He got the field garden and pumpkin patch cultivated and ready for me to work in.
With his helpful hands and brute strength, I got the pea trellises (cattle panels . . . how did I ever garden without them?) up, and then I got the shell peas planted. Come on now, you little seeds, do your thing.
Also marked the two bean rows, but haven't planted them yet. It's a little early; I'll wait until the first week of June probably.
Planted lemon cucs in one raised bed and slicing cucs in another. Covered them both with cold frames which should enable them to get an early start without coming down with chilblains. I also planted several rows of assorted lettuces in a bed in between a four foot trellis on each end of a bed where I planted sugar snap peas. (Sugar snap peas on the end trellises. Really bad sentence structure.)
Took our first harvest of rhubarb of the season and made a pan of Rhubarb Crunch. Recipe is here if anyone is interested.
I had enough of the lovely, red stalks to make a bag of rhubarb pie filling for the freezer. My very first preserved item of the season!
Got in one bed of half spinach and half Swiss chard. Another of about a third kale and the rest beets. Got some tilling done around the edge of the field garden. That darn sod (quack grass) will sneak into the garden if you don't keep it beat back constantly.
Papa Pea got the little chicks moved to their new home outside. It's an 8' x 8' pen covered in greenhouse plastic. He rigged a brooder light for them, too, in case they get chilly at night. They're four weeks old now and just about completely feathered out. We'll keep them confined in their new abode (which is within the regular chicken pasture that's surrounded by electric fencing) for a few more weeks before opening their door so they can begin to socialize with the "big girls."
As I say, a good day it was, and I can hardly wait to start again tomorrow. But first, a long, hot shower, maybe a little drinkie-poo of the alcoholic variety, and a little reading. If I can stay awake that long.
You guys really have it looking good, those panels are the trick!
ReplyDeleteSunnybrook Farm - Yep, great for use as trellises year after year and who wouldn't want to have an endless supply for pens and fencing!
DeleteYou two do more work in your garden in a year than I do in mine in 10 years! Glad to hear you are out enjoying gardening again.
ReplyDeleteSparkless - And we're so lucky our weather has been just great lately! Makes it easy to want to be out and doing.
DeleteI use cattle panels too, for fencing off the hens (lined with chicken wire) and for berry supports...
ReplyDeleteNancy po - Good idea to put the chicken wire on the cattle panels! That should hold the little cluckers in.
DeleteWa, wai, wai, wait, wait wait, - there is something terribly wrong with these pictures! ..... there's no snow!! LOL I was starting to think we were in an ice age! LOL
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks fabulous. You're ahead of me and I'm a few hours south of you!!!! We've just had too much rain to even get in the garden. Hard to plant in mud :-(
Freedom Acres Farm - I think it was just days ago that we HAD snow on the ground! You've had too much rain and believe it or not, we need rain. How can that be after all the snow melt??
DeleteAll I got to say is WOW!!!!!! Wasn't the garden just covered in snow a few days ago ........lookin' good.
ReplyDeleteTombstone Livestock - That's the one thing I really don't like about our climate . . . we don't often get any kind of a real spring. We do truly go from snow on the ground to 70° and summer.
DeleteYour garden is ready for the new growing season. Oh... I can't wait to see the progress...
ReplyDeleteEndah Murniyati - We're BOTH eagerly waiting to see the progress then!
DeleteHave you ever made a BBQ sauce with the rhubarb? I finally found a recipe but my rhubarb is not ready to harvest (one more year). I plan to buy some and make it for a pork tenderloin.
ReplyDeleteKristina - No, I've never heard of making BBQ sauce with rhubarb! I'll be watching your blog for the recipe.
DeleteWhoa, Nellie! You two must be firing on all 100 cylinders! Your garden (as usual) looks so marvelous. It is the ideal of gardens, in my humble opinion. I want one! And six minions to help me.
ReplyDeleteSusan - Can you just imagine what you and I could do with six minions to help around our places? Now that would be somethin' . . . !
DeleteEverything about your garden is always so exciting to me! It truly is the ideal garden to me too. You sound so happy to be doing what you love. But I have to ask .. Is that a coat Papa Pea has on? Incredulous as our daily temps are in the 90s...high 70s by 7:30 am. Love your garden photos!
ReplyDeleteLisa - You are so kind in your compliments . . . and really encourage me. (So watch what you say, or you may end up being bored to death!)
DeleteNo, no coat for Papa Pea in the picture. Just a long-sleeved cotton shirt as that was warranted that morning. The last several days, we've been hitting the 70s, 80s and one day nearly 90 (!), but it always cools down overnight so the early morning hours before the sun gets high are cool. Jealous?? ;o)
Mama Pea,
ReplyDeleteYou and your husband were out the gates running this morning and accomplished a lot today.
Everything looks beautifully done in these pictures.
And the Rhubarb Crunch looks very tasty.....I'll be right over with my glass of milk and join you both for dessert :-) and while there I'll pick your brains for garden secrets :-)
Sandy - Believe me, I have no garden secrets! Each year is an experiment . . . and the experiments don't always work! :o) What amazes me is the different crops and varied planting times and localized insect problems and rain or lack of rain that affect all of us in the different parts of our country. If you and I switched places, we'd both be flummoxed as how to garden!
DeleteIs it strange that I've never, ever, EVER had rhubarb? Not even in like a strawberry rhubarb pie. Glad that you're on the mend. Oh, and did I ever mention that I am insanely jealous of your DIRT. I just want to roll around in it.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn - Honey, you can come up and roll around in my dirt anytime. And after that, I'll feed you one of my world-famous rhubarb pies! (Hee-hee.)
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