Welcome to Mama Homesteader!

Follow my family in year 3 of our homesteading journey. Along the way we try to answer the question ," What can one small family do to change their lives on little more than 1/10th of an acre?" Let's Find Out!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Garden Update

      Today a family friend, Dave, came and tilled the majority of the garden. It was a HUGE relief to have it done, it's a lot of space and I was dreading digging it by hand!


   What you see are actually five spaces along the back, and two longer spaces across the front. There is also one across the back of the shed! They look a bit messy right now, Dave's tiller is a beast. Once I have all the kicked out soil raked back in, it will look much better!                                                          
      Sarah and I also got our one and only raspberry planted. It was disappointing that the second bush we bought was dead, and the selection of that variety at walmart all seem to be dead. But so far the one bush we have is thriving well!


         I know it's hard to see, but its there in the middle of the dirt. Before you know it we'll have canes everywhere! Good things can come in small packages!                                                                             
        I also started the shade garden on the side of the house. You will also notice in this picture that the bushes on the end of my porch are gone! Well mostly, we still have to pull up the roots yet!  


          
I had an enormous amount of Hostas on the property, so I put most to good use and the rest I gave away on Freecycle! I was also very surprised to find ferns in the back yard, Sarah and I planted them    along with the hostas. For  the most part the side shade garden is done. There are a few more hostas    that we will be planting on the other side of the garbage can. But if weather holds up, we can             probably get that done tomorrow! As for the bushes, once they are gone we'll be putting in two dwarf lilac bushes. They'll only get 5 ft tall  and 5 feet wide maximum, and I'll still have room for more        hostas! LOL                                                                                                                                              

The above picture looks a little messy. Sarah and I have some weeding to do! Her NiNi Pam gave her some violas, and she gave Mark and I Marigolds for Mother's Day. We planted those along with a new Tea Rose in this front bed. I am really glad that I left the Azaleas alone, because they are absolutely      stunning! Sarah's bird statue completes the bed!                                                                                                                  

We have tomatoes everywhere! Four dozen plus a few extra. I can't wait till I have the garden beds finished so that Sarah can plant her " 'Tatoes "! Mom's stuff didn't do so well, but I think it was due to too small pots and not enough light. My marigolds didn't do well either, only three our of thirty six      sprouted and grew. Maybe next year! I have a few tweaks to do to make the greenhouse work  better, but next year we will be much more efficient in our seed starting!

                                                    That's all the garden news for now!            

Cheers! ~ Mama Homesteader           
   

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