What a week it has been. This time of year the days just blur together because I hardly get a moment for rest.
In the Kitchen:
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I made some fermented lemons. Our family loves them in a pasta dish I make often for dinner. They take about three weeks to ferment.
Seed Starting:
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Zinnias. Varieties: Purple Prince, Lilliput Mix, Meteor, and Pink Senorita
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Marigolds
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More Parsley. The first batch never popped up so I’m trying round 2!
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Lettuce: Cimmaron, Little Gem, Crisp Mint, Merlot
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Thyme
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A few Bulb Fennel
This year I did one seed per soil block for my peppers and tomatoes and it was a failure. I don’t know what I was thinking. My peppers blocks grew at less than 50% germination. The tomatoes was around 80-90%. I’m going to have to sow more peppers. Tomatoes I over planted so I think I should have enough. For the pepper seeds this time I’ll do four seeds per block to make sure I get the germination I need. Also I have new heat mats now so that should help! It was a great learning lesson!
I also made more Eliot Coleman homemade soil block mix and omitted the garden soil this time. I kept the compost in there because it rocks for starting seeds. I know the common thought is to keep a sterile mix for seedlings but compost really makes my seedlings thrive so I prefer to go against the grain on that one.
In the Garden:
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Sowed Wando Peas
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Transplanted lettuce and spinach.
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Harvested the first of the green onions
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We had friend gift us two pear trees that we planted. Ayers and Magness. I may need another pollinator since Magness doesn’t have good pollen.
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Transplanted half the cabbage under row covers.
My Laminated Garden Guides
Can you guys keep a secret? We live in a POA area and technically chickens aren’t allowed in the POA even though they are allowed in my city. We had the POA “police” come by this week and they sent a letter telling us to move a trailer we had out of sight but didn’t say a word about the chickens. I am SO thankful. We may need to cover the back area garden with fence slats so the chickens remain a little more well hidden from the road.
We’re ready to move out far, far away from all the rules. We have dreams of more acres and space to do what we want but some dreams need to wait. And for now we are saving up and enjoying the space we have and praying that we don’t get our chickens taken away in the meantime.
