Late Spring

The weather continues to be warm, and we had a good steady rain one night this week. So it's definitely summer-crop planting time at the farm.

We'd love to just sit and look at the roses, but there's work to be done!

We brought over my small electric tiller, and we fluffed up the soil in the new patch, after one last pass for Johnson grass roots. The area is 12 x 15, giving us room for four wide rows with plenty of space between.

After I tilled and raked, Rick and Rick started setting in the seedlings. These were started in Rick C's attic, and finished in the greenhouse. Both the tomatoes and the peppers were started in paper pots, and transplanted to 1-gallons (tomatoes) and beer cup (peppers) pots. A few of the specialty peppers were still in their small pots, as they were started later. I bought the non-Tangerine tomato starts from Al Vogel, for $10.35 and two peppermints (I was short on the change, but he accepted the peppermints instead!)

Rick finishes up the last of the tomatoes. If we call this bed C, and number from east to west (same as the rest of the garden), we have tomatoes in C1 and C2, and peppers in C3, C4, and C5 (which is just a snippet behind the water standpipe). From front to back, C1 is: Sungold (right on the corner, for easy snacking), 2 San Marzanos, 2 Early Girls, and a Better Boy. C2 is all Tangerines. C3 is 5 Biker Billys and 4 Big Jims. C4 is 2 Cuban Seasoning peppers, 3 Serranos, 2 Pasilla, 2 Orange Fogos (orange Thai), and a Cayenna. Row C5 has two Red Thai.

That was enough work for one day! Fortunately, I'd planted the zucchinis and pumpkins on Thursday evening. I put two Gray Zucchini (best for zuch bread) in row 3A by the broccoli.

At the end of 6A, I planted the three varieties from Renee's seeds, from left to right: Jade, Gold, Emerald.

Then I crammed some more around the 7A behind the poppies.

The pumpkin patch, in Row 0, has one each of Galeaux, Triamble, Autumn Gold (jackolantern type), and Spookie (pie type).

And, we finally put the potatoes in 4A.

The roses are in full bloom everywhere, and the favas are chest high.

At our house, they're even taller!

The mandarin is blooming like crazy, and putting out lots of new growth.

And the Red Hot Poker is blooming.

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What We're Eating
Salad! We have lots of lettuce

And I made a nice rye loaf to go with.

We even had the first fava hummus, from the earliest pods on our plants.
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Glen Upgrade

The glen is looking really good right now. The roses have really taken to the arbor. Buddy's been diligent about twisting in the canes.

I planted the clematis yesterday around the base of the arch. Rick helped weed the area, and we put the blue one and the pink and white on on the right, and the purple one on the left. I also planted the Isotoma between the stones on the path. Then, because we were getting silly, we transplanted one of the johnny jump ups on the left side (it's just a jump to the left, and a step to the right). 

We picked the biggest lettuce yesterday. It was starting to elongate just slightly, so it was time. 

While I was posting, the cedar waxwings came to the fatsia and just gobbled up the berries. It's hard to get a good shot through the screen, but there are at least six of them in this picture. 

They are very pretty birds.

Friday Fun

Friday was really nice weather, so we had an impromptu party at the farm.

We're all enjoying the sunshine!

And breathing that fresh, flower-scented air.

Cindy poses with a lettuce.

And Jane shows off her nifty shirt.

I had tried cutting some lettuces off without disturbing the roots, to see if they would indeed regrow. And they did, a little.

They are getting big and beautiful.

The broccolis are brocking!

And the snow peas are well up. I hope it's not too late for them.

4-20

Work continues on the tomato patch. We have a strict deadline because it has to be ready when the tomato starts are.

Looking over the garden, it appears that we're growing borage and poppies! There really are some fava beans in there somewhere.

The dogwood has been especially lovely.

While buying paint at Lowes, I couldn't resist these modestly priced clematis plants.

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Weather Note
Temperatures really rose this week. Night temps are high 50s and it's getting downright hot in the day. It was overcast most of the week, but now it's sunny and really warm. We should be seeing day temps in the 80s.
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The ixias have just started to bloom, and we've seen the very first of the tall white irises.

The johnny jump ups are so cheerful.

The starts in the greenhouse are growing like crazy. From left to right we have peppers,

Zucchinis, squashes, and pumpkins,

And tomatoes.

Today I'm going to clean up the pool area. I think we'll be needing it soon!

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What We're Eating
Salad! The lettuces are beautiful and ready, so we're eating a lot of salad. This salad features two kinds of farm lettuce, fried farm eggs spiced with farm ground peppers, farm onion scapes, green garlic, and green onion; augmented with storebought salami and horseradish cheddar cheese, and of course Marie's dressing, thinned with our lemon juice. Pretty darn homegrown!

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Meeting Monica

We were working on the farm last weekend when we heard a little hello from the gate. I went and opened it, and we got to meet a fellow gardener: Monica. Monica is friends with folks who just moved in across the street (next to the triplex). She knows the GRUB folks and helps out at the community garden on 14th, so she wanted to see what we had going on. She was very nice, and we look forward to visiting with her again and sharing farming news. Besides, she wasn't shy about posing! What a great pic.

The starts in the greenhouse are bulking up like crazy. I transplanted 10 tangerine tomatoes into one gallon pots yesterday, and potted up some basil (Genovese, from Johnny's Seeds). All the peppers look great. Rick C took some back and put them in the ground at his house. He looked at the long term forcast, and felt that we'd have enough warm weather to get away with it. In Chico, the last frost date is around April 15th, so this is about the earliest we could consider it. We stuck the compost thermometer in the ground, and got temps close to 70 at midday. But more importantly, we left it overnight, and when Buddy checked it at 8 am, the temp was still around 60. That does suggest that we have warm enough soil. Rick C uses this plant phrenology: if the bermuda grass is growing, it's warm enough to plant. Here Rick does his research. Notice he needs TWO iPads!

We also moved all the compost from R onto the new tomato patch, and I weeded out and mulched the back. Buddy had already dug out most of the problem stuff, but I pulled out the last of the roots, laid out the cardboard, and put down straw to make a defensible zone along the house. We'll let the chickens turn the compost in to the soil so we can plant soon. I strung some twine for the snow peas, which are already 6 inches tall. I hope it doesn't get too hot too soon for them. But the biggest project last weekend was finishing the path. Rick J went out to Sutherland Landscape with buckets, and brought back a bunch of sand. We poured the sand down, set out all the flagstones, and worked them flat and level. The path is lovely! We'll let it settle a bit, then plant the flowers in the cracks.

The whole farm area is just alive with critters. We enjoy the chorus of birdsong from the thicket in the glen, and watch them pig-out at the feeder. The favas are host to every type of beneficial insect imaginable, feasting on the aphids farmed by the ants. We've had to discourage the aphids with sprays of soapy water. The borage is just alive with bees. This lovely tiger swallowtail rested on this leaf in the sun for a long time, letting me take lots of pics.

Speaking of favas, we have lots of beans forming. These pictures are from my house, where the beans are about 10 days farther along.

With my finger for scale, you can see that they are almost picking size. The beans inside aren't fat yet though.

Also at my house, the apple tree is blooming beautifully.

Do we ever get a little wild at Rock Band practice? Nah....

Mid April

Although I've been tied up at 9th street, we've managed to get a few things done at the farm as well. Catherine got really busy and cut down tons of privet. I don't have a good pic of it, but after she cut up the privets, Buddy tore out the stump, and Rick did some alterations to the trailer. Now we can actually walk around the back of the coldframe, essentially doubling the size of our greenhouse. That will be a big help. I continued working on the path.

Rick helped me arrange some stones. All the dirt I removed went into the compost pile. But I needed to add a little back, so I began excavating where the block wall footing needs to go by the pizza oven. 

This picture cracks me up: What every modern farmer needs is a 6-pack of Summerfest in one hand, and an iPad in the other.

Delina came over one evening and brought pomegranite wine, which was delicous.

It's been warmer and wet, which has brought out the mushrooms. These are like cute little fairy houses. 

Sadly, warm, wet conditions also cause peach leaf curl due to a fungus. Next year we will have to spray with copper twice: once right at leaf fall, and again as the buds swell in spring. 

On the other hand, the lettuces and fava beans love the warm wet weather. This is what I took home for dinner yesterday.