Garden Tour

Well I took a tour of the garden this afternoon assessing what work I needed to do tomorrow. Seems like a lot of work needs doing :)

Tomatoes definitely need some work.

The heat and storms have really taken a toll on the plants. 

Pickling cucumbers have just about had it.

White onions I got them in the ground later than normal this year. Weeding needs done.

Carrots still growing.

Wife's sunflower in a pot. 

Squash plants. Not many squash yet. 

Zucchini plants have had it. 

Marketmore cucumbers still hanging in there.

Pulled the yellow and red onions out last weekend. Got to get them set out.

Weedy mess.

Wife's row of sunflowers. 

Eggplants doing great this year. 

True black brandywine.

If you're bored you can come help!

Spring?

I don't know but it was a nice weekend all the same. Spent a lot of time outdoors in yardly pursuits.
After a trip to the store I spent the afternoon of Saturday roofing the building. Getting closer all of the time. Even had Stalker Wife shoot some pictures of me. Weathered Wood is the shingle color and admittedly they are nicer than the ones on the house.

Didn't get to the soffits but I did knock another item off of my list; finished building my son's paintball marker box. It holds all of his stuff in one place. Not crazy about the latches though so those may get changed.

Today involved another trip to the store, actually returning a bundle of shingles I didn't use and picked up some flowers. Didn't get a picture of those. This afternoon was planting time; Red Pontiac, Russet, and Yukon Gold potatoes, Scarlet Nantes carrots, garlic, Red and Yellow onions. Not too many this time, bag each :)

For your eyes only.

Crazy, right? That's a lot of eyes.

Well I need to do some planning as we are going to add three more raised beds, so that means water lines need to be installed. Also running a line to the building so renting a ditch witch this time. No more digging long trenches for me. Working on that building about did me in. 

WOF of the Week.

Enjoy it while it's here kids. 

First Harvest of 2014

The weather seems to turning really cold in a few days so I decided to get what I could out of the ground today. I will say 'cold for us.' I pulled one row of carrots out and what good cabbages were there.

Overall most everything is pretty well dead now. 

It doesn't look like it from the picture above but it is. I hope within the next few weeks to get everything pulled out and tilled in good. The front ground where you see the carrots and broccoli will become the new tomato area. 

Got all seed orders placed so hopefully the mailbox will get visited a few times within the next week or so. Actually didn't really order a lot this time as I already have a good stash. Can't wait to get started! Hoping for a better year than last. 

52 tomorrow, 24 Tuesday. 

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2013 has passed our homestead. By popular majority vote presents were opened Christmas Eve instead of today due to everyone's schedule. That and the chance to sleep in this morning. :) Everyone seemed happy with what Santa brought this year.

Daughter-in-law using her new tablet.

The Wife cruising the web.
 

 The boys playing games.

 

Me sitting on my butt watching Buying Alaska.

 

After sitting around for a while I needed to check on the onions. I may have promised pictures. I don't remember.



I went and got more lumber yesterday as I knew I'd have some free time today. Trying to get more work done on the building, and Squeak came out and helped me for a while. We were able to get the remaining walls up. Next I have to put on the exterior sheeting, build trusses, sheet  and shingle the roof for my next inspection.

After that I turned my attention to the garden even pulling up some more carrots.

I hope I'll be pulling everything up probably next weekend.
Well we'll be seeing family for the next few days and you'll see a few other things. Sad part about everything is that the WOFs are in the kennel. Oh well.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Cold Spell

has hit us in the Sandhills of NC. Left for work this morning to 14 degrees. I spent Sunday afternoon covering what I could in the garden (cabbages and lettuce) hoping that they would make it through the next few days. It has been below freezing the past few days but really hit bottom last night. We aren't used to having things this cold here so it is very 'refreshing' in the mornings! I did leave the carrots uncovered as I wasn't sure how they would fair. Some are ready for picking and others are on the small side. Mostly due to the farmer as I didn't do a good job thinning them out after they came up.

 

 

 

Next on the agenda is choosing what to plant next year. Instead of onion bulbs I think I'll try some seeds and start them inside now. There's a couple varieties I want to try, Walla Walla being one of them, and I definitely want my reds. Just as long as they store well.

 

As I said in my last post I thought about contacting the power company and see if they would lease me some land and I also promised a picture. After that post I ended up on the road for four days and was just plain busy this weekend. Maybe I can ask my wife to get one today so you know I'm not lying. :) Also maybe I'll stick her with the task of contacting them about my brilliant, stolen idea. She's not doing anything now anyway.

 

On the top picture above you may be able to see the faint image of a building floor frame. I finally started the outbuilding Saturday!!!!! After screwing around at Lowes in the morning (their fault) I pretty much worked non- stop till a little after dark- thirty and beer thirty. Squeak came out and helped as much as he could but could only manage 3 posts before heading inside (no ACL tear BTW! About a month's worth of PT and he should be good!), so I did everything else by myself. That sucks when you have heavy lifting and placing to do but is also a blessing to me as I don't want to listen to other people's opinions on shit. The second (beer- thirty) I actually got yelled at whilst sitting in the garage with my boots off. I hope to continue working on it throughout the holiday weekend and at least have the walls up and roof on.

 

Saturday when clearing out the tools and trash. I told you I finished after dark.

 

 

Sunday afternoon shot after trip to see the kids.

 

 

Got to get some plastic to cover the sheeting as it is now supposed to rain the next few days.

 

That's about it this time. One thing: The Wife came out Saturday to get some pictures of me and Squeak working, with her in her pajamas. Sadly I left my phone in the truck but was able to get a couple good shots. I can't share them with you as it probably would be the last time I blogged here. They were good though.

Stay warm kids.

The Rumours of My

Demise have been greatly exaggerated. I am around just not bloggy I guess. I do have some updates as I have been on the move a lot this month.

First the garden seems to be doing OK. I did visit it yesterday and removed the row covers to see what was what. Cabbage worms are trying to get my cabbage but I think I have them on the run. Finally got some carrots to set but the broccoli and leeks are nonexistent. Lettuce never came up either. Peppers still going good and I actually have some more tomatoes setting. With how this years' weather has been I am surprised any of them survived. I also have a lot of weeding to do. And I hate weeding. I did manage to get some broccoli and lettuce seeded but I'm not covering them this time. See what happens.

Another fun thing last weekend was my yearly trip to Olde Mill Golf Club in Virginia. We had a lot of fun, great weather, so- so golf.

Beside gardening this past weekend I also got around to finally painting the office. We bought this paint months ago.

 

 

As I said above I have been on the run quite a bit. Within the last few weeks (besides weekends) I am probably home 1-2 nights a week. Sunday after the golf trip I stopped at the house long enough to get cleaned up, eat, then drove to Charleston, SC that evening. 

I need to find something where I am home all of the time now. I am tired of traveling. Been doing it most of my life.
Well that's the short end of it. I will be around, just don't know when :)