I had the best of intentions to do a May recap but, as usual, life got in the way. Not only did school wrap up but we took our annual vacation for my husband’s birthday, finished planting, and completed some general landscaping.
Working full-time while trying to get everything planted (and having no childcare) was incredibly challenging. We tried to piece things together as we could and spent a lot of weekends outside.
June was a little bit easier; our daughter chose to go to summer school, which, where we are, only lasts one week for her age group. We used those days to really knock out some projects that had been on our to-do list for months.
Bear with me because this post will be a long one.
Front Yard Garden
Our tomatoes instantly looked better once we got them in the ground. We chose to amend our in-ground rows and trellis the tomatoes with cattle panel. We ended up with five rows and approximately 100 tomatoes.
We’ve had an unusually cool June with above-average rain, which means these guys and pruning have quickly gotten away from me. They have already started producing although we have yet to see any blushing.
Due to how wet it’s been, all of our beans (pole and bush) have really taken off. It looks like we are about one week from harvesting the first of our varieties.
The pepper plants we planted in late May have been struggling with the cooler weather. They are just now starting to look better.
Pumpkin Patch
We decided to plant a pumpkin patch this year as we enjoyed storing and using our Long Island Cheese Pumpkins over the winter. Other varieties included Blue Hubbard, Jack Be Little, and we even added some Acorn and Candy Roasters.
High Tunnel
While the high tunnel is still not fully repaired, we went ahead and planted our tomatoes. Those tomatoes are growing PHENOMENALLY. Varieties include Triple L Crop, Peron Sprayless, Delicious, and San Marzano.
On the Homestead
We had some strong winds snap some of our tomatoes in half, so I’ve been working on propagating. Not only is it effortless, but, if you did want to succession sow, is an easy way to avoid starting a new plant from seed.
The greenhouse progress has been halted; it’s almost finished but we decided to switch our priorities to projects that are more season-appropriate. That’s not to say I’m not using it – It’s currently housing some basil and my micro tomatoes.
Our beloved chicken, Snow White, disappeared abruptly in May. We thought she was a goner but discovered her about three weeks later – with babies!
As she had chosen to live in an abandoned shed in our neighbors yard, we thought it best to collect her and keep her and her babies in a vacant chicken tractor.
This is our first batch of chicks that we did not have to incubate which was exciting to say the least.
We’ve been working on selling the babies of our last two rabbit litters. They have been a lifesaver as far as amending the garden but are at a point where they can get pregnant and need separated.
The ducks are still pretty terrified of us, but we’ve used some electric fencing to fix them up their own area. They are much happier with a larger space.
Looking Forward…
I think one of my favorite things about gardening is watching how quickly things grow from one month to the next. I’ll be looking forward to seeing how the garden looks in July and, hopefully, getting both the high tunnel and greenhouse finished.
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