Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Dear Garden Diary

Things are still slow as we wait for the sun to make a more permanent appearance in our sky. I planted some more seeds inside on 4/12/11. I started some kale, pumpkins, butternut squash, melons and cucumbers. So far only one kale came up... hello seeds, germinate! I also planted some parsley and Lemon balm into the herb garden on the same day (bought from 7 Dees and FM respectively.) The basil, onions and celery are doing well. I think the lettuce will just have to be direct planted outside.
Joe turned over some grass in the Chicken Garden where I plan on planting all my bush beans this year. I cleaned out some pots that were grass filled and planted some beets and spinach. Hopefully they didn't get rained out. But whatever! I was just jumping the gun cause I am so excited for fresh garden veggies that I can't wait!
In sad news our fig tree didn't make it through the winter. It was dead at the top from frost bite maybe (although it was supposed to be cold hardy to 0 degrees and I think 11 was our lowest this year.) We are thinking about getting a new one. Our cherry tree made it through which is awesome. I can't wait to start getting harvests from it!
One thing that is really producing are the chickens. We get anywhere from 2-4 eggs daily now. It was over whelming at first but I think we have gotten more accustomed to eating way more eggs. Last night we made a vanilla ice cream using 7 of them. Well 7 yolks anyway. I am freezing the whites and once I add 5 more I will make an angel food cake. I have been trying to bake more bread too which has been helpful. This week I am also making eggs au gratin to serve over a salad dressed with homemade dressing that involves eggs. 8 eggs total will go into that meal!

I can't wait for warm sunny weather and to have that brown plot of land in my front yard be bright green again. I really want to plant before for I am too big to even think about bending over!