This is Bing, one of the reasons I had to surround all of the garden beds with deer netting or short fence. He loves talking to the ladies in the chicken yard, so I've got to keep him out of the flower bed that runs nearly the full length of their yard. He likes snapping off my seedlings! Baaaad rooster! Thank goodness he can't jump my short 3' fence -- those frizzled feathers of his are worthless when it comes to flying.
Shorty is another reason for the netting and fences. He is particularly fond of dusting in the lose soil of the garden beds and planters. Baaaad rooster! But with netting and fences up, he's content to search for bugs and grubs in the grass.
The raspberry canes I planted are showing signs of life! Hopefully they fill in nicely -- I LOVE raspberries!
The row of purple pole beans didn't come in very well, so last night I planted more pole bean seeds under the bean trellis. I was out of purple pole bean seeds (dang it!), so I planted green pole bean seeds. Grow, babies, grow!
The first planting of tomato plants are noticeably larger than they were just a few days ago. And the Juliet plants are putting on flowers! So soon!? We'll be setting up our tomato support structure soon ... more on that later.
The peas are noticeably larger too! And so THICK! Apparently I put plenty of seeds in the soil! *grin* Sure, it's a bit too late in the year for getting a good pea crop, but I've got a bed that gets shade most of the day until late afternoon. So, I thought why not plant some peas there... maybe they'll love it, maybe not!
The heirloom tomato starts I planted last weekend are starting to show growth. They might be small now, but let's hope they get mighty! They got goat fertilizer added to their bed ... you can see some of the pellets in the bottom right corner of the photo. Who knew those two silly goats could be so useful!
I had to put up a windbreak on the backside of the sweet pepper bed. We had such strong wind the other day, the plants were nearly laid over! They are MUCH happier now that they have a bit of shelter from the ridiculous wind we get here.
The strawberry plants are growing, too! Well, half of them anyway. I ordered some plants from Gurney's earlier this year, and the order kept being delayed. I wasn't sure they were going to ship at all, so when I saw strawberries on sale at the local farm supply store, I picked up a box. The roots looked a little on the small size, but they weren't dry or showing signs of mold or mildew. I planted them in the lower half of the prepared strawberry bed. Days later, I got the shipping notice for my Gurney's order.... more strawberries were on their way! (Good thing, too!) When the Gurney's order arrived, the roots were MUCH larger, and healthier looking. I planted them right away in the upper half of the prepared bed, and as soon as the next day they were already showing growth! About two weeks time is the difference between both plantings, and STILL the plants I bought from the local farm supply store have YET to show ANY above ground growth. Any bits of green you see in the lower half of the bed are either leaves that have blown in from the hackberry trees, or growth from the little tiny straggler roots from the Gurney's order that I planted in between the rows of roots from the farm supply! Lesson learned!
Wow, everything looks great! Did you order your raspberry bushes from Gurneys, also? Need to put some in at the kid's house, not all of theirs survived. They were given to them by a friend, so no big loss except for the yummy berries.
Posted by: VivLyn | April 22, 2011 at 12:46 PM
The garden beds look great! You have inspired me to plant some veggies this year. Not sure if they will be in pots on the deck or have an actual garden. The later may be a little too much work for me! The last time I planted (many, many years ago) the deer ate every single plant the first night they were in the ground. Those darn deers! LOL. Take care and have a great Easter. Robin B
Posted by: Robin Barwacz | April 22, 2011 at 10:49 AM
Your roosters may be naughty, but they sue are HANDSOME! Your garden looks so lovely! You are inspiring me to remove my son's old play gym and create a garden there in its place!
Posted by: Kathy Martin | April 22, 2011 at 04:52 AM
Green is Good!!!
Posted by: Sherri D. | April 21, 2011 at 10:36 PM
You have been busy!
Posted by: Carol Dee | April 21, 2011 at 08:44 PM
Okay, I give up. What's a Juliet plant? Which kind of raspberries? Summer or Fall blooming? Do you know about pruning them? Is this a new plant for you? I noticed the tops of the canes were cut straight across instead of at an angle. Enough lecturing! :) You realize that the roosters are going to get big heads because you have to go to so much work to keep them out of the gardens! lol!
Posted by: Shala | April 21, 2011 at 07:33 PM
Your garden is beautiful and so are your naughty rooster's!
Posted by: Melissa Carr | April 21, 2011 at 06:07 PM
Mmmmm, your garden is looking good! It's spitting snow here today but hoping the frost is gone in the pea bed this weekend. A little early even for peas but I just can't wait. I'll have to be content with admiring yours for now. Your Mr Roosters are lookin' good today!
Posted by: Dee in N.H. | April 21, 2011 at 03:42 PM
Anna, I watched Houston Animal Cops today and thought of you guys -- they raided a bird fighting ring -- and adopted out all the hens (I learned alot about hens), a family farm adopted them and they had the cutest little 2 year old in the cutest little "wellies" out feeding, watering, and collecting eggs -- it was just SO cute! Your garden looks good!
Posted by: Queen Mary | April 21, 2011 at 01:06 PM
Hi Anna! Your garden is already lush and growing so I'll hope you get some rain soon :) And those crazy frizzle chickens of yours are SOOOoooo cute! BTW, how is Tiny Tim doing? ♥ ♥
Posted by: Robb_eeie | April 21, 2011 at 12:18 PM