Summer Solstice Garden Update

Hello! We have just begun the summer months.  I took some photos this morning to show how much progress the garden has made in just a few weeks!  I also took a photo of my homemade citrus cleaner. You can check out how I made it here.  Most of you know I saved 4 baby bunnies a couple of months ago, and I released them about a month ago.  Just thought I'd let you know, I've seen them around!  They stick to the back around the chicken coop.  June 20th my baby chicks arrived!  I had 13 of them ordered from Meyer Hatchery.  Two of them didn't make it.  This is tough, even for me, who has been around baby chicks the majority of my life. Day old baby chicks are very fragile and it isn't uncommon to lose some.  Just the way of the world I guess.  Anyway, I've still got 11 of them and they're so cute!  I posted a photo of them below too!  Enjoy the photos!  You can click on the photos to see them larger if you'd like.  *If you are a new reader, please keep in mind you can scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "OLDER POSTS" to see all previous posts!

Check out the green peppers!

This small greenhouse from Harbor Freight was only around $200 bucks on sale and we have used it quite a bit!

Greenhouse Tomatoes

Kidney Beans!

This is the squash garden. Zucchini, yellow squash and spaghetti squash.

This is an older photo of a sunrise on my camera!  You can tell because there are no leaves on the tree. I thought I'd post it anyway!

Just one more view of half of the big garden.

Amy's Harvest Garden Update

This is an update long overdue! I will just get right to it.  I took lots of photos over the last few days to put up here so you all could see how the garden is coming along and see just how many things I've been up to!

First, here are some photos of what the garden is looking like so far.

Zucchini is the first one.  We have also planted yellow squash, butternut, spaghetti squash and also carnival squash.

Sugar Baby Watermelon.  This year instead of planting seeds, I just bought a few plants.

Brussel Sprouts

Buttercrunch Lettuce

Green Onions

Jalapenos, Green Peppers, and Super Thai Chile

Tomatoes

Next, I took a couple of photos of how I deer proof the garden. In the back field, last time I checked there were 18 deer back there.  We had to do something to protect the garden.  This year we are using two methods.  The first photo is of an electric fence insulator.  We set up electric wire around the entire garden this year!

You may be asking yourself why you see a picture of Billy Bass.  Well, I actually have 6 of these that I've picked up at garage sales for $1.  They have a motion sensor in them.  I place them around the garden and every time a small or large animal passes them, they sing!  This has worked for YEARS.  We've been using this technique for a long time!

One day last week I noticed that between watering plants, flowers and chickens I had carried somewhere around 20 gallons of water all over the front and back yards and also all the way back to the chicken coop.  I decided that since I would be getting 12 more baby chicks, I would eventually be carrying even more water.  I decided to get myself a garden cart.  One that could be pulled manually or one that could be towed!  Here it is, already being put to use!

A few weeks back my dad and I rescued 4 baby bunnies from a nest in the front yard.  We kept them inside for almost a month.  We let them go in the back field a couple of weeks ago...here are a couple photos I took of them. So cute!  Since letting them go, we've seen them regularly hanging around!

Here are a few photos of what was going on in the chicken coop this morning.

The photo below is a bird's nest inside the chicken coop. I'll let you know if I see any baby birds in there!

Here are some various photos of flowers and plants growing around the house.  Below the first one is bamboo, it's out by the garage.

Foxglove

Lantana

Below are Peonies in an old milk bottle from my grandma's house.

Various colors of Verbena

The blueberry bush is loaded!  I have to get it covered with netting so the birds don't eat all of them!

Here is a photo of the first green onion harvest of the season!

This last photo is of a couple of items I found at a garage sale last week.   One is a dog feeder and the other is a dog water bowl.  I'm going to convert these to a chicken feeder and a chicken waterer!

As you can see, I've been busy!  Hope you all enjoyed the photos!

Something Cute

Just thought I'd post something cute today.  I've seen this little guy for the past 3 evenings when I've been closing up the chicken coop.  He doesn't seem to be afraid of me or the chickens.  Anyway, enjoy his cuteness.

Sprouts and Chickens!

Good morning!  I just went outside to check on the gardens, and I took some photos of the sprouts!  Here they are!

                            Above are collard greens that came up from last year!

Green/Spring Onions have come up!

Peas!

Roma Tomatoes!  I've also got Beefsteak, Cherry and Greenhouse Hybrids coming up!

The chickens have eaten pretty much all of their grass. We have been mowing patches of grass to feed them lately.

They are always interested in what I'm doing.

This is a new fenced in area for the chickens, so they can have new grass.  I'm going to plant grass in their current pen once they've been moved.  I just have to get the top on the other pen!

Rainy Days

It's been raining for the last two days here in Central Ohio.  I've been wanting to post more spring photos and tell more about what I'm doing in the garden, but I've decided to wait until there are sprouts!  I thought I'd post a couple of photos while we wait for the sun to return!

I have 4 different breeds of chickens that make up my small flock.  This is what their eggs look like!  They range from light brown to dark speckled brown!  I will be adding 3 new breeds to the group this summer.  Two more brown egg layers and one breed that will lay greenish blue tinted eggs! Stay tuned!

I found countless articles on the internet showing how plastic feed bags (birdseed, cat food, chicken feed etc.) can be recycled into reusable shopping bags!  This was NOT my invention but my mom decided to make one.  She has since made several out of chicken feed bags, and they work great!  One less thing in the landfill!

I'll be posting another update soon, hopefully with sprouts!

More Signs of Spring

Just thought I'd do a quick update with a few photos of flowers since I usually don't post those.  Enjoy!


Blooming Daffodils!

Blooming Grecian Wind Flowers!

The eggs I've collected so far this morning.  There will be more!