The Sunshine Makes Everything Grow Faster....

First thing on my mind this morning was to check the garden.  Curious to see if it's enjoying the rain after the bit of sunshine and heat.  The answer is "yes".  It has grown nicely......

And so have the weeds, it looks like a bit of a mess :)

This is my first year growing Spinach.  I actually bought some at the grocery store, not having a clue that I would have my own from my garden this weekend......

The tomato plants are peeking up over their mini greenhouses.  I use ice cream buckets with the bottom cut out to protect them from the wind until they get strong.  Looks like they're soon strong enough to remove them :)

Here's an updated photo of my garlic patch.....

Not far from the vegetable garden are the blueberry plants, all enclosed in the same fence to protect them from the chickens.....

Sorry it's a bit blurry, I have requested a new camera for Christmas :)

And our Strawberry Plants have the prettiest blossoms I have ever seen, beautiful hot pink......

Pretty sure the sunshine has nothing to do with the meat chickens growing but here's an updated picture.  They are 5 weeks old now......

They are old enough now to tell which ones are roosters and which ones are hens. The ones with the larger combs and waddles are roosters, the ones with small compact combs and no waddles are hens. 

And here's a couple pictures of our Momma Hens.....

She looks a bit rough, apparently one of the rooster's favourites

These two are sharing the responsibility of Motherhood.....

It's going to be a complete and total surprise when the chicks hatch.  Normally we mark on the calendar when they start setting on the eggs but this year we have been so busy we lost track of the happenings in the coop......

This is one thing that has occupied much of our time this spring.......

Our new barn.  It has a storage loft for hay and shavings and 3 rooms downstairs for chickens, maybe pigs some day and feed storage......  

The doors to the outside runs.....can't wait to get the meat chickens in their new home so they can enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.  They are getting a bit crowded in their current home so the push is on to get this barn finished ASAP!

Here are a couple pictures of the few flowers I have on the property.....

These are the Marigolds I have planted in my vegetable garden

Some sort of Rose Type Bush that was on the property when we moved here

And that's an update of how things are growing on our little farm this week.  Thanks for checking in. 

A general update.....

My garden is really not doing very well.  The bugs are giving me, and my garden, a really hard time.  Ants, Flea Beetles, Slugs......  sigh.

On another note our wild turkey has come back home, but then left again.  So, that makes me believe she has a nest somewhere close by.  Sadly, she will not have chicks because she is the only turkey we have.....

We were tortured all day by a Hawk stalking our free ranging chickens.  Both times I chased it away, guess it figured I was a bit too large to get back to the nest. haha

I think the chickens picked all our haskap berries, I cannot find a single one.  We didn't get the fence up soon enough I guess.  Oh well, there's always next year..... On the other hand, our blueberry bushes are hanging heavy with berries and we did get a fence around them this year.  Last year the chickens ate all the blueberries.  We DID learn our lesson about fencing to protect the berries from the birds but we just didn't have the time to get it up.

The meat chickens are growing like crazy!  They have actually almost out grown the pen we have them in so we are working hard to complete the new barn so they have ample space and a nice big outdoor run.

bugs bugs and more bugs!!!

My garden is being invaded by fleas!  They have killed several cucumber plants and a pepper plant.  I have lettuce growing everywhere for some reason (one reason may be a certain little person who helped me plant the garden he he).  I suspect the rain washed the seeds here, there and everywhere......  The long and the short of it is my garden is a mess at this point!  I have replanted some things....some things I can't remember where I planted lol.  Needless to say it has been an interesting growing season so far.

The Chicks are Growing.....

The chicks are growing and happy.....

"hey lady, where's the food?".....

"oh, there's the food! Thanks!"

Clyde Jr., our mixed Buff Orpinton/Americauna Rooster

a couple hens out for a stroll in the grass....

Garden is planted!

My experience with the little peat pellets was not a bad one.  I have transplanted my cucumbers into the garden, the roots were nicely developed.  I am hoping they will grow to be happy, cucumber producing plants :)

With the cucumbers planted my garden is complete.  I have beans peeking their way out of the soil as well as peas.  I had a little issue with tomato beetle and have since planted marigolds throughout the garden in hopes to deter the bugs.  I have planted 4 varieties of tomato plants this year, 16 plants total.

"Scotia", a staple plant in Nova Scotia since it was created for growing in our province.

"Big Beef", the great one slice per sandwich tomato.

"Early Girl", new to me but got great reviews, matures around the same time as Scotia.

"Better Boy", also new to me and also got great reviews for flavour and for producing the most fruit by a tomato plant. 324 lbs of fruit to be exact.  Pretty sure with our short growing season in Nova Scotia I will not reach that number.

I was planning to plant some heirloom varieties but I just don't have the room.  16 tomato plants in a small garden is already too many.  So, heirloom tomatoes will be put on the back burner for next years garden.

I do love cherry and grape tomatoes but I find they crack so quickly and last year I had a bad experience with the plants breaking down and laying in the soil.  No matter what I tried for staking it just didn't work.  I have considered trying a cherry tomato in an upside down planter, just haven't figured out where to hang it that it would be safe from animals and pests.  And, with all the tomato plants I already have I'm not sure I NEED another one.

I have planted yellow beets and spinach for the first time.  Returning to the garden this year: Sugar snap peas, shell peas, leaf lettuce, swiss chard, baby greens, red beets, yellow beans, romaine lettuce, green peppers, 2 varieties of cucumbers and, of course my 16 tomato plants.