Hubby and I had a date yesterday morning. We went to town together. He dropped me at our co-op to buy bananas while he went to the gas station to get a couple of gas cans filled. Then we went to the hardware store (it's just getting better, isn't it?) and bought a big bale of peat moss so I could finish mulching the blueberry patch with a light covering of same. (Which I did after we got home. After pulling some very healthy weeds that were trying to take up homesteading there.) While in the hardware store, I dragged him over to the paint section, and we picked out a few paint chips. I have to paint the house this summer and although he would prefer the color to stay the same (BOR-ing), I say if I have to go to the trouble of painting (and it really needs it) I want it to look new and different. We're having lots of trouble deciding on a color.
On the way home we stopped briefly at a greenhouse selling plants. I wanted a few petunias, but didn't see anything I liked.
Those errands constituted our "date" for this week. Pretty wild and crazy, huh?
More wood working (yup, it's a regular thing now) when we got home. Filled one whole row in the shed even though much of the wood Papa Pea chain sawed up was big in diameter and went into a pile to be split before finding its way into the shed. Had hoped to get that done today but we've awakened to a steady rain falling so we'll probably have to skip the wood working today.
I had one long, narrow area in the field garden that wasn't yet planted so I decided to put in more shell peas. (Just because we never seem to have enough fresh, frozen peas in the freezer.) I put up 15' of cattle panels for a trellis and planted peas on either side of it. Got that done just in time for this nice rain today.
I still have a few Brussels sprout and cabbage and broccoli plants that I saved as extras in case some accident (read: cutworms) happened to the required number I set out in the garden.
So far all of them are looking hale and hardy (red and green cabbages above) so I think I'll go ahead and stick the extras in helter-skelter anywhere I can find a place for hem.
We may not get any apples this year, but it sure looks as though we're gonna get a fantastic blueberry crop. This is one row of bushes and they are simply covered with blossoms. That's good. Blueberries are good. We love blueberries.
You are so lucky to grow blueberries. We cannot grow them here due to the massive amounts of limestone. We did try to any way (2 years in a row), but they just would not grow.
ReplyDeleteKristina - Yes, blueberries do really need an acidic soil . . . and it's taken us a while to get ours built up. The first several years we had the blueberry bushes in, they didn't do a thing and we were wondering if they had been a waste of time and money. But then they started producing and have gotten more prolific every year so we're glad we stuck with them.
DeleteOur blueberries are looking exceptionally good this year too, and the small berries are loaded here in Indiana. Don't worry about boring us. I'm always amazed at all you get done in a day, while commenting that it's never enough. Same as my life, but you get more done.
ReplyDeleteTrailshome - Thanks for the kind words. I don't really know how we manage to have so much to do around here, but we sure do! Good thing we love our life. We've chosen it and are happy with our "busy-ness."
DeleteIt's all looking "spiffy"---I hope you have better luck than I with your cole crops this year. I'm missing ALL my cauliflower, half the broccoli, and a good portion of kohlrabi and kale ( I think they, whoever they might be, haven't gotten around to the remainders yet)
ReplyDeleteSorry I've not been keeping up with your daily posts---this time of year it's too much.....but I miss you and hope you haven't forgotten me.
Sue - You said it, babe! "This time of year it's too much!" Email coming to you, watch for it.
DeleteI'd love it if you kept on posting daily! You are just about the only blog I ever read now because: 1) It is well written and interesting and 2) It keeps me company and feeling not so alone in my own 16 hour work day. I don't have much free time but I do make the time to read you!
ReplyDeleteAs for cutworms, yep! we had some egg masses again. Last week, I spent a whole work day destroying the masses on all the windows, outbuildings and greenhouse. They ate down my parsley starts in the greenhouse. But that's all! I think I got to them in time and I don't think it is as bad as 2 years ago.. Also I took the responsibility of showing our 2 brand new neighbors what to look out for. They destroyed them right away. All clear , I hope..-M
M - You flatter me way to much, m'dear!
DeleteThis is a "knock wood" statement, but we didn't have the egg masses (even two years ago) and this year I've seen only one cutworm I unearthed while digging in the dirt. (He was dispatched immediately, I can assure you.) Here's hoping you and the neighbors have made the ugly-buglies feel so unwelcome they will leave for parts unknown!
Ah, I was trying not to count...I like your idea of a date - sounds like fun to me! Any agreement on the paint color yet? I have only a few plants to go and I can quit. I think it's amazing how wonderful your garden looks in such a short time! You must have a green thumb up to your shoulder, m'dear.
ReplyDeleteSusan - No, no decision made on the paint yet. It's hard!
DeleteThanks for saying my garden looks good, but so far all I can see is a lotta bare ground! Well, with maybe a very few green things sticking up.
I seem to do okay with vegetables but am a total failure when it comes to flowers. I absolutely drool when looking Sue's Garden Journal. Oh, to be able to create something half as gorgeous as she does!
You two are so industrious it always puts me to shame! You even manage to get chores done on a date. No one is taking care of our yard this year so it's a mess. Your gardens look lovely.
ReplyDeleteSparkless - How much of yesterday morning was running errands in town and how much "a date" is debatable! (Well, at least we were together . . . most of the time.)
DeleteThanks for the nice words regarding the gardens. We're having an all-day rain today with sun forecast for tomorrow so I'm hoping things will really pop now.
When I read this I was walking around with a packet of shell peas in my pocket (now planted in the last clear space). Although I never grow enough to freeze...I can't resist eating them.
ReplyDeletetpals - We must have been on the same wave length! Yay for those yummy shell peas!
DeleteI started the blog-a-day three days late and I'm really counting the days. I had five posts already written up and ready to go, but now I'm having to remember to take my phone out with me to snap some shots of what's going on. I'm very jealous of your blue berries, btw. :)
ReplyDeleteEverStuff Ranch - FIVE posts already written up??? Wow, I'd love to be that much ahead. Take those pictures and get 'em posted, girl!
DeleteIt really took a long time for our blueberry bushes to start producing, but they seem to be going gangbusters now. There are lots of wild blueberries up here that folks go crazy over picking, but I'm way too impatient to cover 5 miles on my hands and knees to harvest a pint of the tiny little berries!
Ooooo! Blueberries! Ours s.u.c.k., I think I may need to ammend the soil, probably not acidic enough.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this blog-a-day is starting to wear me out, but I'm glad I (and you guys) are doing it :)
Carolyn - I wonder if your climate is too warm for the blueberries, also??
DeleteIf the blog-a-day drives us over the edge before the end of the month, you know the rest of us are never going to forgive you for even suggesting it! (You are offering a big prize for any of us who survive the full 30 days, right??)