Gardening on the Cheap

Hmm... five months since my last post. I guess to tell you it's been a busy and stressful spring and summer would perhaps be unnecessary? :-) I do want to share some quick photos of this year's garden though.

We didn't have much available cash, but needed to section off part of the yard to prevent dogs from peeing on our plants. Our fence needed to be cheap and non-permanent, since the site of the garden this year will likely not be repeated (hopefully soon this spot is where my new studio will be built). I was dubious at first when Matt proposed a fence built of pallets, but as usual, he pulled it off.

Not the prettiest thing I've ever seen, but functional, and totally free. :-)

Zucchini in the front, tomato in the back

I didn't even think I could grow full-sized tomatoes in Humboldt without a greenhouse, but assuming these things actually ripen, we're going to have a ton of them - the plant is almost as tall as me, and it's tipped over it's tomato cage so many times, I gave up and just propped it up with garbage cans. Classy, right?

Cukes and more cukes

Pumpkin

Zucchini

Yellow squash

Dahlias

Last night I made vegan zucchini alfredo with zucchini and basil fresh from the garden, zucchini bread (more of our own zucchini), and apple crisp with apples from one of our trees. It was all yummy but I think I enjoyed looking at these even more than eating the food -

There's something so great about flowers straight from our own garden. Once we get more settled and our landscaping is more established, I can't wait to put in a bigger garden with berries and lots more flowers!

One problem we discovered is that our soil is apparently low in calcium. We had some problems with some of our zucchini rotting on the plant, and all of our fruit seems to be growing and ripening quite a bit more slowly than we expected. We have applied a calcium-rich fertilizer a few times and I think it's helped somewhat, but once we figure out where the permanent garden location will be, I guess we are supposed to mix some lime into the soil?

It's the Chicken Taj Mahal

I cannot tell you how much time and energy we spent getting our property ready for our birds - probably more than on any other project! There was lots of fencing to be built, and lots of gates, and then of course the little barn itself... but it's finally done (well, okay, except for some custom feeders Matt's still building).

We were feeling overwhelmed so opted to have the basic structure pre-built, but we painted it ourselves and outfitted the inside with all kinds of perches, nesting boxes, storage, etc.

While I would have liked to go a 'greener' route for the barn's construction, I have to say that I would do it this way again in a heartbeat, given our time constraints and the need for the structure to be super secure. Duane at Capital City Sheds did an awesome job - he pre-cut all the materials, showed up at our house at 8:00 in the morning, assembled the shed, and was gone by 5:00 that same day. Pretty incredible to watch, and much faster than Matt or I could have done. Not too expensive either.

Here are some pics of its progression.

Here it is with some paint (same color as the house), and with the lower fence posts in.

Upper fence posts added...

Side enclosures going in...

Some salvaged windows and a couple of Wooly Pocket planters (made mostly from recycled plastic bottles, how cool is that?) complete the front of the barn.

We're still planning to add a little cement patio/landing in front of the big door, with a small planter on either side for home-grown greens for the birds.

The barn interior and the yard is divided into two sections - one for chickens and one for the ducks and turkeys. The duck/turkey side has lots of nice trees and such, but the lower yard for the chicken is in need of some enrichment - I'm planning on adding a few maple trees but don't want to put anything too close to the fence because I don't want them to use it to escape. Any other enrichment ideas besides trees?

Bye-bye from Rosa. :-)

Fruit Trees!

I am so excited to have so many mature fruit trees on our new property! They are all badly in need of pruning, but are still producing a ton of fruit.

Apples, apples, and more apples!

How do I know when they are ready to be picked? They are kind of small right now but a few have fallen to the ground already.

It looks like there are maybe five or ten different varieties of apples!

And the plums are beginning to be ripe enough to eat! Hooray!!!

Etsy Shopping

I love Etsy - not only because it's been a huge part of my success in growing my own business (god, that sounds like an infomercial), but also because I can always find cute, unique, handmade things that are the polar opposite of what you might find at Wal-Mart or Target. Last night I felt like feathering our new nest a bit and decided to go looking for some homey touches for our new house (well, yard, I guess) on Etsy. Here's what I bought -

Hanging Bird Bath by phoebedarby

Cedar 'Rustic Row Houses' Birdhouse by CleggFarmCreations

Sunflower Seed Bird Feeder by CleggFarmCreations

Things are starting to come together out at the new house - this Saturday, we get new floor in the bathroom and our bedroom, and the week of July 19th, our bathroom cabinets, countertop, and shower surround are going in. We should be all set to move in after that (though there is still a lot of work to be done, so plenty more fodder for future blog posts). I can't wait to share all the details of our green bathroom remodel - we found out about some great products that I think you're going to love! Stay tuned...

Fence!

Phase one of our huge fencing project is complete. I guess there's nothing too green about a wood fence, but it's necessary for keeping our animals safe (plus I think I need to get over feeling like I have to apologize if not every single post here is 'green'-related; the unfortunate truth is that I can't always find an eco-friendly option, but I'm trying my best).

(That whole stretch to the left is done now; I forgot to take a picture after it was finished.)

I think phase one (the wood fence) was about 250 linear feet; phase two is a wire fence (close to another 25o feet, I'm afraid) that will separate two chicken yards from the human/dog yard, and phase three is another (much shorter) stretch of wood fence on the upper corner of the property.

On June 14th, our chicken barn is being built on-site (not by us; whew!); after that point, we'll execute phase two of the fence and the property will officially be chicken-worthy. Here are a few pics of our feathered friends, who are blissfully oblivious of all the work taking place on their behalf...

Surprise Flowers

Our land has approximately zero landscaping, except for some lovely mature fruit trees (several varieties of apples, pears, apricots, plums, cherries, walnuts...) and these beauties, which Matt almost tore out because he thought they were weeds (before they were blooming) - does anyone know what they are?