Gardening on the Farm

In addition to dairy farming and gardening, we also have laying hens and raise meat birds. While there is still a large portion of my food I buy, I do love to raise as much of my own food as I can. The Farmer was nice enough to help me with a project for my chickens. We put a coop in the old bank barn but it's not a great set up for meat birds, we built it mostly with layers in mind. So, we decided an outdoor grow out pen was in order, and it will also work for growing out layer chicks I hatch. We typically order our meat chicks from the feed store. I selected my layers for egg colour such as blue, green and dark brown so I haven't gotten into any good dual purpose breeds yet. The outdoor pen we built (mostly the Farmer, he's great at building things!) is 8x12 so it's a decent size. We are already talking about adding to it. My thought is to add a small coop area so they can be locked up night. We've had a lot of trouble with animals breaking into various set ups we

Our first broccoli of the year! We didn't plant many broccoli plants but the few we have are doing well. This one was ready to harvest and another will be ready soon! We also got a pickling cucumber and while I was out I gathered eggs as well.

Today I discovered that even though my beans still have lots of flowers on top, there were tons of beans at the bottom of the plants. I managed to pick a nice basket full, along with a green onion. We will have some for dinner tonight and I put a few in the fridge for another night. The rest I blanched and put in the freezer for winter.

It's been a hectic week this week so I haven't had the chance to post. I was out working in the garden this evening. To keep weeds down I run the rototiller between the rows every so often but I wasn't able to do that last weekend as end of last week we got about 4 inches of rain! It's supposed to rain Saturday and Sunday as well so I figured I had better get out there today. The rainy weather and the heat has not only made the vegetable plants grow like crazy, but the weeds as well! My garden is very lush at the moment. My tomato plants have really jumped up. If I can find a break in the rain this weekend I will need to go tie them up again. And the pumpkin plants are taking over the other end of the garden. The pumpkin plants are getting flowers so hopefully we will get some pumpkins this fall. My pickling cucumbers have been getting a couple ready to pick here and there but I think next year I will plant around 10 plants so I can have enough ready at t

The garden is coming along nicely! The plants are starting to get some veggies started. Even though most of the vegetables won't be ready for a while yet it is nice to see progress! More of the tomato plants are getting little tomatoes. The pickling cucumbers are getting some cucumbers almost big enough to pick. However the plants haven't taken off like I had hoped. They were seedlings I purchased late in the season so maybe I just planted them too late. Next year I think I will try buying seeds. I've always planted regular cucumbers from seed sown directly into the garden. I had a gap in my tomato row so I planted them in there so I could train them up the tomato trellis. Only one of the two plants is big enough for this so far. My dill is ready to harvest but it's too early in the season for pickles. I think I will let them go to seed as I have pickle recipe that calls for dill seed and I will save some for next year. Though from past experience i

I've gradually been planting berry bushes here and there around the farm. A couple years ago I planted a red currant bush by one of my two wedding trees. These are trees we had on each side of the arch at our wedding and planted after; they are variegated maples. I planted the currant bush in the little flowerbed I had planted around the tree. Last year it had a couple berries but the birds got the few there were. So far this bush is doing really well and the berries are ripe! I am very excited to have beat the birds to the berries this year. The bush is still young so I didn't get a ton of berries, but there's enough for a little snack. Maybe I will make some scones and whipped cream and put these on top!

As they say, out of sight out of mind! I never did go and weed my pea patch which is back behind the driving shed. It's easy to ignore when you don't ever go back there. My poor peas were getting over run! I asked the Farmer to bring the rototiller back for me as it's somewhat difficult getting back there, you either have to go through tall grass or the hay field. So he got that back there for me so I could till between the rows. These are double rows of peas so after tilling I took the hoe to between the double rows and hand picked any weeds mixed in with the peas. I didn't quite get finished but I got the worst of it. The peas should soon be big enough that they will block out the weeds in the rows and I'm hoping the double rows will hold each other up since I didn't put in a trellis . They are looking pretty good, I'm hoping for lots of peas! Peas fresh  from the garden taste so good and hopefully there will be some for the freezer as well.

The radish varieties I had planted were cherry belle from Heritage and white icicle from Livingston Seed. I plant the cherry belle every year because they always do really, excellent germination and they form a bulb even if I don't thin them. They are also the type my grandmother used to grow so I like them because it reminds of the garden salads she would make from her garden. I also like trying new varieties so I decided to try the white icicles. They had great germination as well but all I got were leafy tops. They went in the first of June and the weather hasn't been super hot so I think the issue was that I didn't thin them. They are supposed to grow a longer bulb instead of a round one like the cherry belle. I read that the bulb not forming is typically due to either heat or crowding and mine were crowded. I may give them another try around September to see if thinning works. The white icicle are a 28 day one, the cherry belle is 20-25 day so I definitely gave them en

I had hoped to put up a trellis this year for the vine vegetables but I didn't get around to it so I decided to mulch with some old bales we have up in the hayloft. This will at the very least keep the veggies off the bare soil and as we get into the really hot summer months it will keep moisture in. I planted several different things. There were pie pumpkins, regular pumpkins, watermelon, gourds and cucumbers. I didn't label what I planted where, because of course I would remember! And of course I do not remember, I suppose if I really want to know I can google what the leaves and flowers look like. You can see in the picture that a section of something didn't come up. Oh well, it leaves more room the ones that did grow. I mulched around the potatoes as well since they were a last minute planting decision because I found some sprouting in a bag of potatoes I had laying around. I know, you aren't supposed to plant the ones you buy for eating but oh well

Today I gathered some leaf lettuce, radishes and a few beets to send over to the inlaws. They don't keep a garden so they are happy to take some. I didn't think to snap a photo until I had it all ready to send over though. I also gathered a few beets to include with the carrots and potatoes in with the roast beef last night for dinner. It was nice to have some garden fresh beets again.

Things are growing away out in the garden. I haven't planted as many beets as usual so I think I will try planting a few more. I've found they grow well for me no matter when I plant them. I'm also going to plant some peas. The first planting is doing well but I think it would be nice to get a second harvest. I would love to get enough for the winter for the freezer. I know they prefer being planted in the cooler weather but it doesn't hurt to try. The worst that will happen is I'm out a few seeds of which I bought way too may, 2 pounds worth!  My romaine lettuce is really taking off. I can likely soon harvest a few small ones to make room for the others to mature. My beans are starting to flower! I planted green yellow and purple, but the yellow and purple didn't germinate well. I think it may be the brand, I've had trouble with that brand before. I did replant with more green beans. The pale pink flowers are the green beans. I think the pu

My vegetable harvest is still pretty boring, just radishes spinach and lettuce are ready in the garden. We've been having lots of salads as sides to dinner. It will still be a while before much else is ready so I will continue to enjoy salads and wraps using my leafy greens. Though there are some beets getting big enough to pull. I love roasting a mixture of beets, potatoes and carrots in the oven with a little olive oil and clubhouse grilled vegetable seasoning.

Happy Canada Day from our garden to yours!

I need to paint my outdoor chicken pen (I'll be posting it soon) and the boards for the raised bed I've decided to build. I decided on a shade of red similar to the colour of our barn and sheds. I painted the boards for the raised bed and I love the colour, I think it's "sparkling garnet" by CIL. The paint is still wet in these pictures and the lighting wasn't the best. I had to paint them in the driving shed since we could get rain. We could really use a little break from all the rain, though I hate to say it after the drought last year. Typical farmers I guess, it's either too dry or too wet for our liking, though I bet the five catalpa trees I planted this spring are enjoying the rain! Here's the pictures of the freshly painted boards, I think it will look really nice.