Day 37 & Update on Chicken Coop

   Spring Vegetables SFG Box on Day 37.  I have already used some spinach yesterday and have been using Mesclun salad mix leaves for sandwiches also for a few days.

   Took us long enough, but we finally put the climbing support for the peas now that "Alaska" was 2 feet tall.      The seed packet said they'd only grow to  be 2.5 feet, and I have no idea how tall the Asian snow peas climb.  But I have tucked in some moonflower seeds about 8 days ago, and I know they will be able to use the support for sure.  I'm also considering putting some morning glory seeds in there, but wondering if the soil might be a little too rich -- they tend to do better in poor soil while rich soil tend to produce lush growth with no flowers.  Anyhow, you can see the chicken coop frame in the background, far to the upper right.

   The Mother's Day Sunday was a project Sunday for us.  My husband has finished building the frames for the chicken coop.  In this photo, they're just tacked together temporarily (We still need to get some pressure treated wood for the base.), but it sure helps visualize the whole thing.  Our city code allows for up to 6 chickens for properties under 1/2 acres with no permit necessary.  Rooster is not restricted, either.  We are hoping to get 4 hens.  We took apart the old swing set that used to sit there as you can see what's left of it along the fence... and one of out kitties in the background.

   Mesclun salad mix square has grown to look so lush and delicious.

   I'm harvesting these guys today -- "Crimson Giant" radish.  They are about 1.5 to 2 inches across.  Even with the late start (April 8th) and recent hot weather, they've managed to remain sweet without becoming hot, and crunchy without being dry.

   The other square of radish -- "Sparkler White Tip".  Red top with white bottom.  A pretty color combination.  The very first one that I pulled out turned out to be very hot and disappointed me.  But the rest of the batch I pulled out for breakfast turned out to be the classic radish flavor with no obnoxious hotness.   That made me happy.

   In the past, whenever I grew radish, cracking and dryness were always a problem with some part of the garden that didn't stay consistently moist.  With Mel's Mix in the SFG box, the moisture was consistent throughout the growing season and there were no problems.  So this method is clearly great for radishes.

   The little sunflower seedling that I've been keeping track of.  His real leaves are now bigger than the baby leaves.  The stem is getting really dark.  Very sturdy since it was grown outside from seed.  I get way more kitty traffic out there than in the SFG box (with those sticks XD ).

   Here's my Zebra Iris.  It sits quietly by the little jellybean pond by itself with unique yellow and green leaves.  This is the first year that it has grown a decent size bloom. ^_^

   Another picture of the same bloom taken from a different angle.  The blooms are relatively simple to compliment the showy foliage.  In the background are the lily pads.

Day 34

   It was hot yesterday and we are seeing even more growth on these plants on Day 34.  It has been windy this morning and I gave them a drink before taking this picture.  Soil looks darker when wet, providing a nice contrast to the greens.  The radishes have really started growing fast -- they're bursting out of their squares.  The "Alaska" peas on the left are now about 12 inches tall.

   Corn Box on Day 17.  Neat rows of corn seedlings on the right half of the box.  They were still in the shade of the house when this picture was taken, but they'll come out of that shade by 9:30.  It has been many seasons since I grew corn in the backyard, so this is exciting!

   Now onto other things in the backyard.  Here's a sunflower seedling (Along with elm tree seedlings and tumble weed seedlings ... I must bust them before they get big and become a nuisance.)  This sunflower is getting plenty of sun (Look how dark the stem is already.) and plenty of moisture.  I have also given it a drink of sea kelp solution already.  I want to see HUGE sunflowers this summer. ^^

   Morning glory seedlings.  I have planted two different kinds in several spots.  These guys popped up first.

   A new plantings of dianthus near the jellybean shaped pond in the backyard.  Now we have solid magenta kind and magenta and white bi-color.

Little Mushrooms

   I found a tiny surprise this morning when I was checking the SFG boxes.  Right in an "Alaska" peas shade were two little mushrooms.  They are about 1.5 inches.  As much attention as I pay to these boxes, I doubt that I missed them yesterday, so they must have come up overnight.   My area is very dry, so we don't see a lot of mushrooms unless in the mountains or in the shade after a rainstorm.  The soil mix for SFG must be doing an excellent job keeping things moist.  These are the only two I've found.

   Aside from their tiny stature making them look undeniably cute, I think they are beautiful.  The texture of their tops reminds me of ribbed sweater.

   I removed the soil around the roots of the radish to see how they are coming along. ^_^  Bright red!  Still a little small, but they're definitely getting there.

   Something else that is getting colorful in my spring veggies SFG box is the "Neon Lights" Swiss chard.  In the SFG book, Mel recommended 4 Swiss chard plants per square, so I planted about 4 to 5 seeds per spot, hoping that I'll be able to get one of each color that was in the mix -- red, pink, yellow, and orange.  When they germinated, the red and pink/magenta seedlings look almost identical and so did the yellow and orange babies.  So I waited until a pair of true leaves grew.  By then, the oranges looked a little darker than the yellow guys and the red ones looked more intense than the pink/magenta ones, helping me identify and thin according to desired color.  They are about 3 to 3.5 inches tall right now.  Clockwise from lower left: yellow, orange, red, and magenta/pink.

Day 28

   The spring veggies box on Day 28.  It's hard to believe it has been 4 weeks since we got this box started.  It's also been a lot of fun to keep visual record of growth.  I slept in this morning, so this photo was taken in full sun when the boxes were out of the house's shade.  Everything looks brighter. :D  You can see the radishes are starting to overflow from their squares. And the Alaska peas (farthest back to the left) are about 8 inches tall now.  The corn box (SFG Box 3) is just now starting to see seedlings appear.  They are still too little to show up well in photos, so I'll wait a few days before taking pics of them.  It took them about 11 days to germinate.

   The irises from the front yard.  The pale blue ones do so well in my yard and they have dominated in good years and bad years.  I have not seen the two-tone pink ones in several years, so I'm delighted to see them come back.  I think they look lovely together.

   The white peony I took a picture of on Friday, May 4th, has fully blossomed.  It was already too heavy for the stem to support the weight of the bloom and it was drooping. I had to prop it up with my left hand for this photo. ^^;  So many soft white petals, accented with streaks of magenta.  I love it!

   My camera has a really hard time capturing the deep magenta hue.  Same thing happens when I take a picture of Sweet Williams and the First Prize rose.  The color of this peony is actually bluer and deeper magenta.  It just started opening yesterday, so it still has a little more to go before it looks as stunning as the white one.

   One of the two pots of canna I have in the front porch.  They are one of the giants of summer plants, and therefore, really fun to watch them grow.  Especially now that the daily highs are consistently in the mid 80s, they are really liking it and show their appreciation of the hot sun by growing fast.  The seedlings of dwarf marigolds encircling the pot are also doing well.

   My Russian Olives in the front yard have started blooming and they smell absolutely wonderful!  It's a refreshing, green scent, not like the other spring flowers like lilac and wisteria, but it wakes up your senses and makes you want to take a deep breath and keep repeating.  I just LOVE the smell of these tiny yellow flowers.  I grew these two trees from one-year-old branches that were rooted in the soil medium.  When I got them from a friend, they were no thicker than a pencil and not much taller than a foot.  They are now about 15 feet tall and equally wide after 15 years.

Day 24

   Yesterday, I finished setting up the fourth box, which will be used for summer vegetables like tomatoes.  The grid lines have not been placed yet, but I had to put sticks in there to keep my cats from using it as a new giant kitty litter box. ^^;

   I put the stepping stones to keep our feet clean when the dirt around the box gets wet from watering or rain.  You can see the elm seeds everywhere.  They are blown off the trees now, so I just have to watch the little seedlings and make sure to pull them out before they get taller and harder to pull.  They grow deep roots and can be very hard to pull out of the soil.

   Spring vegetables box on Day 24.  It looks like a patchwork quilt of green! :D

   The mesclun salad mix square today.  There's a nice mix of different greens, but this was one of the squares that got trampled on badly by the cats the other day.  I lost a lot of seedlings.

   The radish square.  They are getting bigger and filling out the square nicely.  You can see the damage on the leaves on the lower left of this image -- that's kitty damage. XD

   My little jellybean-shaped garden pond. :)  It's more of a puddle than a pond size-wise (I have a fish tank that holds more water than this in the house.), but it entertains the cats during summer (They just watch the goldfish.  It's their favorite hangout.) and I love it, although I would love to put a larger pond in my backyard some day.  There are two waterlilies in there -- one white and one pink.  In the middle of summer, the whole surface is completely covered by lily pads.  I just put 3 feeder goldfish in there for added color and mosquito control.  They are only about 2 inches long, including the tail, but they usually grow very large in one season from all the nutritious fresh bugs they get to eat.