This year has not started with a bang, no siree!! Rather, it has been wet and cool for the whole of April AND May! For a while there it felt like nothing would every grow, but in the last week or so the nights have warmed up a little, 8-10 degrees C at night and the odd day up to 15-17 degrees in the day time, so the early season plants are finally starting to put some growth on. Check out this picture below - it was taken on May 22. Then check out the previous posting that was dated May 22 of 2010, the picture was taken from the same location. The difference in the garden is unbelievable!! I estimate that the season is a good three weeks behind what it was last year.
Despite the weather woes we haven't been idle. This Spring Paul built a cute chicken coop at our home and we have five laying hens and will have 4 more coming in a couple of weeks. Fresh organic eggs and chicken manure are awesome, but we also get great satisfaction from just having the chickens around. Paul also expanded our farmstand and we've changed the logo and signage for a fresh new look.
The latest project is a new greenhouse - you can never have enough greenhouses! This one is wood framed, it should be much sturdier than the previous pvc hoophouse. Already I have planted melons and tomatoes in there and will be adding cucumbers and eggplants once the darn weather warms up.
This week we planted our new field for this year in potatoes; Russian Fingerlings and Sieglinde - yummmy! The field is approximately 1/4 acre and I thought that it would take many hours to hand dig trenches and plant potatoes but with a team of four of us we were able to do the whole field in 2 hours. I'm still impressed!! :o)
