Chicks Are Here!

It's been over a month since I wrote in this blog.  The month of August was so busy and it just flew!

Lots of update around the garden, but the biggest news has to be our new chicks.  The chicks were ordered in August from ChickensForBackyards.com, a company in Texas, scheduled for delivery in September.  Well, I was notified shortly after placing my order that our chicks will be shipped on September 5th, and we can expect them to arrive at our local post office for pick up within a day or two.

I was doing my final supply shopping for the coop (thermometer and pine shavings for the floor) at Wal-mart at 7 in the morning when my cell phone rang and it was the post office.  I didn't even know that there were people working at the post office at 7 in the morning, but apparently, that's when the stuff start come in the back of the building.  I was instructed to come to the 'dock' in the back of the building and press the service button to get help.  I drove right on over after paying for my stuff.

And this is what I picked up at the post office.  The box is clearly marked with "Live Baby Chicks" on a red sticker, and as if it wasn't enough, the box is chirping. :D  Special delivery, indeed!

I got the special gel food ready for the chicks and the lamp turned on inside the coop where I had set up a brooder zone and took the box out to the coop and carefully removed the outer lid.  This is what the inside the box looked like -- padded with wood shredding and another box inside. ^^

I put the whole box inside the brooder and opened the inside box to see the five chicks huddling in the corner.  CUTE!!!!!

I carefully scooped them up and out of the box one by one and gently put them onto the brooder floor.  They  just ran out of my hands to check out the place.  Amazing how much energy these chicks have after a trip in a box!  Much to my delight, they came right up to my hand and pecked on my rings when I put my hand in the brooder.  I was expecting them to huddle in the corner as far away from me as possible and shiver in fear.  Was I wrong!

Close-up of the chicks.  We got one each of Barred Plymouth Rock, Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Golden Comet, and Easter Egger (Ameraucana).  A variety pack! :D  That was the nice thing about ChickensforBackyards.com.  Their minimum order is 3 chicks (during warm shipping months), and you can mix and match from a wide variety of chicken breeds.

And this is the chicks' home tweet home. ^^  We still have inside door latches to put, more hardware clothes to put at the top where the roof meets the side walls, but it's ready for the chicks.  The brooder area is set up inside the coop.  My daughter decided on the classic American barn color scheme of barn red and white for our coop/run.  The structure is located just past our square foot garden boxes in the backyard.

The morning glory is going crazy on our fence.  I had planted 5 to 7 seeds (I don't remember for sure...) in one small spot, so now the whole thing is densely covering a section of our fence.  Every morning, we see tons of blooms in lavender and magenta.  I don't know what happened to the "Heavenly Blue" I planted or the Moonflower seeds also.  They're there, but no blooms yet.

The broccoli plant in the Summer Veggies box is 3 feet tall and mostly leaves.  I saw this sad excuse of a 'head' the other day.  It's not quite what I expected, but tasted good. ^^;

Also strange is my "Black Krim" tomato.  They taste wonderful with a definite heirloom flavor, but they don't really turn 'black' as the seed catalogs showed in pictures.  The flavor, though, is to die for.

The Swiss Chard (Neon Lights) in the Spring Veggies box is still producing remarkably well.  I have greens to add to my lunch every day from a single square of these guys.  They are, by far, my favorite from the garden.  I also love the eggplant!

The Kamome Pink flowering kale I've been growing from seeds.  The center is looking really dense and the whole 'head' measures 12 inches already.  I'm looking forward to the color change as the weather gets cooler/cold.

Well, this is it for the giant update!  I'll write more about the chicks and my Winter Veggies box (where crops of corn used to grow) in the next update. 

Monsoon Moisture

   It's so nice to finally get a break from the heat wave (long streak of 100 degrees or more with no rain).  The brutal heat all but stopped tomatoes from producing fruits and many plants didn't look their best.  So it's a welcome relief to see storm clouds brewing in the sky and hear thunder on a regular basis for the past week or so.  The clouds and rain have kept the temperature hovering in mid 80s to mid 90s during the peak heat of the day, and I am seeing the plants responding to the change in a positive way.

   It's hard to believe that today is Day 114 for my Spring Veggies Box.  I have been picking and eating from this box for quite some time.  I am really glad that I planted the Sweet William and Marigold.  The colors are nice and the butterflies and bees they bring are such a nice addition to the garden.  The Swiss chard has been my favorite to eat after the spinach has finished.  I have since planted more in the spinach square with Swiss chard.  I love their color and versatility in many dishes.  The arugula has been bolting in the heat.  I usually pick and throw the flowers to the compost pile, but here you can see the pale yellow flowers.  They are kind of pretty. ^^  The soy beans are showing flowers, so I'm expecting to be harvesting them soon.

   The Summer Veggies Box is a little bit out of control.  The broccoli, soy beans, eggplant, and four o'clock are all taller than 2 feet and obscuring the boundaries totally.  They really are overflowing.  Looking extremely vigorous.  The ones that really didn't live up to my expectation were the tomato plants.  They started out wonderfully, in June, but then quickly suffered from the 100 degree heat and disease (The unfortunate thing with heirloom tomatoes is their lack of disease resistance.).  I've also noticed in my neighbor's backyard that their tomatoes are producing something like cherry tomato when I know they planted regular size tomatoes.

   My Black Krim tomato has fruits that are starting to change color finally, but the plant itself is also showing signs of some kind of disease.  The Yellow Pear had been stunted for a while during the brutal heat and dryness, but starting to turn around by showing signs of new growth as well as turning the fruits' color into bright yellow.  The Brandywine, which I was so looking forward to, has not done well at all.  The plant has small fruits that are only about 2 inches in diameter and the whole plant is looking yellowish.  The small fruits have turned red, but it's neither the shape nor the color of Brandywine fruits.  It makes me wonder if they were marked wrong at the nursery...  Come to think of it, right next to the group of Brandywine seedlings were some cherry tomato variety.  It would be quite easy for some prankster to switch the tags.  Hmmmm.

   The four o'clocks in the Summer Veggies Box.  Measuring about 2.5 feet tall and about 2 feet spread, totally overflowing its square.  This plant was supposed to have variegated bi-color blooms, but as you can see, the seed produced a solid pink flowers.  Still very pretty and smells wonderful.  Can't complain too much.

   I have three flowering kale plants in pots right next to the Summer Veggies Box.  For some reason, the ones in these pots are growing so much faster than the one that is in the SFG box.  I don't know why.  It's like the Miracle Grow commercial, showing the difference between 'grown with' and 'grown without'.   Here in the picture is one of our kitties, Chaba.

  Already so pretty, and it hasn't even turned colors yet.  That will have to wait till the weather cools off in the fall and early winter. :D  I'm so excited about these guys.

   The Strawberry SFG Box looking phenomenal.  The strawberries seem to really enjoy the break from the heat and dryness.  Ever since we started getting regular afternoon rainstorms, these guys started to look really green with much larger leaves.  I have also given them 2 feedings of the fish tank water.  They continue to produce a lot of white flowers and red berries.  The size is still a little random -- some regular size, some tiny.

   After getting a plant with pink flowers and a plant with white flowers, I was delighted that the third plant to bloom was actually true to the seed variety I purchased!!!  Here's the first of the pink and white variegated Four O'Clock.  No two flowers from this plant are ever alike.  Some have so little pink they are almost white, while others are almost all pink, and there are some that just have such pretty markings.  It's a shame that these blooms are so short-lived!

   Speaking of short-lived, our water lilies only last about 2 days in the sun.  The pond is in a location that is away from the house or trees, so it's completely exposed for much of the day.  They are so gorgeous on the first day.

   Another short-lived flower is the morning glory.  I have them trailing on a fence along the north property line.  The seeds were planted in mid May (rather late) and  it took them until July 28th to produce their first bloom.  I have a mix of different colors along the fence (including the moonflower vine), but this color was the first to appear.  Pale blue with purple and pink star.  We had the rain shower in the early morning, and this photo was taken shortly after.

   Along the sunflower patch in the backyard are more four o'clocks and the sulfur cosmos.  I love this variety of cosmos.  The bright orange, brick red, and yellow colors compliment the sunflower's yellow so well.  They look great as cut flowers, too.   This photo completes my first update in almost 2 weeks.  Our chicken coop is getting close to completion.  I am hoping that I can put a nice series of photos up soon.

First Blooms

   After having a few straight weeks of triple-digit daily highs with no rain, we finally started getting some monsoon moisture coming our way in the last few days.  The tallest sunflower in my patch (pictured here on the right) measured 53 inches this morning and during sometime in the afternoon it bloomed and endured a pretty strong rainstorm.  The ground got so wet and the wind must have been blowing strong enough that three of my tallest sunflowers were almost horizontal to the ground.  I propped them up for the photo today. The one on the left was a volunteer plant from seeds scattered from a crop I grew years ago.  The soil in this patch was getting regular moisture, so I've got a lot of volunteer plants.  They usually show much smaller 'seed head' compared to the purpose-grown freshly-harvested seeds for the season.

   When I saw these buds this morning on the Four O'Clock plants in the summer veggies SFG box, I was so excited.  These were supposed to be a multi-color, variegated strain that would have yellow and pink stripes or white and pink stripes, according to the seed packets the seeds came in.  When I was browsing the Burpee Co. web site and looked up this item, I did notice multiple customer feedback stating they got nothing but solid yellows -- no stripes.  I was a bit concerned...

   It was around 7:30 pm that I noticed some bright color in the middle of greens, so I checked it out and saw a solid pink flower. T_T  *sad*  Oh, Burpee, you failed me big time.  I guess I'll have to add my own customer feedback of the disappointed kind on their site.  I have these plants planted in different locations throughout the backyard.

   Among the sunflowers, I have about 6 of them planted also, and the first to bloom today showed a solid white flower... *fail again* T_T  It's still pretty and they smell nice, so that's their saving grace, but I can't say that I'm not disappointed.

   After a couple of disappointment though, here's a healthy flowering kale plant.  I had 6 seeds that I planted in May.  Of the 6, 4 of them successfully transplanted, and they are now at different sizes for some reason.  I used the same compost and peat moss medium for pots and the one in the SFG box is in Mel's Mix.  The one in the SFG box is lugging behind the potted ones.  The one pictured here is growing the fastest.  The raindrops look so pretty on the leaves!! ^^

Corn, Eggplant, Strawberry, and More

   The first crop of corn's ears are maturing.  Here's a picture from today.  This ear is measuring about 8 inches long.  I have the second crop starting to flower and attracting honey bees once again.

   The Summer Veggies SFG Box is starting to look like it's being overtaken by the giant broccoli.   Also growing rather tall is the eggplant.

   The eggplant has started producing beautiful fruits.  This is the Asian-type eggplant "Ichiban", which is my favorite with slender cylindrical fruits and mild flavor.  Reminds me of the eggplant I grew up with in Japan.  In summer, we ate eggplant in one dish or another every day.

   Close to the Summer Veggies Box, I have three pots of flowering kale plants I started in mid May from seeds I bought on eBay.  These are called Pink Kamome hybrid.  Once mature, the center leaves will be pretty pink color and look like a giant rose (at least, in the pictures I have seen).  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  For some reason, the one I transplanted into the SFG box (in the Summer Veggies Box) is way slower in growth.  Maybe the potted plants get more sun and also the soil warms up more?

   The Strawberries SFG Box has been steadily (although not in large amount) producing.  Not too bad for the first year I suppose.  I remember growing strawberries years ago in Japan and they really took off the second year.  We had berries going bad right on the vine.  They produced so much and a family of four couldn't keep up the consumption.

   My tallest sunflower at the moment is at 3.5 feet this morning.  I have many different varieties planted in a strip in the backyard.  This one pictured here is not the tallest variety, so I guess it can be expected that it's already forming buds at this height.  They only started to take off, growing couple of inches every day, in the last week or so, after I started drip irrigation in the area since the daily high has been consistently in triple digits and things were drying out so fast.

Grow Baby Grow

   One of the babies growing on my Brandywine tomato plant.  The whole plant is still only about 18 inches tall with a spread of 26 inches, but I counted 3 baby fruits this morning.  They're all about the same size as the one pictured here.

   Here's the picture of the same exact baby tomato from 3 days ago.  Ahhh, it's growing. :D

   The Corn Box on Day 52.  It's getting hard to see the frame of the box.  The tallest plant measured 35" from the soil level this morning.

   The "cat's eye view", if you will.  I can see why it's so irresistible for them to go in there and lie down for a cool afternoon nap.  People have fun in a corn maze, too.

   The Summer Veggies Box.  Things are really starting to take off now that they're no longer 'seedlings' and the daily high has been consistently in the mid 90s.  I transplanted the flowering kale seedlings to one square and into three pots this morning.  Although they are still tiny, their roots were already reaching the bottom of the starter containers.  I've never grown them in the past and I'm not sure how I'll like them, so I'm just committing one square in this box.  If I like it, I'd like to build a dedicated SFG box for fall/winter flowering plants.

Day 57

   Day 57 of the Spring Veggies Box.  The salad squares are still producing a lot of greens to give me salads every day.  The spinach is starting to slow down and started to bolt (trying to flower and set seeds).  The carrots still have ways to go before we can harvest. ^^;  The sweet williams have really started to grow and began shooting up longer stems with more buds.  I'm so glad I mixed in some flowers for color.  Also, there are insects that come to my garden and flowers will help entice them.  I see a fair number of wasps in my garden, but they are not at all interested in us.  They seem to patrol the greens, looking for worms and other insects to capture.  I have seen a few ladybugs here and there, but not many.  The snowpeas have caught up in height to the Alaska peas, but they are not liking the heat by the look of yellowing leaves at the bottom of the plants.  I will start them much earlier in the season next spring.  And I will plant a little more densely than suggested. ^^  I am thinking about a fall crop though, for which I will have to sow them around first or second week of August, I believe.

   My garden fairies are starting to be obscured by the plants.  The bachelors buttons (tied with a string to a railing) are still blooming strong, but starting to turn a little yellowish at the bottom.

   The Corn Box.  Looking very green and vigorous.  I still have issues with my cats trying to get into the box and laying between the rows... XD

   The snow peas in the Spring Veggies Box are producing nicely.  I like to just munch on them as I water the boxes every morning.  It's cool, sweet, and crunchy -- such a delicious combination.

   I have really been enjoying the Swiss chard "Neon Lights" this spring.  As you can see in this picture, the colors are gorgeous on the stemps and veins.  They are mild enough to be used in most anything.  I take outer leaves often and use in soups and stir-fries all the time.

   And last update today is on the Summer Veggies Box.  Everything seems to be enjoying the hot weather.  All three tomatoes actually have flower buds although you can't see them in the picture.  The Italian parsley is looking less leggy now that they are out in the sun and no longer in the hot house.  The four o'clocks seemed to take forever to germinate, but they did come up and slowly growing.  Of course, when they are seedlings, everything grows so slowly.  I am finally seeing bean seedlings show up.  I really don't know what took them so long.  I was expecting them to germinate in 7 to 10 days as the packet said, but it was more like 20 days (Starting to suspect a batch of old seeds in new packets for 2012?  Do seed companies do that?).  In the little black seed starter pack (in the upper left of the box), I have seedlings of flowering kale/cabbage -- pink Kamome, a Japanese hybrid.  I have never grown flowering kale ever, but always enjoyed their rose-like appearance and color late in the season when nothing else seems to be growing.  I purchased a small packet of seeds from a seller on eBay.  They germinated in 5 days.  I will be moving one into a square in the Summer Veggies Box and hoping to get two big pots to put in the front yard.  I'm also thinking about starting another box for late season color -- flowers like kale and chrysanthemum.  We'll see. ^_^