Plants and Projects

There have been many projects to keep us busy around the homestead lately. One of them has been creating new flower beds. The first was created where the last of the sandpile was, along the path to the house. Joseph thought pansies would look pretty there, and I agreed. I also put a hyssop there. That one was finished just a couple of days before the Mom's arrived. Perfect. This weekend, several plants had to be moved, because they were in the way of the new fabrication shop Joseph is building. That bed went in the same area as the other, but along the driveway. It has several baptisias and daylilies in it. An astilbe and a squill went to a shadier area, where I expect both of them will be much happier.

This morning, I planted kale, collards and what's known in these parts as salad mix. It's a blend of kales, canola, mustards and turnip greens. We love a flavorful winter salad made from these. I'm definitely later than usual planting these things. I held off a long time, as things were so hot and dry here. I do have patches of mixed lettuces and spinach that are growing happily. We'll likely buy a few cabbage and broccoli seedlings this year. There is one chard plant up, & I replanted some more last week. That will pretty much do it for our winter garden.

The fabrication shop construction is moving along. Rick came out on Friday, and he & Joseph moved some earth around, leveling things for the cement pad. Yesterday, Joseph & I got pieces of plywood in place on the side of one of the footers, and got the soil leveled and tamped in that footer, so it is now ready for cement.

In case you're wondering, yes those are tomato cages all around the flower bed. To keep the chickens out. While creating the bed, we'd totally forgotten how the chickens had decided pansies were a delectable treat last year, and how much of a chicken magnet that loamy soil would be. Thankfully, Joseph's memory kicked in before we let the chickens out, so we headed that one off at the pass. We'll definitely be putting something more aesthetically pleasing around the bed, but for now, we're happy to have pansies.