Scratchin' in the UP Dirt

Let It Rain

2009-08-21T09:49:00.004-04:00

It finally started raining yesterday and that's a blessing because we can use it! The past week has been a warm one but good growing weather ... the tomatoes, corn and squash are coming along ... all they needed was a little deep rain. We picked this beauty from our home garden and was it yummy! There are lots of flowers on the plants and small tomatoes. The local people are awaiting the arrival of fresh tomatoes for sure, but they'll have to be patient a little longer.

Last week we planted 4 grapes and are watching for them to take hold.

The varieties are:

*Seedless Concord

*Fontinac

*Edelweiss

*Valiant

The grapes are mostly the "table grape" variety and we should get a crop next season. The Valiant grape already has 5 grape clusters on it ... we'll be watching for those to ripen.

For now, there are other projects, but in the meantime ... Let It Rain!

Freebie Friday ... Hummingbird Saturday

2009-08-02T00:03:00.002-04:00

Today (Saturday), while I was working at the farm, I saw this little dude again. He sure likes our sugar water.

Yesterday, seemed like Freebie Friday. I am thankful for the blessings. I was on the way to the farm when I stopped to get air for the truck tire (FREE). Then I stopped at the local store to see what they had left for annuals and WOW, they had a whole bunch for FREE! That was great. I brought some home and took the rest to the farm. My wife had mentioned that we should rake hay for the strawberries that morning and guess what, I also picked up some FREE hay. WOW! What a day. I got all the annuals planted and went back today (Saturday) to water and plant more flowers from our yard. We managed to get 3 rows of strawberries planted and some hay put down ... the rest will have to wait until next week.

Till then ... Make It A Great Day!

Geraniums by the Truckload!

2009-07-25T22:27:00.003-04:00

On Thursday, we stopped by a local retail store and they were offering geraniums at an unbelievably low price. Thinking large scale, I couldn't resist so I bought all they had ... a full truckload ... 130 geraniums. Well, it has been rainy so Friday evening we got a break and planted all our little beauties ... yep, all 130. This will be a good week to get them well watered.

The geraniums were planted in several locations in blocks like in the picture above. Some were used by the ponds for borders. We checked them a couple days after planting and the geraniums are green and starting to put out flower buds so next week may bring some flowers. Buying flowers in large numbers is not a scary thing ...it's rather quite fun. The frustration can come if the weather doesn't cooperate but remember ... many hands make light work!

All the veggies are liking the rainy weather and showing real promise. We have had two ripe tomatoes so far this year and many peas ... can hardly wait for more goodies.

Till next week. Keep on growin'!

Strawberry Bed Cleanup

2009-07-22T22:29:00.003-04:00

The grasses and weeds often grow faster than the berry plants themselves. With the threat of showers on the way, today was a great day to clean up the berry beds.

I used a weed wacker to cut the weeds and grasses close to the strawberry plants in our new bed containing 1000 plants. Once the weeds were down, I gave supplemental water to hold the plants over until the rains come. It doesn't usually rain that much at the farm and takes alot to get a deep watering job done so I water whenever I get the chance. So far this year, I have used fish emulsion on the plants once to give them a boost. I plan on making a second application to help the plants get big and bushy before the seasons end.

It was quite a surprise to see no berries on the plants this past week but, I am guessing that our Roosters enjoyed red berries more than bugs. My hope now is that we can keep all the critters out of our strawberry beds and enjoy the second crop. The few berries we did try were simply delicious and sweet.

Bees on the move again!

2009-07-20T23:21:00.003-04:00

Today was bright and sunny in the high 70's ... a good day to check the bees. Still feeling that the bees could use more sun earlier in the day, Honey-pie moved the bees southward to a new location.

We were surprised that the bees had not done anything yet with the new super that was put there more than a month ago. We put a new super on anyway. When the honey flow starts, they will be workin overtime to store that golden honey.

It's been quite cool this Spring and everything is late in blossoming so, maybe the bees are behind as well.

Keep watching for updates on our buzzy bees!

A Ripe Tomato

2009-07-18T22:28:00.002-04:00

At last we have another ripe tomato ... it may be small, but it was yummy. Our last ripe tomato was on Father's Day. It has been quite a long time to wait.

All the tomato plants are growing much better now. We have still had cooler temps than they would like, but come August we should be in good shape.

Yesterday, the girls bought some flowers and herbs so today, we worked on our gardens. We are just waiting for the steady good weather so everything can get to full bloom. Enjoy the sun!

YIkes!

2009-07-07T00:04:00.002-04:00

It has been getting colder since yesterday and now the weather is predicting 38 degrees for tonight. YUK! Where we live it is usually a few degrees colder than the prediction ... so it could be possible for a FROST. We'll just think posititvely that the weather will stop dropping over the next few hours and then get warm again.