Summer time harvesting

After being gone for nearly 3 weeks,  the garden looks fantastic.  We stopped by on our way home before we even went to our house.  There was almost no weeds and the veggies are out of control.

We are getting a steady harvest of zucchini, squash, cukes, and beans.  I have made both dill and sweet pickles and can't wait to taste them.  The pumpkins and gourds are taking over.  I pruned them back as soon as we got back in town,  but they are ready for another pruning.

I am very impressed by the grapes.  Most are now tall enough to reach their trellis.  Two more years and we'll have a crop.  The tomatoes are suffering badly from blossom end rot.  I have got to get some calcium into the soil to remedy that.  Only the romas seem to be affected.  The big slicers seem to be thriving well.  There are a few eggplants showing up,  the fruits are about 4-5in long already.

Photos below are wild raspberries, Grape vines and general garden view.

This week we also did some general cleanup of the yard.  We cut down a bunch of trees and started a firewood pile.  We have a long way to go to be prepared for winter.  We also tried to repair more of the driveway, but got our 3rd flat tire on the tractor.  Uugh

GROW GROW GROW

I went to the garden this morning and pulled a few weeds and  harvested broccoli & strawberries.  The birds were singing, the sun was shining, it was like being at church.

This morning I planted my companion plants, amaranth, borage, cilantro, radish, onion, garlic and stevia.  Hopefully it will help keep the pests away and keep things organic.

Below are some spring photos from around the property.

Peonies:

The Catalpa trees are so cool in bloom, then they get those long bean pods in fall:

Grapes and general garden shot.  These 2 photos were taken 10 days ago.

I also have to send out a huge thankyou to Heidi for the 65 gallon water tank.  It is so cool, it fits in my car and holds enough water for the entire garden, however, the last time I went to fill it, the hose fell out of the top and filled my car instead.  I am still drying out the car and the boys no longer want to ride in my car because it smells terrible.  Anyone have suggestions?????

Lazy Days

We had lots of rain both Saturday and Sunday, but we did manage to make it out on Saturday.  I planted sweet potatos, raspberries and sun flowers.  We also picked up straw to put down between the beds. 

The big news is that Chris passed the electrical inspection on his first try!  Now we are just waiting for Dominion power to hook it up.

Chris had another big win this weekend when the riding lawnmower broke.  It would start but wouldn't go.  He proped it up on a muck bucket(accident waiting to happen!) and crawled underneath. Just one trip to the hardware store later and he made it work again! That sure saved us some dollars.

Ahh, Rain

Another rainy Monday!  WooHoo,  it is so nice not to have to haul water for the garden. 

I have been going out a couple of days a week to do the weeding and watering.  The Lateglow strawberries are about the size of marbles,  it is so exciting to see progress.  We got pumpkins and gourds and rhubarb in last week, just waiting for them to poke out of the soil. 

Chris spent a good part of Saturday finishing up his temporary electrical pole.  He is ready for inspection this week.  Then it will take the power company about 3 weeks to get the service hooked up. 

We had lots of visitors this week.  Heidi dropped by for a garden tour on Thursday,  she thought we should hire some of those workers who stand outside 7-11 to help clear things away.  Damian, Elsie and Brent came by on Saturday and had lunch with us.  Brent told us there is no way we would get this cleaned up by ourselves and we should find some cheep labor to help out(7-11 guys??).  John, Mary and Michelle are the first family members to come by since we made the big purchase.  We gave them a tour on Sunday and I think they left in shock and awe as well ;)  Michelle went home with a lovely granite parting gift.

It has been a quiet couple of weeks lately. Now that the garden is in,  I am happy to just stay in that area of the land, where it seems very civilized. 

Bring on the Rain

As I write this I am so thankful it is a rainy Monday.  We planted the garden yesterday. My little seedlings totaled 60 tomato plants, 30 peppers, 4 artichoke, 8 eggplant, 12 watermelon, 12 cantalope.  We also planted beans, cucumbers, squash, and zuchinni.

Chris spent the entire weekend working on a pole for temporary electrical service.  He got the pole up, secured, several boxes mounted on the pole(don't aske me what they are all for), and two 8 foot grounding poles pounded into the ground.  Is is almost ready for the inspection. 

I have my fingers crossed that with electricity, we will be able to get water from the well.  I have been hauling water from home to the few plants we have in the garden.  It has not been without it's problems.  Jackson and I had several milk jugs full of water and were stopping by the grocery store, when rounding a corner we heard "thud" then the unmistakeable "glug, glug, glug" of milk jugs emptying.  When we got to the store,  we were leaving a trail as the water leaked out of the door jams.  When we came out of the store,  there was a puddle under my car.  That was a week ago and now my car smells like fungus! Eeewwwwww

Progress

Where to start?  We have had terrific weather in Northern Virginia and thus have had lots of time outdoors.

Chris fixed the hydraulics on the tractor and we used it to haul some dirt, but it tears up the yard too much, so we have been using old fashion shovels. 

The garden is looking like a garden!  We discovered the previous owners' compost pile and have some awesome dirt to fill the raised beds.  How many people get that excited about dirt!  So, the beds have dirt and the fence is up.  This week we planted grapes and broccoli.  We got some horse manuer from a friend and the composting has begun.  (again, dirt.  WooHoo!)

We made some nice discoveries as well.  We have a big lilac bush that has white flowers.  We have a nice looking fruit tree(type of fruit unknown).  There are some things coming up which I think are several bunches of peonies and some that I think are Iris.  Can't wait to see what colors come.  We have a beautiful old dogwood.  While walking along the driveway my friend Cheryl and I found.....asparagus!!!  Dinner!  It was delicious.  The first photo below is our attempt at recycling.  An old chair holds a dutch full of chili perfectly for cooking.  The second photo is the blooming dogwood. 

We have been working on dis-assembling the hoop barn for a friend to use,  it is nice to have that thing cleaned out.  We found a little hibachi grille, lots of canning jars, a card catalog, a box of bed springs, seats for a minivan and tons of snake skins. I hope to never see the hoop barn on our property again!

At the end of the afternoon on Sunday along with our friends Chris and Cheryl, we decided to take a few things from the house to the dumpster.  Lo and behold, we made it into the house.  What we found was most certainly as bad as we ever thought it could be.  Floor to ceiling, wall to wall, stuff.  The house is a framed only, 3Br 2 bath ranch style.  There is plumbing, electrical outlets and lights, a shower, a nice fireplace and hearth.  The amount of stuff is a bit overwhelming, but we have nothing but time to clean it out.  Now our thoughts are shifting that we should build a small guest house or a garage to live in while we clean up and renovate the home that is already there.  I am sure our ideas and plans will change daily.   Two things we do know for certain is that we still love the property and we have a lot of work to do.

Happy Easter

Thanks for all the sunshine this week!   It was a beautiful weekend at Watermark Woods and we all have the tan to prove it.  Well, some of us have a sunburn to prove it.  The daffodils were blooming,  we have so many!  And many other flowers popping up that haven't bloomed yet.  Notice the decrepit house and dumpster in the background.  :)

We got all the garden posts up and the garden gate.  12 raised beds and the strawberry pyramid is in and planted.  Chris was going to fill the raised beds with dirt but the tractor blew a hydrolic hose.  We couldn't figure out how he got the tractor all wet,  aparently it was hydrolic fluid.  Oh Well,  just another things to fix.  Hopefully we can still buy hoses for a 20-year old tractor.

This weekend heard the turkeys. We did see an owl, our first tick of the season, a few deer and a huge snake! We will just let him be.