Kitchen Garden Tour

In the foreground is the first proper compost pile of the season. It's currently hosting a hill of Atlantic Giant pumpkins. The pile in the background was assembled the day before this picture was taken and already you can see that it has shrunk significantly from the top of the chicken wire. At the depth of my soil thermometer it was 50 C.

This picture shows the wooden raised beds filled with soil as well as the strawbale beds. I've planted strawberries, winter squash, peppers, tomatoes, salad greens and herbs in strawbales for the first time this year. I did this because there are only a few inches of sandy topsoil on top of limestone bedrock throughout most of the garden area, and I blew my wood and topsoil budget last fall while building the 9 raised beds. So far, most things are doing well, but I'm reserving judgement until I successfully harvest everything.

A closer look at the wooden raised beds. They're simple 4 ft. by 8 ft. rectangles the height of two 2 x 6's. The standard size makes it easy to move my portable 4 x 8 ft. hoophouse onto any bed in the fall. The chicken coop is also designed to fit on top of a bed so I can enlist the chickens' help to clean and fertilize.

My Delicata squash plants appear to be doing well in their strawbale. There are lots of male and female blossoms, as well as a couple of small fruits already.

The cabbages are just about ready to eat. I had carefully covered them with row covers to keep out cabbage moths, but I wasn't diligent about making sure the edges were securely fixed as they grew, so moths did find their way underneath. I removed the row covers to allow birds to find the tiny caterpillars and I picked a few myself. So far, it appears that only the outside leaves have holes, but I will wash them carefully.

I planted two hills of summer squash from a seed packet promising a mix of varieties. So far it looks like patty pan, crookneck and plain old zucchini.

I have one bed devoted to garlic as well as a couple of smaller plantings. We've been eating garlic scapes for the first time this year and I have a new favourite vegetable. Perhaps this fall I'll plant more, as garlic is something I can never get enough of, and the Chinese garlic in the grocery store pales in comparison to the locally grown stuff.

My tomatoes got off to a bit of a slow start in the very cool basement and still aren't the great leafy jungle plants I'm used to growing. However, they are loaded with blossoms and small fruit as are the peppers. I expect that this may be because my home mixed organic fertilizer which I've been using with manure tea may be particularly slow release in the nitrogen department. I started fertilizing and watering the strawbales about a month before planting anything in them to start them breaking down.

I'm growing Penta potatoes in straw mulch right on the ground. I flattened last year's weeds, sprinkled some organic fertilizer and tossed the seed potatoes on top. I covered the whole thing with straw and have added straw as the plants have grown. This is another experiment inspired by a lack of topsoil and aversion to hard work. So far I can report no major bug problems, but no major potatoes yet either.

The portable chicken coop is currently in the garden, but the chickens spend their days wherever they want. I occasionally shoo them out of a bed or the garage, but they generally occupy themselves foraging in the grass, or resting amongst the trees.

The bare looking bed has recent sowings of beets, chard and carrots. I had Asian greens and spinach, planted in mid April, there throughout the spring.

I've started a few cabbage plants which are waiting for a spot to open up somewhere for planting out.

I started everbearing strawberries (Temptation) from seed and I'm pleased to see that I have a few blossoms. They seem to be doing fine in the strawbales and are not bothered at all by weeds there.

Apparently you can get good help these days.

Lisa the chicken keeps an eye on things. I think of her as the spokeschicken as she is certainly the boldest and most vocal of the gang. They're almost 10 weeks old, so we have a few weeks to go before we see any eggs. I'm a little concerned that they're getting so comfortable all over the property that they'll lay their eggs everywhere, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Luna Moth

We found this Luna Moth under an outside light which we inadvertently left on overnight. This fellow is male, evidenced by his big antennae which are designed for detecting female pheromones. Adult Luna Moths have no mouth parts or digestive system so are solely in the business of mating. They live only a week or so.

I have never actually seen one before and in fact, they are not commonly seen because they fly only during the night and usually spend their days away from human eyes. I love the fact that I can reach 40 something years old and still have completely new experiences without leaving home.

Stepping out

The chicks had their first free range experience the other day. They met Meg, who was promptly pecked on the nose and now avoids chickens, and ventured out for a little walk outside the coop. 

Puppy class

Back in March when Meg first came to live with us, we knew that having a puppy would add an element of chaos to our lives. I think we were preparing ourselves to minimize the disruption by maintaining strict control over the situation. What I didn't anticipate was how much we actually enjoy having an out-of-control furball in residence. Meg is messier, faster, less obedient, goofier, smarter and loves us way more than any of us expected. She jumps on company, unravels yarn, catches birds, leaps on furniture and fails to demonstrate her tricks to visitors. She cries outside the bathroom door and wags her entire body when you emerge.

I've learned a lot from Meg. I've learned that nothing terrible happens when you relinquish a little control in your life. Meg's the perfect demonstration that you might as well enjoy the moment. And you can get away with almost anything as long as you convince folks that the best thing that ever happened to you was seeing them just now.

Chicks!

This was the scene at the feed store yesterday. The hatchery delivered this week's orders and everyone received a phone call advising them their chicks had arrived. The smallest box contains our little gang.

We've got six different varieties of chicken making it easy for us to keep track of who's who. They've been christened Edna, Marge, Patty, Selma, Lisa and Maggie.

Meg was pretty interested in the new chicks. She promised not to catch any, but we don't believe her so she'll be supervised closely around chickens for a loooong time.

The coop scoop

Construction on the portable chicken coop started last week. The project began a few weeks ago with ordering the plans and buying the materials. As is customary with this kind of thing, the initial measurements and cuts took a while as the builders settled into the groove.

The floor of the coop had lots of fiddly cutouts.

As a result of the cautious start and tricky cuts, this was the progress by late afternoon of day 1.

The construction crew at work on day 2. Progress went faster as the apprentice mastered her tools.

Another helper was never far away. Meg supervised and comfort tested.

The sides of the coop are removable for cleaning. This picture shows the finished coop with one side removed to show the interior. There is a nest box at each end, a roost in the middle and a ramp (shown in the up position) which is operated by a pulley arrangement from outside.

This is the completed coop with the sides on and ramp down. There are doors on each end to access the nest boxes on top and the run on the bottom.

The doors and sides are secured in place with carabiners and slide latches. The idea is to foil the local raccoons without foiling ourselves. We tested our security measures last night by leaving an empty but unwashed can of puppy food inside. So far so good.

Meg recruited another quality control tester to assist in the final inspection. Passed.

Today is hatch day for our six chicks. Tomorrow we'll wait for a call from the feed store to tell us they've arrived and we'll go and pick them up. We've got a brooder all set up in the basement (a cardboard box filled with pine shavings with a heat lamp suspended over top) where they'll spend the first few weeks of their lives. On nice days once they're a bit older we'll bring them out to free range in the safety of the coop's run. Once they've fully feathered out and the outside temperatures are consistently warm they'll move into the coop full time.

No wonder the puppy is nervous outside at night

I found this lovely artifact of a coyote meal not far from our driveway. Given the sheer volume of deer in the area and the frequency with which we hear coyotes yipping or howling or see their scat, it's not surprising that we'd find something like this close to the house eventually.

I have to say that although I find amputated limbs to be not particularly pleasant, I'm definitely on the side of the coyotes in this life and death struggle. The deer are so numerous they're destroying the forest by eating every green thing they can reach and not allowing regeneration.

There is a local rumour that the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources released 5 cougars in the area a few years ago to help control the deer population. The rumour is that this was done secretly to avoid the inevitable public outcry such a thing would cause. Almost everyone around here knows someone who claims to know someone who has seen a cougar.

For my own sanity while standing outside with Meg while she does her thing outside after dark, I'm going to assume that the cougar rumour is false. And I'm going to assume that any coyotes would find me to be sufficiently imposing that they wouldn't want to mess with my puppy.