Mar. 18 - 24, 2012

Temperature Range

• lows: 56 - 63° F
• highs: 73 - 82° F

rainfall: 0.85"

Planted:

• potatoes, Red Norland, 5#

Harvested:

• kale
• lettuce
• broccoli
• collards
• cabbage collards
• mangels

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 10
• Mon. 10
• Tues. 7
• Wed. 5
• Thurs. 9
• Fri. 6
• Sat. 8
• Week's Total: 55

Observed& Accomplished:
Sunday

• day of rest
• more rain!
• peas up
• wheat heading
• crabapple & sand cherries starting to bloom

Monday

• weeded some in garden but soil very wet
• tulips blooming

Tuesday

• pulled more weeds
• spirea blooming
• found 4 surviving comfrey plants from 2010

Wednesday

• worked on weeding strawberry/asparagus patch
• decided where to transfer the strawberries
• strawberries beginning to bloom
• Came home from TSC to find a hawk circling over the chicken yard just above the pecan trees. Cowboy had all the hens huddled safely together under the cedar tree.
• bought 10# Norland potatoes from TSC
• also bought 2 more sand cherry seedlings

Thursday

• planted the sand cherries
• planted half the seed potatoes
• 1st bed full of ants!
• noted quite a few volunteer potatoes growing too

Friday

• more rain
• strawberries & elders arrived

Saturday

• noted lots of vetch growing around the place

Mar. Wk 1: 2/27 - 3/5

Temperature Range

• lows: 36 - 61 F
• highs: 48 - 75 F

Rainfall: 1.5"

Egg Counts

• Sun. 7
• Mon. 5
• Tues. 2
• Wed. 6
• Thurs. 6
• Fri. 5
• Sat. 5
• Week's Total: 36

Accomplished:

• finished transplanting everbearing strawberries
• mulched crabapple
• mulched almond tree
• bordered existing herb beds with bricks
• double dug a new herb bed
• froze 2 more dozen eggs

Observations:

• peas sprouting
• peach trees blooming
• indoor cabbages sprouting
• rhubarb sprouting
• Japanese magnolia blooming
• forsythia blooming

Eating:

• fresh carrots
• fresh turnips
• fresh eggs
• canned pizza sauce
• frozen okra
• stored potatoes
• canned Swiss chard
• frozen green peppers
• canned dill pickles
• canned figs
• canned blueberry topping
• dried watermelon
• dried cantaloupe
• sauerruben

Nov. Wk. 3, 14th - 20th

Temperature Range:

• lows: 40 - 52 F
• highs: 58 - 64 F

Rainfall: 0.9"

Planted:

• Crabapple tree (semi-dwarf)
• Stanley plum tree (dwarf)
• 3 Heritage red raspberry plants

Harvested:

• turnips
• Swiss chard

Gathered:

• more pecans

Accomplished:

• pulled dead marigold plants
• raking & hauling dead leaves for mulch
• pulled last of popcorn & KY bean plants
• tilled popcorn bed to plant crabapple tree

Food Storage:

• finished the last of the homegrown onions

Oct. Wk 4, 24th - 30th

Temperature range this week:

• lows: 44 - 64 F
• highs: 67 - 78 F

Rainfall: 2.2 " over 3 days

Planted: nothing this week

Harvested:

• Swiss chard
• zucchini
• turnips
• pumpkin
• tomatoes
• green beans
• sweet peppers

Preserved: 

• froze eggs
• froze sweet peppers

Accomplished:

• Not much in the garden due to 3 days of rain
• Finished organizing pantry
• Finished shelling popcorn
• Still working on black turtle beans
• pulled old zinnia plants from front flower beds
• packed harvested turnips is a cooler with damp sand

Ordered - from Stark Bros. Nursery for fall planting:

• 2 American cranberry bushes
• 1 semi-dwarf crabapple tree
• 1 Stanley European dwarf plum tree
• 3 Heritage red raspberries

Homestead Meal: (all homegrown except cheese)

• mashed potatoes & turnips topped with big blob of homemade (not homegrown) yogurt cheese, steamed Swiss chard, & chunks of fresh tomato. YUM!

March 16, 2010

Received & potted: my 10 free trees plus crepe myrtle from my National Arbor Day Foundation membership.
~ 2 Sargent Crabapples (Malus sargentii)
~ 2 Eastern Redbuds (CercisCanadensis)
~ 2 Washington Hawthornes (Crataegus phaenopyrum)
~ 2 Flowering Dogwoods (Cornus florida)
~ 2 Goldenraintrees (Koelreuteria paniculata)
~ 1 Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)

Transplanted: more daffodils