The guys help out

Scott, Anna's husband on the left (they live at the farm) and Andrew, one of Lisa's sons, on the right "power" through some spring farm chores.

Scott is smoothing out the hump in the middle of the field that resulted from the direction the field needed to be plowed this year.

Andrew brought down his own LARGE lawn mower to mow between all the rows of berries and trees in the orchard. So much easier for us to get around without all the tall grass/weeds to wade through.

A few purple sprouting broccoli made it through the winter. Very tasty right out in the field.

Scott making progress.

Andrew makes progress too. He has to fight off some of the berry canes.

Florencio has planted a few  of the different cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage in this bed where onions grew last year. Crop rotation is important when gardening.

Several of the different types of lettuce we are seeding this year. Notice the different days to harvest at the beginning of each one's description. 52 days, 56 days, 33 days... That many days from planting to harvest if all goes well. Even though we plant about 100 seeds of lettuce, not all will mature at the same time. Trying to map out lettuce growing for 20 harvest boxes for the season could be a math assignment. 

Likzy, Andrew's wife, helped plant our new selection of dahlias into these black pots.

The kiddos don't seem to drive as safely as their dad does in the background.

Last year's dahlias in the big pots are coming up. They spent the winter in the greenhouse. Fall of 2013 we left the dahlias outside in their pots and many of them froze and died over the winter. We had to start over last year.  

These petunias didn't have a very good germination rate.

Lisa plants up some hanging baskets starting with trailing lobelia. 

We plant onions and shallots about 50 seeds per 4 inch pot. Then lightly cover them with our soilless germination  mix.

Emma just arrived home from kindergarten. Thanks for joining us in the greenhouse!

Melon day. Cantaloupe, honeydew, several kinds and colors of watermelon are being seeded today.

Our newest family member gets a kiss from his 2nd cousin, Angie.  

A few greenhouse cucumbers for the cuc lovers to snack on.

A tad bit bright out here, don't you think???

Lisa is transplanting some Chinese Lanterns from their 50 cell pack flat to 4 inch pots. Their roots really will like all the new room.

 Some peony buds have ants crawling on them. Some don't.

Lupine is starting to bloom.

Sweet William is a biennial. We planted it from seed last spring (2014) and it grew its foliage last year. This year it will bloom and then die. Life cycle completes in two years. A plant's goal in life is to re-seed. This type of plant takes two years. Annuals do all of this in one season and die. Perennials are long lived and may drop seeds every year.

The dogwoods by the driveway are brilliant.

These are underneath and haven't opened completely.

One of the clematis at the farm is opening up, too.

That's all for now. More to come, soon!

Sunshine, blossoms and bees Oh My!

Checking out what's in the cold frames and snacking on asparagus fresh from the bed.

Cauliflower, lettuce and peas ready to move from the cold frames to be planted in the ground.

Asparagus. Yum!

Leeks grown from seed started last year. They over winter and grown on. Ready for harvest, soon.

Florencio built up this raised bed to add the growth of the strawberries. They don't like to have "wet feet" because they will rot and die. These should flourish.

Emma and Ethan were so warm they found shade and were eating their fresh asparagus lying down.

These will turn into beautiful red cabbage.

Sylvanberries just starting to flower. Each flower has the potential to become a berry.

Drip irrigation is laid out on the first few rows of cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage.

The greenhouse tomatoes are really climbing their strings and poles. 

Staking the greenhouse cucumbers helps them grow straight fruit.

This type of cauliflower will produce green, spire-like cauliflower heads, not white, smooth heads.

Thai Red Roselle is a hibiscus we grew from seed. We are excited for the colorfulness of this plant. The calyx is used for teas.

Cilantro.

The benches in the greenhouse are filling up. The tall plants on the left are the greenhouse cucumbers.

We "succession plant" many things for our harvest boxes. Here is our third planting of broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbages. By spacing out their start times, we can extend the harvest.

Benches full of tomatoes.

Tomatoes may have one of two types of leaves. These are "tomato leaved" tomato plants.

These are "potato leaved" tomato plants.

Can you see the difference?
Left is a variety with tomato leaves, right has potato leaves. Both are tomatoes.

More tomatoes are flowering in the greenhouse.

Last week there was one flower on the dianthus. This week, many more fragrant blossoms.

Florencio is careful when he ties the stems of the tomatoes on to the bamboo stakes. Not too tight or they could get strangled.

A very pretty bloom on a cactus in the greenhouse.

This spinach was chosen due to its name, Anna. She lives here at the farm! 

A honeybee working the blossoms on the blueberries.

Another close up of the bee hanging on.

The more times bees visit a flower the better chance of complete pollination.

The white bell shaped blossom has come off some of these blueberries showing the small green beginning of a blueberry.

An immature grape cluster gets its start.

One variety of blackberry has formed buds but has not opened into blossoms.

Dad loved figs. Fig trees tend to have grayish bark.

Baby figs that won't ripen until late summer.

An Asian pear cluster.

Apple blossoms. Do you spot the green cucumber beetle? We fight with them eating our produce, leaves, flowers all the time.

Another honey bee, this time on an apple blossom.

Coming in for a landing.

Not all apples flower at the same time.

The first flower has opened in this cluster, the rest will follow shortly.

Bosc pear flowers have lost most of their flower petals.

Looking north through the orchard.

Grapes on the left, Marionberries on the right. These rows are about 300 feet long.

Old grape vines. Notice their "trunks".

These bee is crawling inside for more pollen.

Colorful new leaves on the grapes.

The field to the north of our gardens is planted with peppermint this year. 

Apple blossoms in the shadows.

Pears that have lost their flower petals. Their sepals are still attached.

This apple tree has a cluster of flowers growing off a large branch.

A white flower cluster in the orchard.

Mom and Dad's dogwoods in their glory.


I hope you have enjoyed. See you next time.

Lorrie