The garden and a new arrival!

Hey guys! Welcome back. I am debating starting to do this as a podcast instead of a blog just to reach a different audience. I am going to hold a poll and see what you guys think as well as look into what it would take to do that. Anyways, more garden updates and a new arrival of products! So for the garden, yesterday I pulled out all of my spinach because I wasn’t a fan, my husband wasn’t a fan, and it all went to seed anyway. So I took everything I could out and gave it to the chickens and I am planning on planting my cabbage there tonight and maybe some more tomatoes or peppers. I am really starting to run out of room especially since my gourds are absolutely taking over. Speaking of which I think I came up with a solution. I am going to take chicken wire and run it across the garden fence kind of draped on top to make a sort of double decker gourd/pumpkin trellis. It might not work or it might be great but that’s my job to test it and tell you. Next year I am definitely going to do a different garden just for pumpkins and melons because this is getting ridiculous. I also tore out all of our peas because I saw a video that if I pull out this crop of peas and feed them to the chickens (who have been eating them anyway) I can replant in the fall and get an actual crop of peas for us. Where the peas were wasn’t working anyway because the chickens would pluck them off the trellis so they weren’t growing nicely. I had one pea pod out of all of my vines of them. In the end all I got done yesterday was pruning the melons, pumpkins, and gourds, covering my male flowers with cups in an attempt to preserve or collect their pollen while we wait for females, pull the peas and the spinach. Tonight I am going to try to get the rest of the plants planted and maybe try that trellis. Ok now for our new arrival….. drum roll please…… I got a pottery wheel! Currently I am only going to be offering things I can make with the clay I bought. Even though the clay I bought can be used on a throwing wheel, it isn’t ever going to be durable enough for use with mugs, plates, bowls which is my whole goal! Until I figure out how to rent space in a kiln or can buy one myself I am going to start offering cute little crafts made and painted by me such as magnets and coasters! I hope you’re as excited as I am.

Talk soon,

The homesteaders wife

Garden updates!

Hey everyone! Long time no talk! I have been super busy with my family in town, going to Yellowstone with my in-laws, and having my wedding! Anywho, now that I’ve had time to go through my garden I figured it’s time for some updates! It’s a gorgeous rainy day and the plants are loving it. My carrots are starting to form. I can kind of dig and see little baby carrots! My beans, cucumbers, and peas are not doing so hot. My chickens have just been obliterating them and not giving them a chance plus the sun beats on them all day. I think I might pull them out and replant them somewhere else. My gourds are taking over my garden. I need to plant some trellises in the middle of them in hope of them growing up instead of out. I have two little baby gourds and a crap ton of flowers. My male flowers are blooming beautifully. I’m not sure if I am going to cover them and manually pollinate or not. I will have to do more research first. I think my squash plants are blooming as well. I have some of my own tomatoes growing now! I am so excited since my first round of tomatoes all died. My sunflowers are forming their first heads and they’re huge! As well the corn is growing rather nicely. Outside of the garden my raspberries are doing amazing. I ate a couple over the weekend and have some new ones ripening up. I wonder how you get large harvests because you only get about two or three ripe at a time and they don’t preserve long enough for more to join them. I also have my first strawberry growing and lots and lots of flowers. They are doing just great. I am very excited. Here’s some pictures!

Let’s talk soon, the homesteaders wife

Garden updates! 🌱

We have updates on the garden! While getting prepared for our wedding reception in a couple weeks and the in-laws coming into town we have been making progress in the garden! This is all a learning curve for me so I will be adding not only my successes but my failures so that we can all learn together. First things first, my strawberry plant got its first flower this week! Yay! Now, I was told with your first year strawberry plants you’re supposed to pick off your first flower to force the plant to focus on growing more, so that exactly what I did. Talk about nerve racking! I did that on Friday and last night when I looked there were three more flower buds getting ready to open so I’d say that’s a success! My raspberry plant has many little berries that are working on ripening. I bought it as a year old plant so I didn’t pick any flowers in hopes it’s already been established. So far so good. We thinned out the potato box as well! It had become a giant jungle of plants and the smaller ones had started to die and rot below the bigger ones. Some plants I pulled had little potatoes starting to that’s exciting as well! I am planning on curing those potatoes and re-sprouting them and replanting them. I have a good feeling about them! Finally the main garden. On Sunday evening we ended up buying 9 plants from our friends over at Old Town Farmstand to add to our garden! They look great and so does the garden! We went through the garden and weeded and planted the new plants (which you can watch on our Instagram) The gourds are going nuts! Many little buds starting to form underneath as well as on the pumpkins! Come fall (depending on harvest) there may be some fun pumpkins and gourds for sale! Anyways we are leaning new things everyday and loving doing it. More later, talk soon!

Planting Day!

The garden is planted! On Sunday (Mother’s Day), we took advantage of the amazing weather and planted all of the vegetables and fruits sprouting in the grown room in our garden. Getting the garden prepped took a lot of time and effort, but I have hope that it will produce for us really well this year. The boys have had a garden for the last couple of years, but this last summer/winter, they really let it go wild. As soon as the ground defrosted mostly and I could work the dirt, I was in the garden doing everything I could to prepare it for this gardening season. Many different techniques were attempted, but I will get into that in another post. Not only did the sprouts get put in the ground, but we also planted a couple of extra seeds to make the garden a little fuller. Our goal is to make it so that all of our food is either grown or made by us.

The following day, I went around and planted all of my flower sprouts I had growing, as well as the rest of my seeds. The flower boxes along the dog run, the front porch, and the maple tree are made out of repurposed pallets, graciously given to us by our neighbor who works at a boat mechanic shop. I think my favorite is the one around the tree. Last year, I attempted to use bricks to create a flower bed around the tree and between the four dogs who act as bulldozers to the yard, and the boys mowing the lawn around the bed, the bricks did not hold up very well. I have a couple of planter boxes with raspberries, strawberries, and lavender, as well as a couple of flower bulbs on the side of the house and the back door of the cabin. They are actually made out of motor crates from the same neighbor. I took the largest motor crate and planted potatoes in it (which are successfully sprouting).

Anyways, I am very excited for all of the new developments going on around the homestead and will keep you updated!

Talk soon,

The Homesteader’s Wife