Brrr! Our nights have recently been in the 20s with frost on the pumpkin garden soil most mornings. It's lightly snowing at this very moment.
I had a bit of help in the asparagus patch when our daughter and her little day companion stopped over last week. They weeded almost one whole row for me. Yes, those are new swimming trunks on the little guy. His grandma and grandpa live on a beautiful lake and when his mama showed him the night before the new swimming outfit she had gotten him, he insisted on wearing them that day (over his regular clothes). And, yes again, he does have his jacket on backwards which is his preferred way these days.
Thanks to them, I've managed to get the asparagus bed mostly ready for the first green spears to appear. I say mostly because I'll mulch between the hilled-up rows (makes for much cleaner walking when harvesting) but not until the soil warms up more.
I got a start on weeding the strawberry rows, but it's been much too chilly lately to get back out there.
I've used the frost covered ground as an excuse to stay inside and doing a little more food prep to have on hand for the busy days ahead and for (yay!) a bit of handwork.
I finished this little x-stitch piece to add some spring time flavor to our inside environment.
The picture on the pattern showed it completed as an oval piece which I liked very much so I wanted to do the same. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be and my end product is certainly not perfect, but it's finished, hung and I'm happy with it.
Thank goodness, our geriatric hens are laying eggs by the thousands now. (Slight exaggeration.) But after their l-o-n-g hiatus over winter, we're pleased as punch to be getting as many eggs now as we need plus some extra. I think mentioning to them that replacement chicks are arriving in May could have spurred them on to the amazing outlay of wonderful eggs.
Our spring season is never dependable nor predictable up here in the north woods, but fortunately I can find enjoyable, productive and fun things to do while my straw hat and garden duds wait to be put to daily use. Meanwhile, I'm staying comfy-cozy in jeans, turtleneck and sweatshirt.
22 comments:
I was surprised to wake to a blanket of snow this morning. Oh well, it won't be around long.
tpals - Yikes! We've had a smattering of the white stuff in shaded areas but no blanket, thank you very much. Lots of frost first thing in the morning though. :o(
Yesterday I fixed a big ole beef roast to freeze for sliced beef for sandwiches. Tomorrow I hope to be back to yard work and take out.
Love the X stitch. It is beautiful, and cheery! How did you back it? Glad the 'chooks are stepping up. Now, some 'splain'in Mama Pea! I am curious about the asparagus bed...do you hill it in spring, or is it hilled all the time, and why? Doesn't that disturb the roots? Please, what little trees are protected with the trunk wrap inside the fenced area?
I buried my strawberry plants in leaves last fall, and they are poking up here and there. I am leaving the leaves on, maybe only gently taking a layer off of the surface, but not until these mornings of -4C (25F) are over. There are 2 more nights of them in the forecast.
SmartAlex - If what I'm seeing as your recent weather, you've really been on a roller coaster of "is this really spring?" weather! I guess we all go through that as spring can be so up and down. Mmmm, roast beef sandwiches. Sounds really good right now!
Rosalea - I backed both ovals with cardboard cut from a cardboard box. Had a hard time cutting them as "perfect" as I wanted. The literature I got for care of the asparagus when ordered from Nourse nursery years ago suggested "hilling up" the rows each spring after applying good compost on the rows. Each year the "hill" seems to sink and needs to be re-hilled up each spring. I till between the rows so I have nice, friable soil to rake up to make the hills. The roots are deep (supposedly as it grows, the roots can go down several feet!) so they aren't disturbed. This is the best asparagus I've ever had so the system is working for me. The little trees within the fenced area are an experiment. They're all dwarf apple trees and we fenced them in (including over the top) because we have so much bird damage to the ripening apples in the fall. That's been a success but the intensive planting experiment we aren't so happy with for a couple of reasons. Win a few, lose a few! Sounds as though your weather is much the same as ours right now.
I loved the part about the little guy and his new swimsuit. So like a kid!
Your garden looks really good. I'm amazed to see no weeds. One of the challenges of living with a mild winter climate is that the weeds keep right on growing all winter!
Leigh - I can see what you mean about your weeds. The pictures may not show it, but we have lots of small weeds trying mightily to take hold in both the raised beds and our more traditional "flat" garden areas. Wouldn't ya think the temps down into the 20s and frost every morning would beat them back? Nope, apparently they thrive on those conditions!
We have just a dusting of snow here, as well. That asparagus bed is a thing of beauty! I haven't even tackled my vegetable bed at all. I'm down to seven hens now, but most days I'm getting five eggs which is a whole lot better than the one I was getting throughout the winter. -Jenn
Jenn - Five eggs a day from seven hens is a darn good ratio! From what I've heard, many people's chickens, for some reason, had an unusually long rest period this winter. I actually had to BUY eggs for Christmas baking! :o(
Thank you Mama Pea. My asparagus is in a framed bed and I layer on rotted manure every year. They are mulched heavily with old hay. I spotted one spear coming up and pulled more hay over it before this frosty weather. Last year the early spears froze in a late frost.
Rosalea - You're very welcome. Your rotted manure (only a gardener would love the sound of those two words) and heavy layer of mulch probably do much the same as my method. Pulling the mulch over the spears to protect from frost would do about the same as me pulling soil up over mine. We're still having frosts at night but (maybe fortunately) I've not had a spear showing yet.
I SOOOO enjoyed the first paragraph on that little man! Aren’t children just the most wonderful gift of all.
Retired Knitter - Thank you! Yes, the little ones are so innocent and unspoiled. He turns three in May but has always been very talkative and articulate for his age. What comes out of his mouth sometimes is amazing. Our daughter told us that yesterday he and she were in her car and she admits to doing a "rolling stop" at a stop sign on a residential street they were on. He piped up from his car seat in the back, "You are supposed to stop the car all the way when you come to a stop sign."
Little boys have a mind of their own when it comes to wardrobes.
I too, pulled back the mulch and weeded our asparagus and strawberry patches.
Cockeyed Jo - Yep, the little ones (and sometimes big ones!) do have a certain, unexplained way of dressing. I once saw a mom and her two little girls, maybe 3 and 5 years old, in the library with regular outfits on . . . but both wearing their bathrobes over everything else. I smiled at her and she just shrugged as if to say, "I'm not going to try to explain it." :o)
That lil one is super precious! Jacket backwards is a new one on me...haha! The minds of youngsters really amaze me! We were around a couple of two year olds at Easter, and they actually know how to find apps and turn them on with a cell phone! Imagine...two... you ask them to put on YouTube and they go right to it. Crazy!
wyomingheart - Well, there is a saying these days that little ones are being born "computer ready" and it must be true because, as you say, one hears tales all the time now about four and five year olds showing their parents (or grandparents, probably most likely) how to access something on an smart phone or computer! What is this world coming to??
Considering the numerous time I have seen a parent thrust a phone in a child as young as 12 months because they are fussing and Mom or Dad doesn’t care to interact with the child at the moment. I would say the outcome is pretty bleak.
Where are the goggles for that high fashion outfit?
Goatldi - Please don't get me started on the damage all of the technological devices are wreaking on children from toddlers through the teenage years. (Add to that what is happening to adults, for Pete's sake!) I agree, goggles would have suited his outfit to a "T."
Yup. Kinda feels like a snowball teased for Hell.
Chicken Mama's little ward is quite the independent little fella, isn't he? What a cutie! Please feel free to send them my way - I have quite a bit of weeding to do... April is, indeed, the cruelest month. I keep forgetting that we are not out of the woods, so to speak, until almost June. I am just SO ready for spring!
Susan - Her little ward simply LOVES being outside and cries when he is made to come inside. Luckily, she's gung-ho for hour-long walks in the woods and such and neither she nor his mama mind him getting grubby playing in the dirt with his dump trucks, etc. He adores anything with an engine and begs for rides on Pop-Pop's (his name for Papa Pea as he couldn't originally get those syllables right) tractor and loves riding with him on the 4-wheeler out to get the mail. He walks with Chicken Mama all the way through the back property to our neighbor's and names all the different pieces of heavy machinery parked there. Back hoe, excavator, ASV, Caterpillar tractor, etc. He's somethin' else!
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