Farm Update in Pictures

 Our chicks at 7 weeks old.  They are fully feathered and love being in their coop.  There is so much room for them to run.  We will leave them locked in just the coop for a few weeks they we will let them get use to the run.

 Above is a picture of 3 year-old and Minnie.  Minnie is due to kindle May 8th.  This will be her first litter. 


Here is 3 year-old and Daisey.  Daisey is due to kindle May 6th.  This will be her and our first litter of rabbits. 

Daisey munching on hay.

 This is Mickey our buck.  He is a New Zeland mix.  He had beautiful fur, these pictures don't do it justice.  Mickey has yet to prove himself, so lets hope these does are pregnant.  He is mild tempered, and a snuggle bunny.

 Our Laying Hens and their Roosters have a new coop!  They are in coop training, which means being in lock down for a week.  i picked a great week since it is snowing. 

The hen to the right is a barred rock and is one of the sweetest hens I've ever had!  Love the barred rock breed. 

Getting eggs on a snowy day.  Love it!

Thanks for taking a look!  Gardening posts will continue when spring comes back to Colorado. 

Happy Gardening~

Sowing Lettuce

***Warning: This is how I sow my garden.  This method may or may not work for you.  I am NOT saying that any other way is wrong.  This is what works for ME.  I am providing this information so that others can have a starting point for their garden.  I do not guarantee that this will work or that you plants will grow.***

Sewing lettuce is exactly like sewing spinach.  I found a lettuce that grows like grass.  I can harvest it by cutting it, and it will continue to grow. 

Dig your ditch.  I dug four of them.  I am just plating lettuce in them.  I have amazing gardening friends that plant salad rows.  They mix their lettuce, spinach, carrots and radishes in together.  I always fail when I try to do this so.......... I do it this way.

Add you seeds, cover with soil and water.  Lettuce is done.  Easy right??

Good Luck and Happy Gardening!

Sowing Kale

***Warning: This is how I sow my garden. This method may or may not work for you. I am NOT saying that any other way is wrong. This is what works for ME. I am providing this information so that others can have a starting point for their garden. I do not guarantee that this will work or that you plants will grow.***


Once again I started out by digging a ditch.

I measued out 2 feet and made several marks and then connected them.  This is my amazing helper!  He had is own tape measure. 

I know it just looks like two lines again.  Its what I did next that makes it different. 

I started at the end by the fence post then marked every 2 feet.  The kale is planted in the corners of each square.  Since kale needs to be so far apart I did drop about 2-3 seeds in each corner, but nothing inbetween.  No thinning needed, unless more then one seed sprouts.

 

 

Here it is all planted.

 

 

And  now watered.  I noticed that I didn't water this spot as well as I should have.  There is always tomarrow to fix that.

 

Happy Gardening!

Sowing Spinach

***Warning: This is how I sow my garden. This method may or may not work for you. I am NOT saying that any other way is wrong. This is what works for ME. I am providing this information so that others can have a starting point for their garden. I do not guarantee that this will work or that you plants will grow.***

I started by digging out all of the weeds, and spreading manure.  Next.....

Carve out your trenches.  I free hand mine.  I don't care it they are straight.  They just need to be far enough apart that I can companion plant later on.  My spinach needed to be 2-2 1/2 feet apart. 

Drop you seeds in.  I'm not precise when I drop them in.  The spinach needed to be 6 inches apart.  I dropped in 2-3 seeds every 6 inches.  If I happen to have all of the seeds sprout I'll pull up whole plants and use them when I cook.  That way they are thinned to the 6 inches apart they need to be and I don't waste any seeds.  Next cover with soil.  Only about 1/2 inch.  I like my plants to be in valleys.  That way the water stays with the plant instead of rolling down a hill.

Water well.  2 different reasons to water. 
1. It helps compact the soil around the seed so that it doesn't rot in the ground.
2. Watering keeps the top soil where it belongs.  If you happen to use a tiller you will notice that with strong winds that there is dust in the air.  Well that is the top soil that has been tilled up.    After all of the hard work I just put in I want my soil to stay where it belongs. 

Good Luck with you Spinach and Happy Gardening!

Step 1 Soil

The first step to any garden is to prep your soil.  Well I guess the fist step is pick your spot, then you need to plan.  I'm going to start after that.


This is the Spinach spot.  It needs to be weeded.  Pick out anything green, and any weed seeds that you can see.

 

This is why I don't like rototillers.  There is a worm in the middle of this picture.  A tiller will kill all of the worms in your garden.

 

Here it is all cleaned up.

 

 

Spread some composted horse manure and rake it in.

 

 

Now your soil is ready for seeds.

Happy Gardening!!