Spring! ...or is it summer?

We are well into Spring now, but in Wilmington it might as well be Summer!  Temperatures have already reached the mid-80s, and its only the first week of May.  I'm loving the warm weather, and so is the garden!  All of our veggies and herbs have shot up in the past couple weeks- its amazing to watch things grow and let Mother Nature do her thing.  We've already picked a few strawberries out of our garden, and MY OH MY they were the best- I haven't tasted a strawberry so sweet since I was a little girl!  The difference between home-grown food and store bought crap really is astronomical.  Here's a few pictures I snapped this morning!



  Tomatoes already!  Its going to be a great summer!

Squash in bloom

Our first-and successful- attempt at strawberries!

My giant pumpkin plant...see my foot down there?  Told ya, its a BIG pumpkin!

A full view of the garden

The herb garden!  plus a couple tomato plants, too

Curry plant, Lavender, Patchouli

 Cat nip, Pineapple Sage, Athena, Rosemary!

 Flowers that I put in near the side porch- Mint, Lavender, Begonias

Our Muscadine grape vine

Athena loves being outside with me :)

The third day of spring has arrived and our orchard, grape vine, and fenced in garden are doing great!  The orchard has started to blossom, at least half of it has. The Fuji apple tree has blossomed the most, however the deer have decided to indulge in her blossoms. Craig's Crimson Cherry also has blossoms all over the tree, but the deer have yet  to feast on them. The Parfianka Pomegranate is doing very well also. Our All-in-One Almond still hasn't begun to blossom, but she is looking much better then the citrus. During February, winter finally decided to give us a freeze or two, and the Meyer's Lemon and Washington Naval Orange took severe damage, but hopefully they can recover this Spring and Summer with some loving.

The only surviving Fuji Apple blossom, of five.

As previously mentioned, we caught up on 40 years worth of gardening needed on the Muscadine Grape Vine just before spring. Within the last two weeks, we recruited help to finished weeding the around under the vine, and also planted two more varieties of grapes! Concord Blue on the right and Red Caco on the left, slowly starting to show growth.

 The raised beds are doing great. The soil level looks low in the beds as the rain is started to compact and erode the soil.  Our oldest spinach plants are producing massive leaves, while the younger plants are starting to sprout out baby spinach leaves perfect for salads, already! The basil and habanero peppers are slowly growing more with the increasingly warm weather.

The tomatoes are doing great, all of which are about a foot tall now! 

Our blue potato is in the right foreground, while in the back you can see the Peas, Beans, Squash, and the illusive Athena Bean guarding the garden :O

 

The center bed, maybe 1/3 planted. Two varieties of cucumber are the far end of the bed, to the left of the flying pig. There are two varieties of carrots, the only green section you can see in the bed. Also in the middle, coming closer to the camera, are our broccoli. Still to go in are our strawberries.

Still to be planted are our strawberries, a few more herbs including Thyme, Cilantro, and possibly Rosemary. Not pictured are the two varieties of pumpkin, our watermelons, and golden roma tomatoes I acquired seeds of last week. Hope everyone enjoys Spring, before Summer sets in unleashing grueling heat and high humidity!

Taming the Beast!

Its been 2 weeks since we've updated- Yikes!  We've been busy with Valentine's Day, Craig's 25th birthday, planting more in the garden and digging out the grape vine!  I'll have to add my pictures later.

In the garden we now have almost all of our seeds planted!  We still need to get ready for planting corn, pumpkins, watermelons, and a few more potatoes, but my tomato plants and basil are looking happy to be in the sunshine.  Athena has been adventuring a little outside this week, and she absolutely loves rolling in the dirt in the garden path- I knew she would! 

Today, we tamed the beast also known as our grape vine!  It was a lot more work than we expected...but the project is turning out better than expected, too!  Doug was here to help, so the 3 of us put in 4 hours of work trimming back weeds and brambles, cutting down small trees, and digging up the roots.  Finally, our vine was free- and its HUGE!  We guess that the vine must be somewhere around 100-150 years old.  It has vines that are thicker than my arm.  We've asked the landlord to tell us more about it, so hopefully we will get some of its history soon. 

After exposing the actual vine itself, we decided to re-do the posts and arbor that used to hold the vines up.  We set 4 posts and attached the metal rods to the top of the posts.  Tomorrow we will finish putting the rods up, paint the arbor to give it a fresh look, and then finally put the vines back over the arbor so it can grow and look beautiful!

Depending on how many grapes it produces, I'm going to get a winemaking kit and learn to make wine for our household and friends.  I know a lot about Muscadine wine and winemaking on the commercial scale, but I actually know nothing about home wine making- I guess this fall we will start the experiment and see how it goes.  I've already decided that I'll label our wine with a picture of the farmhouse and store it in the wonderful wine cooler Craig bought for me when we started dating.  I'll post pictures of the grape vine process and the finished arbor tomorrow!  Until then- peace, love, and happy gardening :)

Valentine's Day and Gardening

Most people probably don't think of gardening when they think of Valentine's Day.  Judging by the immense amount of commercials, billboards, and sale fliers that started to circulate well before this month, most people think of what to buy to prove their love. But what does that really prove?  To some, quite a lot.  To others, maybe not so much.  To some, a bought item does mean love.  To others, a simple, kind word can mean more than any box of chocolates.  Even still, others may need physical connection, like a good hug, to understand that they are cared about.  Whatever the way, we need to make sure we are giving love and being an example of it in the correct ways- and every day, not just today.

So by now, Craig is wondering why I'm not talking about gardening on our gardening blog.  Well, I am!  When we plant a garden, or an orchard, or even just one little flower, do we expect to get fruits or flowers by ignoring that plant, speaking badly to it, or hurting it?  Of course not!  We pay attention to our plant friends- if they need water, we give them water, not more dirt.  If they need nutrients, we give them the right nutrients, not just a shot of miracle grow.  If they need more light, less light, whatever the case may be, we give our plants what they want and require for beauty and bounty. 

What if we cared for each person in our lives like we do our plants?  What if every day we made sure that the people we love are given, from our hearts, exactly what they need to feel most loved?  I think the world would be a much different place.  Its not what we can purchase on a special day of the year that spreads love and gratitude to those around us.  It's how we nurture them and love them daily that allows our relationships to bloom.

So far the three trees seem to be holding up well to the cold temperatures at night. I have been wrapping plastic around each tree, in hopes that it will insulate and contain some of the heat around the plant at night.

On a positive note, the other three trees, All-in-one Almond, Craig's Crimson Cherry, and the Fuji Apple have arrived. Unfortunately, due to the cold weather I have to leave them in the box, bare root and all, until Monday or Tuesday when I can plant them in the ground without temperatures dipping below 40(F).

Temperatures for the next 4 days are going to be dancing from 60 during the day to 25 or so at night. Hoping a few garbage bags can suffice for the tonight. Thinking of filling a 5 gallon bucket with warm water and setting it under plastic lightly wrapped over each tree. Three buckets of warm water, three fruit trees, and three large pieces of plastic (left over from Lowe's when we purchased soil, they give away free plastic to cover your car seats). Hopefully it keeps the trees alive until this cold weather passes by.

Here is a picture of the orchard, taken yesterday afternoon:

Hey ya'll you all! This post is dedicated to listing what we have growing here at the Farmhouse. The Orchard can be found in front of the house and as it's name implies, it nurtures a majority of our fruit. Secondly, we have a veggie garden inside a fenced in 16' x 16', including 2 raised beds.  Third, we have to construct our corn field! Approximately 11' x 20' fenced, and two 9' x 9' plots inside to be used in succession. Lastly, we have an almost 200 year old Muscadine grape vine which is in need of being pruned out badly.