Homesteading: planting the farm

a little more demo and hole digging had to happen before the new plants were delivered.

taking out one of many chokecherries

trying to dig holes where the wall of shrubbery was the day before.

more brush removal

soil left over from starting the raised veggie beds

plant delivery with a fancy crane

new plant locations: two new pears flank the assembled fire pit (our old boiler). on the left is a d'anjou pear, on the right is a red bartlett.

d'anjou

red bartlett

two highbush blueberry bushes (in soil amended with peat even though we have pretty acidic soil)- on the left is patriot, on the right is chippewa.

wee hollyhock seedlings look on from inside

the veggie garden

some things are already up! sugar snap peas, onions, broccoli, lettuce, radishes, scallions...in the front right bed are plants transplanted from ithaca- walking onion, chives, sage, thyme and garlic planted last fall from our friends in ithaca.

a stanley plum

the ornamental onion bed

summer sweet clethra

Amelanchier laevis, serviceberry, or shadbush

serviceberry 'autumn brilliance'

the old boiler. though no pictures were taken during its assembly know this: just the middle section weighs hundreds of pounds! we couldn't take any pictures because we were both on duty the whole time. think pulley system with a winch and ladder, plus a car jack, 2x4s and bricks.

A Day of Demo

in preparation for new fence and new plantings we decided to tackle the very overgrown, yet romantic, tangle of shrubs behind our house. it consisted of privet, (multiflora) rose, grape and quince. we liked the privacy and the bird habitat but it was pretty unhealthy and we are excited for what it could look like and what could grow there. plus we're planning on planting plenty more, especially after the fence guys come.

cleaning up the brush piles afterwards...

note the cherry and dogwood blooming in the background (on the right)

What's Blooming, April 2010

trout lilies

solomon's seal

grape hyacinth

cherry and flowering dogwood

flowering dogwood

Building the Veggie Garden

To make space for more veggie beds we took down an existing wire mesh fence and the entangled shrubbery. Everything that grows in our garden has been there for years so it takes alot of persistence and muscles to clear. The photos below are a good example of what we are up against. The brush pile is from the one day of clearing.

another day we began building the beds with Trex decking boards.

and another day we built another bed. so far we have built two beds with Trex and filled them with locally made "super soil." (aka. with compost). we built a second compost bin so we could let the first just do it's thing and then use the compost all at once. we put up a wire mesh trellis at the back of the big bed (hard to see) that will eventually support peas, cucumbers and perhaps melons. and we even planted our first outdoor seeds: broccoli and onions, the peas go in tomorrow.

we used our old hot water pipes to help support the trellis and to build this hose holder...