Refrigerators Gone!

Yesterday I had the three old refrigerators picked up and recycled. The guy they sent looked like a refrigerator himself! He manhandled them out of the yard and into his truck. I was very glad to see them go.

This doesn't look like much, but it's the hole where they used to be.



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Weather Note:

It's getting hot! We had a pretty nice week, but this weekend it's moving into triple digit temps. It's still getting to be about 60 at night. Next weekend is the fair, so I expect we'll get at least a little rain. We almost always get the last rain before summer during fair week.

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Rick C got some straw, and we began to mulch the rows, setting down newspaper at first, then plenty of straw.



Rick C and I survey the results. We will get more straw and mulch more of the garden today.



We found more yardafacts:



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What's Blooming:

The star jasmine coming over the neighbor's fence is delightful. We also have day lilies and poppies blooming.



The climbing roses are already about done; although flowers remain, they are old and beat up. We should plan to do flowerbud necklaces between the first and 15th of May next year.

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Remember those tomatoes we're watching? They are growing more every day.



And I got a whiteboard and some post-its so we could leave notes for each other, or take a note home to remind us what to bring next time. And I couldn't resist making magnets for each of us.



The cherries are almost finished, but we agree that we've had our fill. I figure we ate 4-5 boxes at least, and boxes sell for almost $6.

May 14

Everything is growing like crazy. The tomatillos are huge and in bloom:



The squash is also flowering, with lots of both male and female blossoms.



Even the peppers are in bloom.



The tomatoes we've been following are showing a whole cluster of fruits.



Rick picks cherries.



And we eat them. I even eat them. Tasty!



Rick found a toy car in the garden. Catherine puts it in the reliquary.

Last Row Planted

Well we got the last row fully planted yesterday. I put in more peppers and updated the row maps. And I put down the first of the mulch.



Row 8 now looks like this. Click this link to see the rest of the updated row maps:




Amazingly, the tomatoes are already setting fruit, at least on the big starts Rick C put in. Here is the same baby fruit, one day apart. Monday:




And Tuesday. It's so much bigger already!



Batch has agreed to take on the bottle recycling, because we go through so many. So he brought over barrels for the green and brown glass. We'll set these up in some permanent spot soon.



And two of the gourds have been hung: The reliquary:



And the "Prayer Gourd" that Dwight and Linda made:

More Cleanup

Batch got busy and hauled another couple of truckloads out, one to the dump and one to the airport. Now we can actually see the side of the shed. Along the edge, the privet stumps aren't removeable easily, so we pavered over them with all the loose stepping stones we had. We'll put that stump killin stuff on them later. This is what the path looks like now. It's like a bridge into the garden area.



The tomatoes have grown a lot, and Rick C has started tying them up.



The squash is starting to show sprouts that will become flowers.



And here's my scooter, showing the latest enhancements.

Asha's Garden

I finally got my garden space planted. Here are the plants set out, ready to be planted.





Bill mowed for me, so I mulched the garden.



The lettuce is done, and we're still eating it as often as possible. I gave heads to Karen and Glen, as well as the co-op gang.



Above are the lettuces on 4-28 and here they are today:



Notice how many we've eaten! We need to eat the last ones soon.

The herb garden is doing well.



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What we're eating:

Fried Egg Salad

Chop a beautiful homegrown head of romaine lettuce in half. Fry two eggs fresh from the chickens and put one on top of each lettuce half. Mix Maries Bleu Cheese dressing half and half with fresh lemon juice, and drizzle over the salad. Add any gourmet meats or cheeses you might have on hand plus a handful of fresh herbs.



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May 7

I updated the site maps in the post below to reflect what's planted now. Rick C added more bell peppers and another tomato.

Katinka was here the last two days, and she visited the farm, as did Catherine's friends.

It's been cool and rainy the last few days, but today is sunny, windy, and perfect temperature. I just finished two big projects, so I'm looking forward to some farm time. The moon is full today.

In my backyard, the winter chard has bolted, and the peas are done. The lettuces are still beautiful, but we need to eat them up soon. The tomatillos that grew up from seed are enormous.

At the farm, the tomato starts have at least doubled in size, and the tomatillos are all branching and thickening up. The pepper growth isn't as dramatic, but I'm sure the roots are expanding. Everything is just jumping! We worked on gourds at Art Day this week, and Katinka painted the reliquary for the farm's yardafacts.

The cherries are ripening up and the birds are eating most of them.



The orange tree is in full bloom, and the scent is heavenly.



Here's the pretty little rose blooming in the middle of the garden space.

Row Maps

I made some diagrams to show what's where, more or less.

First of all, here is the overall plan, not to scale, but with an attempt at proportions.


Then I made more diagrams to show what's in each row. The rows are labeled left to right.




The starts labeled RC are ones Rick C got, and the others were ones that I raised from seed.


Here's an updated map of row 8 showing the peppers that Rick C added. Rick C finished the tilling, and I planted the last of the peppers here on May 11.



Weather note:
It started raining Friday afternoon and has been raining pretty steadily; not hard, but a good solid rain. The temps have still been in the mid-60s. The lettuce is loving it, and we've been eating it daily.

I got my backyard planted on Wednesday, fortunately before the rain. Here's what I planted.