The cold nights with low temperatures took a toll on the seedlings. I put row covers over all of the seedlings in the greenhouse and this was not enough. I lost a number of plants; however, I have enough left to plant my garden and a few to share. I did save some seeds, for the first time, from the climbing spinach plants, they were in the greenhouse and very tender. They were covered with row covers, with no damage. These plants do not come up in the garden until June, so it is always a guessing game as to what can handle the cold and continue to grow.
The tunnel has produced this season, we have had more than our share of spinach, kale and chard. The onions were first picked from the tunnel. Now about growing more onions from the roots. I tried this in the garden as I was harvesting spring onions. Dug the onions, trimmed the roots to about one inch and cut the bulb about a half of an inch above the roots, replacing the onion to the where it was pulled from. Now I have my row filled with little onions about 2 inches tall. I was a gardener who had to see this work to believe it and now I am seeing it work in my garden.
IN THE COOP
The 12 youngest chicks are growing, the 4 from the January hatching are beautiful chicks, they are going to be very large birds. As soon as the temperature improved and the little ones had their feathers they were relocated in the coop. I am from the old school and do not use lights on my chickens.
Egg production has improved with warm weather, some of the girls, who hardly laid last year, are showing improvement this spring. I have 10 layers and some days I collect 8 eggs, Momma duck is also laying once again, I do not know how long this will last but I am enjoying her eggs while I have them. I have 2 other ducks who are laying, the switch out worked really well for me. One of the 3 ducks, switched, turned out to be drake, he may stay or he may return to the farm he came from. Right now the duck run is quite and peaceful, I need to keep the duck run that way as this is the first stop for my young chickens. The ducks are so gentle and seem not to care when they are invaded by the chicks, Momma Duck comes to the chicken run every morning to check on her chicks she has helped to raise. I do enjoy Momma Duck so much. We are collecting 3 duck eggs most days.
IN THE GOAT BARN
I saw teats on my Belle, the next day Lacy, called the farmer and she stopped by. The farmer just looked at the ladies and said they were expecting. I know they are eating us out of barn and home. They are eating chickweed along with the feathered friends, all of chard stems we are harvesting, apple peelings, winter squash, hay and grain. Just to add something a little different they forage for about an hour a day.
IN CLOSING
The damage the cold did to our flowering bushes and trees is very noticeable. I do think I have never seen so much damage in all of my years. Blooms were set because of the warm spring very early on so many of my plants and now I am hoping the flowering bushes will recover. The poplar trees took a real hit and I am concerned for the fruit industry in our area. My berry bushes are loaded with vegetation so I am hoping for a good harvest of black berries and raspberries. Each year is a challenge, I learn something each season and try to have it help me with the next year. I may have learned, this year, planting by the moon and the late cold snaps not to start my seedlings quite so early. Only time will tell with this thought as I just need to see those little plants popping from the soil.
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