This spring has been just crazy. The weather has been weird and that has really delayed our landscaping and garden plans. April was at first very warm and dry. That gave us time to get that walkway in. Then for the last month and a half it has been raining almost every day or at least so much that the “dry” days are still so wet that not much can be done. The farmers have had a hard time planting corn and beans at the normal time. Winter wheat is still in the field and from what I saw no one around us harvested hay in May due to the constant rain.
So the last post showed our new gravel walkway to the front door and some grass beginning to grow. We have all of the downspouts and draining pipes in. Tom’s parents gave us two burning bushes and they were planted about two weeks ago. They look great. We are still working on getting a few more bushes to plant on the inside of the curved walkway and a little tree as well. As Tom would say, “We are making good progress!”
On the bright side, a great deal of the yard grass as well as the pasture grass we planted has taken root and growing well. We have a great deal more to plant but the results so far are encouraging. In this next picture we have NO GIANT RAGWEED THIS YEAR! Tom and I have spent a lot of time mowing down those big weeds as they started to grow. We have a lot of weeds of many kinds, but quite a bit of grass and clover as well in the pasture area.
The garden was started in mid-May. It is 75ft by 75ft with deer fence all around. Tom put in two raised beds for carrots. The peas went in first in the back with pea fences. We planted broccoli, brussel sprouts, onions, and garlic after that. In June we planted red beets, three types of potatoes, green beans, 5 kinds of tomatoes, peppers, carrots, corn, black beans, and kidney beans. The peas are developing pods. I suspect we will begin harvesting them soon.
The broccoli and brussels sprouts have not done well probably due to the rabbits getting through our fencing and then getting pounded by the weather. We planted two rows of each but only got one broccoli plant and about 7 brussel sprout plants to grow. They are sad and weak little plants. We had to add a layer of rabbit guard all the way around our garden. The various beans are barely hanging in there. Only two of 24 potato plants came up. I started tomatoes and peppers indoors in March but they were so weak and small that none of the tomatoes or peppers are doing well. We even bought a few plants and tried that and those are doing poorly as well. So far the only plants doing well are the onions, garlic, carrots and, of course, the weeds.
We have other things we could plant but I think it is getting late so that is plenty for the first year. We are going to try some fertilizer for the garden and hope the weather improves.