Garden update

Okay, I've been a bad blogger again. It's been nearly 2 weeks since my last post. Things have been busy. Between spring cleaning, a family party, work in the garden, and a bout with head lice I just haven't had a chance to get in a blog post.
 Now that I do have some free time I'll update y'all on the garden. My herb garden is doing great. The tomato plant that I put in there already has tiny tomatoes starting.

Tiny tomato

Tomato (on the right), tomatillo (center), and dill (left)

I did have a bit of a caterpillar problem, but I picked them off and fed them to the chickens

Herbs

  The big garden is doing well too. Mike finished adding dirt to the last of the raised beds and I got them planted this week. We also added another 21 hills for watermelon.

More hills for watermelon

 The potatoes are doing incredibly well. They started flowering last week, and the flowers are so pretty that I didn't have the heart to cut them off. The red potatoes have purple flowers and the white potatoes have white flowers. The yellow ones haven't bloomed yet, but I'm wondering if they'll have yellow flowers.

Potatoes

Potato flowers

When you scrape back a little dirt from the base of the plant you can see the potatoes forming

More baby potatoes

 My radishes should be ready to start harvesting in about a week, my carrots have finally sprouted, and the parsnips and salsify are getting bigger tops, so I assume their roots are growing as well.

Radishes and carrots (which you can barely see because they are teeny tiny)

Parsnips (left) and salsify (right)

 The cabbage is starting to form heads, so maybe we will get a harvest out of them before it gets really hot, but I'm not holding my breath. My artichokes are also doing well, I'm hoping to get a few buds off of them later this summer.

Cabbage, you can probably tell that I have a caterpillar problem here too

Artichoke

 The tomatoes, tomatillos, and peppers out in the big garden seem to be happy. They all either have flower buds or have actually started blooming. I did lose a few plants to the wind this week, but I'm working on staking up the others with cedar branches.

Lots of tomato plants

Tomatillos are blooming

Peppers and tomatoes

Flower buds on one of the pepper plants

Stakes, now I just need to tie the stems to the branches

Also, even though my birthday isn't for a couple more weeks, I got 3 lovely presents this week. My dear friend Mary's mother sent me an adorable bag made from a feed sack. It's perfect for a trip down to the creek for swimming, as it easily holds a sheet (for sitting on), my camera, a book, and maybe a snack.

New bag

 My grandma brought me an egg basket. Up until now I have just been taking a plastic bowl to put eggs in, or even worse, my pockets. It's always bad to lean up against the counter when you have a few eggs in your hip pocket.

Lily and Boris helped get the eggs today

 And my wonderful husband bought me a new scuffle hoe. I've been pulling weeds by hand for weeks now, and this saves me so much work. I don't know how I gardened without one before this

My new hoe

 On the chicken front, both of the Black Copper Marans chicks died, so I'm down to just one Blue left. The last quail drowned itself in the water dish. But all the others are doing well, and I moved the 6 biggest chicks out of the brooder and into the coop yesterday. They are sticking together, but not really having any trouble with the big girls today. Miss Broody is down to just 2 babies ( I think the others may have been trampled by goats) but she's taking great care of them and even attacked Boris when he got too close to their hiding spot.

The big kids, out exploring their world

One of Miss Broody's babies, checking out the compost bin

The babies, scratching for food

 Anyway, that's what's been going on here. Hope everyone has a good week and, as always, Blessed Be.