It is too cold for this time of year. Dang our temps go from one extreme to the other these days. We went out today to get things we needed for the cookout tomorrow and it was nice enough out. Got home and decided to try to get the celery transplanted and some of the other things planted. The wind was blowing so hard and it was cold. I was really wishing I could trade my shorts and tank shirt in for some sweats. I had goose bumps. Got the celery planted and 2 kinds of beans. Also planted some petunias in the potatoes as they are supposed to repel the colorado potato beetle. We will see if it makes any difference. Still have marigolds to plant in the rest of the garden. We decided to wait till next week to transplant the peppers and finish planting. We have a frost advisory for tonight and the temps are supposed to be in the mid 30's. Cant say I remember it ever being this cold this late in May. Almost everything is out of the greenhouse so I will probably be closing it up in a week or so or at least till its time to start fall plants. Not much else happening on the homestead today. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Fertilizing, planting and transplanting
It has been one busy hot day today around here. It started with some errands this morning. My buddy Gene that had a stroke on April 1st was in need of a haircut and the same lady is the one that cuts my hair. I picked her up this morning and we went to see Gene for a bit and we both got a hair cut. That was a good start to the day. Got her home and came back to help Jason transplant tomatoes and plant beans in the garden. He already had 5 rows of pink eye purple hulls planted by time I got home. We got started on the tomatoes and all those are in. I had 4 rows about 50 plus feet long of those. If we dont get rain tonight we Rodger and I will finish planting the rest of the beans and such tomorrow. Although it was really hot today the tomatoes hardly wilted.
(tomatoes after they were transplanted)
The peas are blooming, the mustard turnip greens are ready to can, thas a project for next week. The potatoes we planted are not coming up like they should, the onions do look great, the lettuce is ready to eat, the carrots and beets are doing good as well.
(the rest of the garden)
(the volunteer potatoes)
As for potatoes, we planted taters last year and the bugs ate the vines up. The potatoes were not worth digging. So this spring they were turned under with the rest of the garden. The volunteers came up and are about a foot tall already. So when Jason ran the tiller in the garden getting it ready to plant everything else he plowed thru the taters and made them into rows. They will get fertilizer a lil later and we will see what they do. If these make good taters, this is the way we will plant them from now on, or should I say let them come up volunteer. We shall see.
(orchard beyond the garden)
The trees in the orchard all have leaves on them and seem to be doing ok. We have been keeping the grass around the trees mowed with the riding mower and letting the rest go to seed. There is a really nice stand of grass on the orchard area. It is located on the end of the river bottom east of the garden. And we do need to mow again real soon as some of the grass is waist high.
(Jason side dressing corn)
The one acre field of corn that we planted for cornmeal is up and it was time to side dress it. They found out that the corn planter and the cultivator are set for different width rows. So the tractor cultivators can not be used to plow the corn. It will have to be plowed with the rototiller. So with not using the cultivator we had to figure out a way to side dress the corn with fertilizer without doing it by hand. Rodger and Jason rigged the side dresser on the 4 wheeler so we could use it. It worked like a charm. It was bolted to the rack on the back of the 4 wheeler and when Jason would take off down the corn row he would trip the machine to let the fertilizer flow out the tube that was attached to the hitch on the 4 wheeler. It did a better job than we could have done by hand.
(adding 100 lbs fertilizer to machine)
(the little chute drops the fertilize near the plants)
The fertilizer gets dropped right beside the corn in the row so there is no waste and you dont fertilize the weeds and grass. We used 19-19-19 fertilizer and the usual amount is about 400 lb per acre. The flow rate on the side dresser was set for about that much. That was so easy and now we are thinking we will likely use this method to side dress all the garden as well. It sure saves my arm and back from doing it by hand and you are done in a third of the time. It only took about 2 hours to do an acre of corn. And that was a lot of smoke breaks.
While Jason did that I was in the garden getting the weeds out of the strawberries and some other stuff. It was really too hot in the middle of the day for me to be doing that. I think I got a little bit too hot. I got really weak and felt kinda odd. So I came on to the house and had about 3 big glasses of water. I got my self a little bit dehydrated. Or maybe I am getting a little too old to do this stuff in the heat of the day any more.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
(tomatoes after they were transplanted)
The peas are blooming, the mustard turnip greens are ready to can, thas a project for next week. The potatoes we planted are not coming up like they should, the onions do look great, the lettuce is ready to eat, the carrots and beets are doing good as well.
(the rest of the garden)
(the volunteer potatoes)
(orchard beyond the garden)
The trees in the orchard all have leaves on them and seem to be doing ok. We have been keeping the grass around the trees mowed with the riding mower and letting the rest go to seed. There is a really nice stand of grass on the orchard area. It is located on the end of the river bottom east of the garden. And we do need to mow again real soon as some of the grass is waist high.
(Jason side dressing corn)
The one acre field of corn that we planted for cornmeal is up and it was time to side dress it. They found out that the corn planter and the cultivator are set for different width rows. So the tractor cultivators can not be used to plow the corn. It will have to be plowed with the rototiller. So with not using the cultivator we had to figure out a way to side dress the corn with fertilizer without doing it by hand. Rodger and Jason rigged the side dresser on the 4 wheeler so we could use it. It worked like a charm. It was bolted to the rack on the back of the 4 wheeler and when Jason would take off down the corn row he would trip the machine to let the fertilizer flow out the tube that was attached to the hitch on the 4 wheeler. It did a better job than we could have done by hand.
(adding 100 lbs fertilizer to machine)
(the little chute drops the fertilize near the plants)
The fertilizer gets dropped right beside the corn in the row so there is no waste and you dont fertilize the weeds and grass. We used 19-19-19 fertilizer and the usual amount is about 400 lb per acre. The flow rate on the side dresser was set for about that much. That was so easy and now we are thinking we will likely use this method to side dress all the garden as well. It sure saves my arm and back from doing it by hand and you are done in a third of the time. It only took about 2 hours to do an acre of corn. And that was a lot of smoke breaks.
While Jason did that I was in the garden getting the weeds out of the strawberries and some other stuff. It was really too hot in the middle of the day for me to be doing that. I think I got a little bit too hot. I got really weak and felt kinda odd. So I came on to the house and had about 3 big glasses of water. I got my self a little bit dehydrated. Or maybe I am getting a little too old to do this stuff in the heat of the day any more.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Thursday, May 6, 2010
I hate cleanup work
Of all things to do on the farm, I guess I hate cleanup the most. We are kinda planning a cook out this Sunday Mothers day so every one can visit with Rob before he leaves for Nevada next week. So Jason moved a bunch of equipment today so there would be room for a picnic table out back near the summer kitchen. The table will also be used for some prepping of garden produce when it is picked. Such as corn, you just cant shuck and clean corn inside. Things like that require a lot of space for waste and making a big mess. The stuff is all moved except the picnic table. It first has to have the stack of lumber moved off it and the lumber stacked elsewhere. Still some minor cleanup that I can do by my self. Mostly light stuff.
Jason is planning on side dressing the bread corn using the side dresser that is supposed to attach to the cultivators. He and Rodger rigged it so it is sitting on the back of the 4 wheeler cause the tractor would run over the corn if they try to cultivate and fertilize at the same time. I will get some photos of this in action tomorrow and post here, maybe someone else will need an idea like this. After the fertilizer is on they will use the tiller to plow it out. The goal is to not use any weed killer on the corn ground. Hopefully after he finishes that we can get the tomatoes and stuff transplanted out of the greenhouse. It is supposed to rain a little bit on Saturday so that will help things grow.
The strawberries are starting to get ripe in the bed in the back yard. I sure hope there is enough to make some strawberry preserves as I have a friend that enjoys them. And they are good on a hot biscuit. Not much else happening today, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Jason is planning on side dressing the bread corn using the side dresser that is supposed to attach to the cultivators. He and Rodger rigged it so it is sitting on the back of the 4 wheeler cause the tractor would run over the corn if they try to cultivate and fertilize at the same time. I will get some photos of this in action tomorrow and post here, maybe someone else will need an idea like this. After the fertilizer is on they will use the tiller to plow it out. The goal is to not use any weed killer on the corn ground. Hopefully after he finishes that we can get the tomatoes and stuff transplanted out of the greenhouse. It is supposed to rain a little bit on Saturday so that will help things grow.
The strawberries are starting to get ripe in the bed in the back yard. I sure hope there is enough to make some strawberry preserves as I have a friend that enjoys them. And they are good on a hot biscuit. Not much else happening today, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The kitchen is done!
I am so happy, my summer kitchen is finally finished. I have already started getting my canning supplies together and getting them put in place in there. Early next week I will be canning greens. It has really turned out nice out there. We still have some landscaping to do, but the kitchen is usable now. I still need to add the small table top refrigerator and microwave and finish moving my canners in there.
I have plenty of counter space here for processing and canning, butchering or what ever needs doing. We have a concrete floor out there so I purchased some of the snap together rubber foam type mats to use on the floor to make it a little easier on my back. (Doin a happy dance)
We are hoping that it is dry enough tomorrow to plow the garden and get the rest of it planted. Hope to empty out the greenhouse too of all the tomatoes and peppers and other things that need to be moved. The garden did survive the heavy rain we had earlier this week. The peas are starting to bloom now, so not long till we have fresh salad peas. The corn has come up well too. The new strawberry plants are blooming too, and the fruit and nut trees we planted in the orchard have leaves on them as well. So as far as gardens it is starting a lot better than last year when it rained all summer.
Good news, Jason has a job interview tomorrow and starts work on Monday in the oil fields where his dad works. It will be nice to have him working here near home and living on the farm.
Rob leaves for Nevada next week to work and do his internship in the Barrick Gold mines in Elco. This momma aint too happy about her cub being that far from home but they do grow up and leave the nest in spite of us. We tried to give them roots and give them wings. We just pray for their safety and that they are happy in what ever they choose to do.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
I have plenty of counter space here for processing and canning, butchering or what ever needs doing. We have a concrete floor out there so I purchased some of the snap together rubber foam type mats to use on the floor to make it a little easier on my back. (Doin a happy dance)
We are hoping that it is dry enough tomorrow to plow the garden and get the rest of it planted. Hope to empty out the greenhouse too of all the tomatoes and peppers and other things that need to be moved. The garden did survive the heavy rain we had earlier this week. The peas are starting to bloom now, so not long till we have fresh salad peas. The corn has come up well too. The new strawberry plants are blooming too, and the fruit and nut trees we planted in the orchard have leaves on them as well. So as far as gardens it is starting a lot better than last year when it rained all summer.
Good news, Jason has a job interview tomorrow and starts work on Monday in the oil fields where his dad works. It will be nice to have him working here near home and living on the farm.
Rob leaves for Nevada next week to work and do his internship in the Barrick Gold mines in Elco. This momma aint too happy about her cub being that far from home but they do grow up and leave the nest in spite of us. We tried to give them roots and give them wings. We just pray for their safety and that they are happy in what ever they choose to do.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
I should be busy
I feel like I should be busy this time of year but seems as though things are progressing slowly. All I managed to get done today was some tomatoes transplanted from the greenhouse to the bed in the back yard so we can have early tomatoes to eat without going all the way to the garden. I transplanted some Japanese black tomatoes. I want to try to save some seed from those and with them here in the back I can keep the seed pure.
Rob and Amoy came home today to visit. Little Abby still had her cast on her leg from her accident. We did manage to take that off and she has to learn how to walk normal again. She is so cute. I dont have grand kids but have a lil grand dog. I do get to puppy sit next week when they leave for Robs internship in Nevada. my intention is to spoil her rotten while she is here. They wont like me when they get there little dog back. lol
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Rob and Amoy came home today to visit. Little Abby still had her cast on her leg from her accident. We did manage to take that off and she has to learn how to walk normal again. She is so cute. I dont have grand kids but have a lil grand dog. I do get to puppy sit next week when they leave for Robs internship in Nevada. my intention is to spoil her rotten while she is here. They wont like me when they get there little dog back. lol
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Monday, May 3, 2010
Too wet to plow.............
As the old saying goes, too wet to plow and I cant dance. The ground here is squishy under foot every where you step. I don't know the rain fall totals for this area but I do know it was a lot. The sun was shining today and it was really nice out. I haven't been in our big garden yet to check on the plants, didn't relish the idea of getting mud over my boot tops. Tomorrow I will check on that and probably spray for potato bugs already. The potatoes we planted last year that didn't make anything were left in the ground and after the garden was plowed this spring they have sprouted and come up. Depends on how much space we need in that area, we may just leave them be and see what happens. Rodger checked them before the rain and the potato beetles were already attacking them. So maybe if I spray them now I can keep the bugs from getting the ones we put in this year. It is worth a try.
They got the propane hooked up in my summer kitchen today and it all works like a charm. I think they plan on doing the plumbing tomorrow evening. If that all goes well, it will finally be finished. Yay!!!!!!! The beginning of next week I do plan on canning mustard and turnip greens. They are ready and nice and tender.
I still have this nasty bronchitis or what ever it is. It is really beginning to wear me down. I do feel some better today although very tired. If I could just sleep all night without coughing it would be so nice.
Time for a shower, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
They got the propane hooked up in my summer kitchen today and it all works like a charm. I think they plan on doing the plumbing tomorrow evening. If that all goes well, it will finally be finished. Yay!!!!!!! The beginning of next week I do plan on canning mustard and turnip greens. They are ready and nice and tender.
I still have this nasty bronchitis or what ever it is. It is really beginning to wear me down. I do feel some better today although very tired. If I could just sleep all night without coughing it would be so nice.
Time for a shower, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Things are growing and getting done
Things are getting done around the place. Rodger and Jason are working on the plumbing and getting the propane hooked up in the summer kitchen today. The lights are hung and are gonna be great. I do like flouresent lights over my work areas in the kitchen. It has rained all weekend here and I am sure there is flooding in the lower areas of the county but we are in no danger. All the plants that were transplanted last week are looking a lot better after this rain. Everything is so pretty and green and growing really good this year. Here are a few pictures to give ya some perspective.
The hops vines are going wild near the corn crib.
The strawberry plants are loaded with little berries. Hope to get enough to make some strawberry preserves this year.
The walking onions are getting ready to drop sets, the leeks are looking a lot better as well. This is the first time I have grown leeks.
The grapevines have lots of little grape clusters on them. This might mean some grape jelly this year.
The pear tree has too many pears on it. I will likely have to fruit prune the tree in a few weeks.
My azaleas are starting to bloom near the driveway. Lucky so far that they havent been mashed by a vehicle.
The cold hardy kiwi that we planted last year are really growing this year. Not long before we need to complete the trellis for them.
The herb bed is filling in nicely too. I finally have plant labels on all the herbs. No guessing what is planted where now.
The flower bed on the right side wing wall of the cellar is just planted and should fill in before long. The opposite side had the thornless blackberry and lavender.
Till next time. blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
The strawberry plants are loaded with little berries. Hope to get enough to make some strawberry preserves this year.
The walking onions are getting ready to drop sets, the leeks are looking a lot better as well. This is the first time I have grown leeks.
The grapevines have lots of little grape clusters on them. This might mean some grape jelly this year.
The pear tree has too many pears on it. I will likely have to fruit prune the tree in a few weeks.
My azaleas are starting to bloom near the driveway. Lucky so far that they havent been mashed by a vehicle.
The cold hardy kiwi that we planted last year are really growing this year. Not long before we need to complete the trellis for them.
The herb bed is filling in nicely too. I finally have plant labels on all the herbs. No guessing what is planted where now.
The flower bed on the right side wing wall of the cellar is just planted and should fill in before long. The opposite side had the thornless blackberry and lavender.
Till next time. blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
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