Strawberry Box

This is what we woke up to last Thursday Morning, March 22nd, the 2nd official day of Spring. The next day we enjoyed sun and warm skies.



On Saturday I spent most of the day leveling this area next to the raspberry boxes. The Littles spent the day elsewhere and it kept me fairly occupied. I also had a couple stop by to view one of the puppies and they happily went home with him. It was the kind of visit where they had pretty much already had made up their minds, so we spent the visit talking about him and what to expect of him when they got home with him.



On Sunday we continued to work on leveling the ground. Here I've place the boards of the box I want to have in this area to see how level it looked. I went ahead and screwed the box together reusing the screws I collected taking the boxes apart.



Here we have attached hardware cloth. Looks pretty neat. I also use the cloth to square up the box since I have no inner bracing.



This time I found another hammer for our Teddy to use and he gently tapped the staples in. One of these times he will find out how gut wrenching a hammer feels to his thumb, but fortunately he didn't this time.



An easy tip up and step one end over then the other end over and let the box drop into place. I used a tape measure to make sure it was positioned with just enough space in between the boxes to allow for pavers in the future. Then there was the custom ceremony dance.



Monday morning found us driving to the nursery for soil. We got a half yard of raised bed garden soil for $14. The littles like to watch it get loaded into the back of the ranger. The soil is alot lighter in weight than hauling gravel. A half yard of soil is about 5 wheel barrow loads while a half yard of 5/8" minus gravel is 7 wheel barrow loads. Since I had the 2 side gates open I also removed 3 wheel barrow loads of compost leaves that one of my sons put into my yard debris box to get it out of his way.



We also got 75 more strawberry plants. They come in bundles of 25 plants packed with a little bit of potting soil. These ones are ever bearing. I like ever bearing because they don't send out a bunch of shoots though they will keep making berries until the fall and everyone is sick of them.




Here's the dirt when we got home.



Here's the dirt in the box. I also remeasured it to make sure it was where I wanted it and leveled it. I move a bit of gravel to cover some of the dirt we were walking on.



Here's the strawberries in the dirt in the box. I ended up planting 116 plants in this box. Some of the plants I got from Home Depot didn't look like they were growing but I left them in the old wheel barrow along with the 2 new grapes and the one old grape I dug up. Digging up the old grape kind of reminded me of the movie "A Walk in the Clouds" I kept asking it if it was alive.



Here is one of the first of canes of Raspberries that I planted a couple weekends ago. It's looking pretty good.

Weekend Warrior?

With the short days I feel like the only time I get to enjoy my yard is on the weekend. Until recently it's been dark when I get off work. In the mornings before I leave for work I rush around getting everyone ready for the day and briefly enter the garden to feed and water the rabbits. A sad note, my male rabbit Clover and my male turtle Rex died last week.


See where Clove got his name? I thought about naming the 3 female rabbits diamond, spade and heart. But I don't think it very fitting.

I have rabbits for their poop. Yep, poop. I built their hutch over my compost box to allow their droppings to fall directly into the compost. This saves a step. I don't need to move or mix it in. I feed my rabbits, rabbit chow everyday and add to their diet weeds. I also plant enough veggies to share with them.


This last weekend I returned to Home Depot and picked up some more seed packets so here's a photo of all of them plus my seed potatoes and onions. Teddy has been picking out flowers, he likes California poppies and sunflowers, so we have several packets of both. I like flowers like Daisies or ones shaped like daisies. So I got Black Eye Susan's and purple cone flower.


I also got more raspberry plants to add to the raspberries we planted last week. I ended up getting different varieties. So now I have 2 reds, Heritage and Brandiwine and 2 blacks, Cumberland and Logan, 10 plants each. I broke down and purchase once again grapes, 1 green and 1 red. Both seedless. This is the 3rd time I've boughten grapes. Sad, I know. I just think that someway somehow I need to have grapes. So I am thinking about building an Arbor that will go up and over the raspberries. This will be a nice warm spot next to the house and a good use of vertical space.


Last fall I brought home from work 4 truck loads of mixed leaves and grass clippings. You can't see it in the picture but it was steaming. Our landscaper's were happy to load it for me into the back of my truck. It cost them money to dispose of the stuff they put in their truck. Then that place will turn around and resell it as compost after a few months of letting it sit in a big pile. I know, quite the racket! They make money both ways. It's important to have a good mix of both green and brown product to compost together. Green: grass clippings, weeds. Brown: leaves or brown paper bags. Everything will break faster if the items you add are small. So chop or or break large items. If you are using paper bags instead of leaves make sure you tear them up, if you don't, whatever is under won't get oxygen to help with decomposing. On that note, newspapers and paper bags can be layered to kill grass without digging or using chemicals.


This is my humble kitchen compost bowl. It takes me about a week to fill it. I put coffee grounds, egg shells and raw vegetable waste like potato peels. With the leaves and grass, kitchen compost and rabbit droppings I'm making some pretty great compost. It's easy, just toss it into a pile and give it a stir every once in a while and wha la, compost.


I'm considering adding chickens to my garden. Chicken poop is great for the garden. I have looked at plans online and really like this style. I have a space in the back corner of the garden that is about 8 feet wide. I can have up to 6 hens, no roosters. I don't want it to be taller than the 6' fence, so it isn't visible from the other side or block any one's view. But, I like these plans because it's fully enclosed and covered and I can walk inside to maintain it and the chickens. I would also run water and electricity to it for connivance. I'm not sure yet if I will build this, I have another outside building project that I really want to complete this year. I want to build a cover over my back patio/step. Reason for this is, to shade the sliding door and help cool the house if it gets hot in the summer, but also because the dogs sit in front of the door waiting to be left back inside and it will protect them from rain and sun. I guess I will dwell on it some more and until then hope for more sun and less rain.

Busy working

So I have been pretty busy the last couple weeks. One of my projects included thinking about pigs. Yes I wrestled back and forth with myself for a few days over the idea of getting pigs to raise for meat. Here is a picture of some I was looking at.  I finally came to the conclusion that I did not want to invest the time or the money in pigs right now.  I always wonder if it would be cost effective, and guess I will continue to research that issue. I also find that the more time I spend working in my yard the more things I discover that need to be done.  I don't feel like I should add to that until I get other things caught up.

So no pigs for now. maybe latter in the year, or maybe next year, but this is not the right time for me. I have instead settled on getting my daughter some more geese. I like to keep geese with my chickens since they are such great guard dogs.  They alert everyone when there is possible danger. I have not had an issue with coyotes, raccoons, skunks or opossum's stealing chickens for years now.
So we are expecting a special package at the post office in about a week from now....and I did order myself a little something too. I couldn't help myself. I ordered a couple dozen more chicks for me! They will be here in early April. SSSSSHHHHH!   Don't tell anyone. 

I don't know why I think I need more chickens, I am getting about 30 eggs a day right now and it will be double that in the summer.  I need to find more recipes for cooking eggs I guess or sell them to the neighbors or something.

This is one of the projects going on here in the last couple weeks. Finally a bridge over the creek so we can fully utilize the lower part of the property. It is kind of hard to haul things over the creek with no bridge so that part of the property has had little use. About the only thing its been good for up until now has been a place for the dogs to run back and forth barking at the neighbor's dogs that are doing the same thing. Back and forth barking at each other along the fence line.  At least it was good exercise and entertainment I guess.

The chicken yard was getting pretty wet and muddy so we found a neighbor who had wheat straw for sale and got a couple loads to use as bedding. I spread 3 bales in the yard over the mud and the chickens thought it was great fun. They scratched at it for days and worked into the mud so its not so bad now, even though the weather hasn't gotten any better. Rain rain go away.

First Flower

My first Dafadil of the year. The forsynthia is also in bloom, so my front year will shine yellow for a bit.



We got the hardware cloth attached to the 2' by 8' boxes today and flipped them over. A fairly easy task. Teddy went upstairs and got his black and decker plastic hammer and tried to hammer in staples like me.



Everything needs careful examination and poking. We partically filled the boxes with dirt then added the garden soil I purchase yesterday when we picked up the hardware cloth.



This is the view of the box ready to get planted. Notice the area in front all nice and level? That's how much of the afternoon was spent, me and my trusty shovel. Atleast today I didn't have to free Penny from under the deck.

Garden Boots and Dirty Dogs.

After seeing the sun shine all week at work and knowing rain as due to arrive with the weekend. I didn't really have much plans for out door fun. As you can see we headed over to the feed store for some rabbit feed and picked out new rubber boots for everyone. Mine are blue slip on's with Dragonflies, the Littles have standard issue black rubber boots. These are spare pairs for them, it always seems that when we really need the boots, at least one is always missing.



Yesterday Our Penny somehow managed to wiggle under the back deck. I went to look for her and all I hear is thump thump thump of her tail hitting the boards. This is me holding her head. She couldn't figure out how to get back out and I ended up using a shovel to lift up the deck a inch or so to allow her to wiggle out. I put a cement block down to block her from going back under.



This morning when I let the dogs out again Penny managed to get under the deck again, so I let her stay under there stuck for several hours to get the point into her head that maybe she shouldn't be going under there. This is what she looked like when she came out. I fed her and then hosed what dirt I could off her and took her inside for another bath to warm her up. She just about fell asleep in the tub after spending all that time wiggling around under the deck. I put more blocks to block her access. Hopefully.

We had two sets of puppy people today. The first family lost their 4 year old goldendoodle to cancer a few months ago. They took home Tawnee's 13 week phantom labradoodle chocolate girl. The second family came back for a second puppy. Last week they got one of Liezel's miniature poodle boys. They decided they needed one of his sister's for him to play with. The boy puppy's name is Max, the girl they planned on naming Daisy.

After we got done with today's people we headed over to Home Depot to pick up hardware cloth for the raised garden boxes. I got two different sizes 2' X 25' and 4' X 25'. I also got 4 bags of garden soil and 1 bag of composted steer manure to mix with my dirt to give it a boost. I need to get the raspberries planted, they are spouting leaves sitting on my kitchen table. I also need to unbag the strawberry plants. Since I don't have a box ready for them I'm going to temporarily put them in my old wheelbarrow. So that's my plans for tomorrow.

My Garden Project Day 2

Day 2 working on my Garden. I finally stopped to take a photo of my brand new garden fence, from the far side of my garden. You can also see here my stack of wood from the raised garden boxes I took apart yesterday, my collection of shovels and a couple of large flower pots that I recycled from work a few years ago.



This is my 3, almost 4 year old, Teddy "the Sod Buster" Bear. Teddy spent most of the day asking to go into the garden to dig. I had a couple come to get one of our Miniature Poodle puppies today and I didn't want the Littles to get dirty before these puppy people came and went.



And here is 2 year old Cubby Bear with his shovel. Teddy now is holding the pointed ends of the broken solar lights, they are great for poking into the dirt.



Bushes are handy things when your a little boy training to be a big boy. I'm sure little boys peeing outside may shock some people but its truly better than having to stop and try not to track in dirt from the garden onto my freshly mopped floor.



Hidden treasure? I dug up a bread knife in the dirt near the kitchen's exterior wall. I don't know how it got there, but hours later it is still sitting on my kitchen window ledge. Years ago, maybe 5, I trans-planted a bunch strawberry plants by just moving them shovel by shovel without digging or planting them. They did great, but it did raise the level of the ground by about 8" (shovel depth).



The raised dirt level put it a couple inches above the house's foundation vent boxes. So this gave me a starting level that I knew for sure that I needed the ground to be. I started digging and raking level the ground next to the house a couple inches below the vents.



I just have this 2 foot by 8 foot box here to see if the ground is level. I still need to staple hardware cloth to the underside of the boxes to keep the moles out of my boxes. I filled a couple mole tunnels today while digging.



Here's the second box in place. I didn't take these two boxes apart because I can easily move them around and I'm going to fill them first with plants.



I got 10 red raspberry plants and 10 Logan raspberry bushes. I like the traditional red raspberries and the Logan raspberry canes don't have stickers.



This is a collection of trash that I've dug up and tossed out of the way. Plastic doesn't decompose very well. Some of this trash is broken solar lights that the dogs disassebled and some is old water bottles that fell into the garden from the second story window above. My husband Wes used to put bottles out his window on top of his a/c unit. Some of the bottles still have water in them. Some is scrap pieces of laminate flooring that didn't get picked up from doing the kitchen floor.



Here is the rubarb plant that I got from Shirley and planted in the summer of 2005. The end of the second box came right up next to the plant. I'm glad that I wont have to move the plant. I feel like I a got a good start on reclaiming my garden. I moved alot of dirt from the higher levels to the lower levels. I won't be posting photos of my garden again until next weekend.

My Garden Project Day 1

This is what my garden looked like in 2005. I grew strawberries, raspberries, onions, carrots, lettuce, and tomatoes that year. Then next year I took a second job and for the next 3 years I worked both jobs 65 to 70 hours a week and was always tired and had nothing to show for it. Then I made feeble attempts at gardening with poor results. My goal this year is to reclaim my garden by keeping the dogs out of it. I had a wire fence but it allowed the little dogs to go thru and the big dogs figured out how to get over it by pushing it down until they could jump over. My dogs loved the raised beds and liked to dig in the cool soft dirt until they had great hollows to lay in. Any bushes got pruned including my grapes that after 6 years are still mere stubs poking out of the ground.


This is what my garden looked like this morning a wet muddy mess. So with Shirley and Scott's help, I have a brand spanking new shiney dog proof fence.


My yard slopes to the middle, so even after no rain for a couple of days, I still have standing water. My plan is to take apart the boxes so I can stack the wood out of the way and level the middle of the garden. I don't mind a sloping yard, I just don't want the lowest area to be smack dab in the middle.


Here it is with the all boxes removed.


Here are the boards that I used to walk on to be able to feed my rabbits without getting my feet wet. By the way, there's my hammer that I used to build my house, its still awesome.


I dug two shallow trenches, one along the new garden fence to drain the standing water from the pavers. This one is to drain the standing water that was in the beds. I need to dig this area anyways because I'm changing the placement of the raised boxes and need to dig out up and move the water supply lines.

Mad wet hens are now happy

The lower part of the chicken yard was becoming so muddy that drastic action was called for.  I found someone close to where I live with straw for sale and went and got a truck load.  I threw 3 bales over the muddiest part of the yard where the chickens hang out. They had a lot of fun pecking around in the new straw after that. It was good entertainment for them and exercise too. I also threw them some of their favorite treat, apples, into the straw.  The chickens love any type of scraps they can get. I give them old bread, cereals, chips, fruit and veggies and of course bucket loads of weeds pulled from the garden right next to their yard. 
With the constant rise of chicken feed I need to find additional alternatives to what I have to buy. It is becoming expensive to raise chicken these days.  I always plant a few rows in the vegetable garden of things I know they and the rabbits will eat. Things like carrots, turnips, and sugar beats are great and last in the ground all winter.  I just grab a bunch of something when I feed them and throw it in their yard.
I am debating right now on whether or not to add to my flock this year. I have lost about 30 in the last year and since most of my girls are from last years babies it is not a rush due to lack of production. Mainly a money issue at this point. I have a few months to think about it still.  The hens have increased the production of eggs recently. For about a month I have had only 3 or 4 eggs a week. Now all of a sudden I get 9 a day! Spring must be coming, or it's my wishful thinking again. We had snow just 2 days ago, but I'm hungry for sunshine.

Spring Rush

This time every year is when I start making BIG PLANS. Plans for the garden, plans for this year's puppies, plans for home improvement projects. I don't make New Year's Resolutions, that's too early in the year for me. It's too cold then to even begin to explore the coming year's possibilities. With SPRING just 3 weeks away, I gotta get busy!