well so why not have some fun with what I can grow or collect? It would be like an Easter Egg hunt every time they go out to the coop. I figure one of each breed and not push them hard to lay should ensure I get a good mix of colored eggs. Its also why I do a good carving jack-o-lantern type pumpkins and the Atlantic Dills the GIANT pumpkins. I love that they come over all summer and rush to the garden to inspect the progress and argue over which pumpkin is going to be theirs even though they are all green on the vine. To me that means I'm doing something right and makes all my efforts worth it.

I also got a bunch of volunteer russet, red skins and purple potatoes that I planted around because I'm a big softie and opted to keep them going instead of transplanting them or even just pulling them. I couldn't believe they survived 3 tillings. 1 last fall and 2 this spring. Unbelieveable. I'm still going to mulch them and see what I can get. I hadn't planned on growing any this year but hey I'm not going to argue with volunteers. Oh well I'm rambling.....nite ya'll!!

 

[swampducks]

I think we got about half in inch of rain today. was great to have but sure made doing anything outside impossible, Got my dogs walked and birds fed before it started at 9:30 this morning, then sun came out about 5 pm. Really nice out there now, about 67 degrees. ducklings are enjoying the wet grass. Should make my newly planted beans happy, too. And my snow peas are flowering like mad! Can't wait to eat the first one.

 

[Dascountry]

As my wife says "Heaven forbid you have an empty space in the garden". I have the "If I have to keep it weeded I want something there to benefit from weeding instead of just space" mentality.

Well that sounds like me...if its empty its gunna get filled

I also have 2 Black Krims, over 3 dozen Early Girls, 2 dozen Romas, a handful of Lemon Boys, and 2 Jet Stars for tomatoes. Thats alot of tomatoes!

Having fun things for the kids is VERY important to me. Sounds like a good attitude

We also recieved a good rain today. Nice and steady. Humid out right now. Been chasing a wayward chicken around the yard today. I think she escaped via the pig pen. Still haven't caught her. Those things sure are fast.

 

[Jared77]

Anybody to sugar snap peas? I got some put them in Wed, Im sure I was late on getting them in the package didn't have much for directions other than depth to get the seeds at. Thanks!

 

[swampducks]

I'm sure you're not too late for your sugar snap peas, as long as we don't continue getting high summer weather. My snow peas are flowering finally and I'm hoping to be eating some in a week or two. They don't take kindly to hot weather. Not sure I'm liking this early spring weather suddenly thrust upon us though. 59 for a high today? really? At least I didn't get a frost last night, my low was 40. I covered all my potted tomatoes and my beans that had just started sprouting just to be safe. It's only 48 now, that is chilly for the last day of May!

I am very annoyed at my ducklings right now. They've been wandering up ont o my deck and last night I discovered they ate my dianthus right out of the flower pot! The blighters! I already discovered they ate my daylilies down to the ground. I was feeling bad about eating them, but not so much now.

Anyone want a nice fat muscovy duclking or two? I'm not looking forward to plucking them and I don't want to take them to the Amish, they charge $5 for a duck!