Spring Cleanup

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Kansas so the family decided to get out and get some spring cleaning done in the garden and animal areas. I was so excited to finally get out and get my hands in the dirt after a long winter. I am still so thankful for the garden space the previous homeowner started. It makes getting the spring garden in this year so much easier. Just look at the great soil I get to work with. The only thing we added last fall was some old bedding we had saved from cleaning up from the chickens. Hopefully we will have a good year. 

While cleaning up the garden space we found lots of these onions growing that we did not plant. They must have been leftovers from the previous owner. I decided to go ahead and pull them to free up as much space as possible in our small garden.

We had plans to go ahead and expand the size of our garden this year, but we have not had a chance to get around to it. I may still go ahead with our plans...maybe. If I do I am sure the hens would be happy to pull their weight around here and clear an area for me if I pen them up where I want the new plot. They are great at their job. 

I told this little cutie I would pay her if she would help me pull some weeds that have already popped up. She was so excited to get to help, especially when I told her she could use the new gardening tool we inherited from my parents. Work is always more fun when you get to use a new toy. 

Ignore the mess behind her. Like I said it was cleaning day and there was stuff strung all over the place from the shed clean out. I am not sure if you can see or not, but we more then doubled the size of the chicken pen since we are not allowing them to free range as much as we have in the past. They were just too destructive in the garden last year. We will let them out if we need some clean up done. 

This is Olaf, our new puppy. We were told he is possibly part Greater Swiss Mountain dog. To be honest I am not sure what he is. The Humane Society can only give us their best guess. After looking up the breed he definitely has many of the behavior characteristics and markings. So far he has been a great guard dog and he just LOVES our kids. At 6 months old he already weighs 57 lbs! I think we have a potentially huge dog on our hands. I am excited to see how big he actually gets.

From my research this dog was bred to be a working dog. Unfortunately there is not a ton of herding to be done in my backyard. The website suggested we get him a doggie backpack to wear on walks to help him feel like he is helping. I think we will get one and see how it goes. This breed is also known for pulling carts. I am sure the kids will have no problem hooking him up to a wagon or sled in the winter so he can "help". 

The chickens were very excited about cleaning day. We kept finding lots of bugs and weeds to toss into their pen. 

                           

I have been wanting to get this shed cleaned out all winter. I hate it when things are disorganized. I was grateful to have the help of these two. My oldest does not like having a small farm in her backyard or getting her hands dirty. I just had to get a picture as proof that she does help out occasionally. If she had her way we would be living in an apartment in New York City. 

After about an hour of work I looked around and these two had disappeared. Apparently they decided it was time for a break and helped themselves to a snack. 

There is still lots of work that needs to get done, but it decided to go from 70 degrees yesterday to snowing today! You have to love spring in Kansas. I did manage to get in some radishes, spinach and lettuce in some planters on the porch. I had planned to start the snap peas and beets today, but that will have to wait until the weekend. 

Harvesting Peas and Garlic

Fresh picked peas ready to be shelled

This is when gardening gets exciting. After planting early in the spring, watering, weeding, and waiting I am finally seeing the fruits of my labor. 

We have been enjoying picking fresh peas from the vine. When it comes to the snap peas we are lucky if they even make it into the house. 

I went out the other night and picked what was left of the peas from the withering vines. I managed to get enough to feed the family a side of peas at 2 meals. 

This may not seem like a lot, but considering I only planted a small amount of peas this year I thought it was pretty good. I also had enough to save for next years planting. I am hoping to plant a whole lot more. 

I also decided to go ahead and pull all the vines out to make room for another planting of pole beans.

With the small amount of gardening space we have I will have to get creative next year to plant everything I want to. I will make sure to keep you updated on how we do it. 

Picture of my tiny pea growing trellis. I am still happy with what we managed to get from about a 3-4 foot area.

 I planted 3 different varieties of peas this year. The snap peas are by far my favorite. On the left is a bowl of mammoth sugar peas and on the right are the snap peas I left on the vine so the seeds could mature. 

A big bowl of peas ready to be cooked and served for dinner

 I had the cutest helper with this chore. He loved it! It was also a good way to help him learn some fine motor skills.

After we shelled all the peas I made sure to save enough for planting next spring. I placed each variety on a tray from my Excalibur dehydrator and let the sun do the rest of the work.

 While I was picking peas I also noticed that the small patch of garlic I planted last fall was ready to harvest. I wish I had thought to get a picture of it while it was still in the ground so you can see what garlic looks like when it is ready to pull.

Basically the bottom leaves will start to turn yellow and wilt. I read that once garlic starts to wilt you need to dig it up soon or the cloves will start to pull apart and it will not store as well.

I think this is a pretty good harvest considering I only planted 1 bulb of garlic pulled into individual cloves.

To cure the garlic you need to lay it on the ground out of direct sunlight. In the garage is an ideal place. My garage smelled so good for several day.

I am not sure yet if I will mince it and dry it in my dehydrator or store it so it can be used fresh.

I will also be planing a lot more of this next year.

What have you been harvesting so far?

Garden Layout and Starting Seeds

The spring garden is looking great. 

Since this is our first year at our new house I decided not to plant too many things and what I did plant I only planted small amounts of so I could see what grows well and what we like...with the exception of tomatoes. We know we love tomatoes and all the things I can make with them.

The plan is to allow the chickens to help us expand the garden space for next spring with the use of a chicken tractor. I am hoping to double my space and plant much more once we decide what we like to grow.

Everything I am doing this year is basically an experiment and a learning experience. I know some things will flop, but hopefully a few will succeed.

I originally started my seeds in egg cartons, but after trying for several weeks I decided they were not going to work for me. I noticed that the seeds would sprout, but never got very big. I think it was because they did not have a deep enough space to grow good roots.

I finally decided to go to the hardware store and buy some seed starting trays. I was really trying to avoid buying many things which is why I first tried the egg cartons.

I filled each tray with a seed starting mix I bought and then planted 2 seeds in each spot. I then put the trays into clear plastic bags to create a greenhouse. Once they sprouted I either pulled out the weaker plant or transplanted the extra if I had 2 strong ones.

I was a little stumped on how to get them enough light because I did not want to invest in a grow light this year. I tried a shop light we already had and it did ok, but not great. I finally decided to just keep them warm and near a window and put them outside on nice days.

I think I will have to try something different next year. Things grew SO slow. Once they were finally transplanted to the garden they started to finally take off.

I decided try out a website called Plangarden to plot out and keep track of my garden this year. It is so helpful with keeping track of what I have and it is not on a piece of paper that can get lost. 

Above is a copy of this years spring garden. 

Garden Plot Before I got started with the bamboo trellis my husband made.

I started planting seeds in the outside garden as soon as I could. I was so excited to get things going. For the spring garden we planted...

• Peas
• carrots
• potatoes
• onions
• garlic (planted in October)
• broccoli
• lettuce
• parsnips
• beets
• spinach
• radishes

The things that did well were...

• peas
• garlic
• lettuce
• parsnips
• beets
• spinach
• lettuce
• radishes

Things that did not do well, but I will try again next year or in the fall

• carrots
• potatoes
• broccoli

I also set up a chart in plangarden for my summer garden, above. 

This year I decided to try out...

• Buttercup squash
• Table Queen Squash
• Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkins
• Butternut Squash 
• Green Striped Pumpkins
• Pole Beans
• Watermelon
• Cantaloupe
• Cucumbers
• Zucchini
• Tomato
• Bell Pepper
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Sweet Basil
• Purple Basil
• Currents (Planted by previous owner)
• Walnuts (Huge tree by the back fence)

So far everything is doing well except for...

• Watermelon (All plants drowned with all the rain we had)
• Bell peppers

Due to lack of space this year we decided to plant several things in buckets. I am anxious to see how everything does in them. I have some tomatoes planted directly into the ground and the rest in buckets. I am planning to compare how they do in the different places. 

Buckets of tomatoes

Baby radishes. My 5 year old planted them all by herself.

 Spinach sprouts planted by my 7 year old.

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Spring On The Homestead

Baby G enjoying the spring flowers

I LOVE spring! Not quite as much as I love fall, but it is a close second. As soon as the holidays are over I start getting the gardening bug. I can hardly wait to get out and get my fingers in the dirt. I spend most of the winter perusing seed catalogs and putting garden plans into my gardening notebook.  

This year we decided not to cut down or weed much of anything in all the flower and vegetable beds since we moved into the house in November and had no idea what was actually planted in all the beds. It took a lot of will power for me to not get out there and start pulling things since so much of it looked like weeds. I am so glad I didn't let my need to clean everything nature get the best of me. Most of those "weeds" turned out to be gorgeous flowers. I was thinking about pulling out most of them last fall to make room for more gardening space for edibles, but I think I will be leaving quite a few. I just can't bring myself to get rid of all the beauty. 

I thought it might be fun to show you a sample of what we had growing this last spring. We had many other varieties, but here are my favorites.

I am not sure, but I think this is a violet.

I love bulbs since you don't have to do any maintenance 

We are still not sure what this was. I thought lilac, but they grew on 3 ft stalks. Anyone know what this is?

Wisteria all over the fence

Tulips are one of my all time favorites

Just one of many bouquets from the spring flowers.

We discovered that we had a large patch of mature asparagus. We were surprised to see that if you cut it, it will grow again. It grew for months.

Last but not least what would spring be without some baby animals. This year we added 8 silver laced wyandottes to our menagerie. I am looking forward to having fresh eggs again.