May 4, 2014

A sample of the mixed heirloom lettuce we grow - 'Red Salad Bowl,' 'Black Seeded Simpson,' and 'Red Romaine'.

Chives in bloom.

It's strawberry season.  The kids didn't need a reminder; they raced outdoors first thing in a tumble of giggles, "I'm going to beat yous," and one "wait for me" looking for a pair of crocks.  Welcome May, month of cherry jam, berries, and more good things to come on our hobby farm.  A beautiful and slow spring has been ideal for growing spinach, and we expect to process 2 dozen+ quarts for the freezer.  For root crops, we have beets, radishes, and carrots in the cold frame still. Lettuce is a little out of hand and is begging our first tomatoes, still a month away.  Broccoli and peas will be producing a heavy crop soon.

'Passion and Purity' Iris.

One new project we're working on this year is a dry bean fence along the barn.  We ordered several varieties of heirloom climbing pole-type beans, suitable for drying, from the Seed Saver's Exchange in Iowa.  By the way, we are moving almost entirely to heirloom variety vegetables and plan to save our own seeds from year to year.  The dry beans will make great additions to soups and other dishes as a source of protein.  Sweet corn, melons, cukes, zucchini, sunflowers, and huckleberries are all planted.  

We couldn't be happier with our pasture-raised, hormone-free, antibiotic-free broiler chickens.  All our birds weighed in over 6 lbs. processed, at half the cost per pound for the same label at market price.  The flavor?  If you lived close to a farm before the commercial chicken industry, you might have an idea what a real chicken tastes like.  And it's something you'd never forget, in a longing sort of way.

Peas climbing the fence in the foreground, followed by 25 ft. rows of broccoli, lettuce, and spinach.

The cold frame still producing lettuce,
carrots, and beets.  A second-year 'Goldrush'
apple tree just beyond.

Spinach.

Pasture-raised, antibiotic-free, hormone-free Cornish Cross broiler chickens at 8 weeks.

Fresh processed chickens weighing over 6 lbs each.  That's more than 18 lbs of meat!
And with that rich yellow skin, it's time for some Southern Fried Chicken.

April 10, 2014

Calling all bees!  Winesap apple blossoms greet the Spring.

The cold frame has been a huge success this year as we're gathering spinach, radishes, carrots, beets, and loads of mixed lettuce up to one month before the spring garden could have produced it.  But the main garden is under way as peas, carrots, onions, broccoli, and 625 ft. of spinach are growing well in this beautiful Spring season.  We added two plum trees this year, a Red Santa Rosa, and a Blue Damson, to our orchard collection of apples, peaches, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and figs.  Warm-season vegetable seedlings are growing and will be ready to transplant out in a week or two, when we will also plant many of our heirloom beans, cukes, melons, squash, and corn varieties from seed.

The cold frame, in peak of Spring production.  After this crop is harvested, we will use the frame to grow eggplant.

8 varieties of tomatoes, various peppers, lettuce, and herbs to be transplanted into the garden soon.

The strawberry pyramid bed in bloom.

Cornish Cross broilers at four weeks old, already weighing in at a meaty two pounds, free-range over grass.

Spring at Palmetto Acres Garden

Baby lettuce, spinach, radishes, beets, and carrots growing happily in the cold frame.

Jumbo-sized brown eggs from our layers.

Spring was all the buzz this weekend!  We had gorgeous weather to garden in South Carolina.  There's not much in season, just some early mixed greens, lemons, and farm-fresh eggs (sounds to me like a recipe for lemon bars and spring salad; oh, we added a couple early radishes on that salad, too).  Plans are being put into action for this summer's food garden, and already some vegetable seeds are sprouting under fluorescent lights indoors.  It's our fourth year on this property, and fruit trees look like they are going to put on a heavy crop - 10 bush cherries are lit up with hundreds of thousands of white blossoms; if there are no late freezes, we will need braces for peach and apple trees.

Meyer lemons ripening indoors.

Last spring we introduced laying chickens to our hobby farm; there has been no more fun and rewarding endeavor.  Our jumbo-sized eggs do not fit well in standard egg containers.  We're adding meat chickens this year of the Cornish Rock variety, which top out at 6-8 pounds by eight weeks of age.  It's the same breed chicken in any grocery store; ours will be raised on an organic diet and free-ranged over grass, as natural a life as possible, which should yield highly superior meat at less cost per pound than market free-range organic chickens.

Laying hens in their movable chicken run.

Cornish Rock chick

Cornish Rock chicks get their first meal in the brooder.  As cute as they are, these are livestock, not pets.

Building A Cold Frame

Seeds of Gourmet Lettuce Blend, Bloomsdale spinach, Short-N-Sweet carrot, Detroit Dark Red beet,
and Cherry Belle radish laid out for planting in the cold frame.

Thanks to my father-in-law for the free-to-us
discarded window!

Winter has not been kind to southern gardens this year; green edibles in our veggie patch did not survive January, and the forecast for what's to come indicates more frigid weather.  Though we may still get snow, under a cold frame vegetables are getting an early start on the growing season.  

A cold frame is a bottomless box with a top that admits light, providing the benefits of a greenhouse on a convenient scale.  We used 2"x12"s treated with wood preservative to discourage rot; total dimensions are 68" x 46".  The lid is hinged to help with ventilation.  The cold frame is situated on the sunny south side of our barn.

The cold frame is 12" high in front, 18" high in back to help with
water drainage and to catch slanted rays of winter sun.

Fitted with the window on top.

Potting mix 8" deep fills the inside.  Even on a cold cloudy day,
soil inside the cold frame feels warm.

Pullets, the Sixth Week

Golden Comet pullet at six weeks old.

Rhode Island Red pullets.

What a difference a week makes, especially with growing chickens.  I don't think we're imagining daily increases in size.  Our birds look nearly as they will look for the rest of their lives.  Just this week, their vocal calls are changing over from squeaks (I wouldn't call them "peeps" any longer) to more full-throaty clucks and squawks.  It brought a smile to our faces hearing the first contented "Gluck. Cluck-cluck-cluck."  They come to the gate to greet us every morning.  At six weeks old, there are still anywhere from eight to twelve weeks before they begin laying eggs, between July and September.

We harvested first spinach and are watching peas, carrots, and onions grow.  These cool mornings make us glad we waited to transplant out our warm-weather crops.  Strawberries are setting by the hundreds (and maybe thousands); all around, it looks like we will have an excellent fruit crop this year.

Our chickens enjoy free-ranging for bugs and small stones in the grassy lawn at Palmetto Acres Hobby Farm.

"All I want to be in life is a little red hen."

"I am most definitely a vegetarian."

Curious one poses again.

Chicks, the First Week

Rhode Island Red chick at one week old.  A miniature comb and wattle are growing on its forehead.

Wing and tail feathers.

The chicks are a week old now and are growing fast.  They have doubled in size since we brought them home, and they are showing loads of personality.  We have our eager ones, reluctant ones, curious ones, and shy ones.  Some are assertive, first to do everything; and others prefer to follow.  Feathers are starting to grow out from the shoulder, wings, and tail.  Thanks to those wing feathers, they are getting rather adept at cruising around in their 8 ft. x 4 ft. brooder pen.  It looks like a couple of the chicks are playing at pecking order, and not necessarily the largest ones either.  Maintenance is very low - we refill the feed tray every other day, and we haven't yet had to refill the gallon waterer.

3rd-year semi-dwarf nectarine tree.

We have an excellent stand of spinach this spring; lettuce, carrots, and onions are just sprouting.  Peas just went in the ground over the weekend after being pre-sprouted in wet paper towels.  Indoors our peppers, dill, and bedding flowers are growing under lights, and we will add to them tomato and other warm-weather crops this week.  We're still enjoying peach and cherry blossoms.  Happy first day of Spring!

Bush cherries in bloom.

August 13, 2012

August is the month of sunflowers.

Our harvests are getting smaller, but often more interesting; for example, the handful of red raspberries we picked to eat with a honeydew melon and a nice fat fig.  These combinations would never be conceivable if we weren't growing them ourselves.  'Heritage' red raspberries, which are labeled "everbearing," are just getting started on their big fall crop; we don't have to cover these in bird netting like we did with our spring berries; birds are done raising young, which have fledged and focused on protein diet of insects before the winter.

2nd-year parsley, heavy with seed, bends to the ground.

The dog days of summer are over.  We received another 5 inches of rain this week, giving us a two-week total at 9.5 inches; I think it rained every day in the past two weeks and don't remember as significant a wet period since the summer it rained 40 days in a row in 2005.  Needless to say, we're about ready to pull up our soaker hoses and mow down the melon patch.  One of the most appealing qualities of the garden this time of year is its disarray.  Plants are overgrown, blowzy, and wild--and that's part of what keeps our interest.

Brussels sprouts seedlings through
the screen of an airy window.

Folks often incorrectly assume that spring and summer are the prime gardening seasons and that the beginning of fall brings an end to the garden's glory.  But as fall rains return and the lawns green up again, the nights are cooler and the sun seems softer, we have time to catch up on a crop of brassicas and greens.  Cole crops such as broccoli, cabbage, and brussels sprouts perform just as well as in the spring.  Didn't get that crop of April spinach that you were hoping for?  Try it now.  Since the days are often hot, it will help to sprout seeds under a 2x4 laid directly on top of the ground, but check underneath every day.  Our brussels sprouts started from seed in early July will be ready to transplant out to the garden by the end of this month.  It's time to start cabbage and broccoli seed now too.

Seed-saving is in full operation as we select the best heirloom tomatoes, peppers, and herbs.

Pumpkins ripen in these warm and humid August days.

April 23, 2012

Spring radishes grew the size of beets!

This is the BIG week!  It's time to plant our favorite seeds for the summer garden:  sunflowers, cantaloupe melons, honeydew melons, summer squash, zucchini, green beens, and if we are ambitious enough, the first batch of sweet corn.  Seeds of these veggies tend to rot in cool soil, and though we had six weeks of warm weather March into April, a hard freeze on the 12th would have been a major set-back if we had already planted.  Our highs have averaged only in the upper 60's F since then; but soil also absorbs radiant heat from sunshine and has sufficiently warmed enough to increase germination success.  If we don't have time to plant everything, we'll hold off on sweet corn since our hybrid variety is especially sensitive to soil temperature.

Seeds ready to plant.

We are still ahead of schedule since transplants went into the ground almost three weeks early, and they are doing great.  Bell peppers are already flowering - though we will pick these early buds off until they grow larger.  Tomato plants are ready to have their cages and stakes put on for support.  Broccoli is the big success this Spring.  We've had to water a little extra to supplement natural rainfall, and those big leaves are going to produce some whopping florets.  Maybe we'll see some 16-inchers this year.

Broccoli plants are growing large.

Spinach is still coming strong, though we're eating everything we harvest.  Peas are looking healthy; it's time to supplement with natural bone meal, which will encourage flowers and pod production.  We pulled radishes, which went a little too long in the ground.  Last year's parsley, a biennual, is sending up stalks now to bloom, and we will save these seeds to plant next Spring.  In the meantime, parsley seedlings started this year are still small but quickly gaining size.

April 9, 2012

The first spinach of 2012.

What a glorious Easter weekend we had!  Tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, and other transplants have jumped into growth after recent rains and agreeable temperatures.  I don't think it's an exaggeration to say we pulled a million weeds over the weekend, however!  This reminds me of an organic gardening tip we haven't really followed this year but will try to follow from now on.  Freshly-tilled soil is a hot bed for weeds.  Tilling, especially in a new garden, turns up millions of weed seeds that rest beneath the surface. If you have the time after tilling, let weeds sprout first, skim them off without disturbing the soil deeply, then plant.  It's so hard to be patient with this technique when days lengthen and temperatures are prime for planting.  Something is always calling to get those hands in the dirt.

This 'Blue Girl' hybrid tea rose bloomed in time for Easter.

There are a hundred chores we could have done, besides weeding, but there was time only to re-till the future corn bed; organic humus from composting clover has made it rich and fertile.  Our first harvest of spinach came due, always a welcome celebration.  I wonder how much longer spinach will last since temperatures have been so unseasonably warm this year; it tends to bolt and turn bitter above 80 degrees F.  Other plants love the heat, and we will soon turn our attention to them.

A recent weather report says 60% of the nation is now in some state of drought, even before we head into the typically dry and hot months of summer.  We haven't had to use our soaker hoses much this spring, but we will be laying them out in the vegetable garden this year in case they are needed.  The first hybrid tea rose on our property bloomed in time for Easter.  We have loads of rose buds just ready to burst open, but a few opened early.

The vegetable garden in April.

March 12, 2012

The first peach blossom.

March is here, and it's beginning to look like it.  Mounds of green clover up to 10 inches high are covering our future corn patch.  Grass is turning green again, thanks to abundant Spring rains, and trees are in bloom everywhere.  After wheelbarrowing mulch to the far ends of the property during a church work day, we came home to plant:

Onion and carrot plantings
next to garlic

6 ft. of raddishes
18 ft. of 'Salad Bowl' lettuce
6 ft. of 'Romain' lettuce
25 ft. carrots
25 ft. yellow onions

Bush cherries two years old.

We also re-planted spinach seed where there are bare spots and mowed part of the lawn.  A second batch of peas is rolled up in moist paper towels on top of the refrigerator to sprout and be planted before St. Patrick's Day.  This is a busy weekend for the garden, since it's also time to sow seeds of tomatoes and dill indoors.  Broccoli will be transplanted out into the garden by next weekend, so it's time to start hardening off our seedlings by acclimating them to sunlight and wind after being pampered under fluorescent lights on a heat mat indoors.

Bees are loving our bush cherries, and the first peach blossoms have opened.  We finished a very busy day by watering our blueberries with an acid-loving fertilizer and by misting all the newly-planted seed.  Thanks to all this work on a sunny day, we can humbly show off our red necks!

The vegetable garden in March showing garlic left; clover center;
and peas, spinach, lettuce, and brussels sprouts right.

February 20, 2012

Five rows 25-ft. long each sowed with 'Bloomsdale Long Standing' spinach seed

It's that time of year again - spinach!  Cold-weather seeds can be planted as soon as ground can be worked. Grab a handful of soil and squeeze it together: if it crumbles apart when you let go, it's ready to cultivate.  Here's a hint:  garden loam which has plenty of organic humus will be ready to work sooner than unconditioned soil.  This is our second season growing in this bed - last year we grew red clover and sweet corn here; we acidified it with iron sulfate and spread a load of composted manure over before tilling.  The tiller cut through it like butter - wow, what a difference from last year!  800 seeds have been sown down five, 25-foot rows and watered, so we're hoping to see a great harvest in April.

Seedling heat mat warming a cell pack sown with peppers.

Sterilized seed-starting mix greatly improves the viability of seeds started indoors.  Most seed-starting mix is not sterile, but it can be sterilized in a big roasting pot placed in the oven and baked at 300 degrees F for about an hour.  We did this before starting our sweet bell peppers indoors; we use heat mats underneath to create an ideal germinating temperature, and we cover with plastic to keep humidity high until they sprout.  Seeds germinate in half the expected time using this method.

It wouldn't be too early to plant carrot seed and onion sets outdoors.  This garlic has obviously enjoyed a mild winter and is a little more than half-way through its growing cycle.

White hardneck garlic plants.