Morning walks with the chickens

I was able to get the chickens to follow me from the coop to the garden with a trail of meal worms. These organic eggs that we are waiting for are costing us a fortune already. We hope it's a good investment. Happy chickens lay tasty eggs? We will see!

Hello Henrietta!

~LA

It only took a year to get the pergola up!

The master bedroom slider wall gets the full sun in the summer months, and it gets warm in our room. It makes for some uncomfortable evenings. So I was asked by my lovely wife to build an awning over the window to help with the heat. I agreed. Over the past year my wife has nicely reminded me that summer was coming, by showing me examples of awnings that might work in the course of our travels. I replied, "Yes dear, but that's not what I have in mind." I shared my vision and she didn't want me to work that hard on the project. I wanted a nice pergola, not just an awning.

Our master bedroom.

I really like the redwood against the corrugated steel look. I think it's sharp. 

My son, Brandin, gave me the idea of putting trellis work on part of the pergola so the wisteria would get more sun and bloom better in the spring. I think it was a great idea. I cut some of the redwood 2x4's up to make the trellis. I learned recently, wisterias need full sun for them to bloom. 

LA and I picked up two of these beautiful blue planters from Costco. It makes a great planter for our Japanese Wisteria. This plant is so fragrant.

I built the shutter on hinges so we can open or close the shutter, as we wish.

Finished Product and the room is much cooler. Bring it on Summer!

- Garrett

How does our garden grow?

Well it's been about 2 weeks and our garden has started to take off. We've planted zucchini with our corn to help reduce evaporation. The bigger leaves provide better protection while the corn develops.

I've killed 3 grasshoppers and the cat killed a gopher this past week. Good kitty. I still have another grasshopper around here, because I've seen some fresh munching of the baby corn sprouts. I'll get him. 

We've also planted zucchini in the corners of the garden.

This is our asparagus patch. I planted the crowns about 2 weeks ago. I was instructed to dig holes about 9 inches deep, plant the crowns, and cover with soil. As the plant starts to grow you add more soil to the hole until the plant has grown past ground level. It will take these plants 2 - 3 years before they start to produce delicious asparagus. Yum!

I planted a 6 pack of tomatoes, 3 different varieties. They are doing very well.

Along our bocce pit we've planted morning glories which are doing very well. When these have matured the fence should be covered with foliage and flowers.

This is where we let the baby chicks run and play. It's our herb, pepper and tomato garden. We have sage, the bigger bushy plants next to the rocks, basil, parsley, and thyme, all within the rock border. Peppers are behind the basil, and behind the peppers are the tomatoes. This is an older photo, as indicated by the smaller tomato plants. The bench in the background faces the bocce pit, with the fencing beyond that being where the morning glories are planted.

Here is the southwest corner of the inner yard. It's a photo taken shortly after planting. Our lot is about 200' x 200'. It goes back to within 10' of the telephone in the upper left of the photo. We need to fence the whole lot eventually, it'll provide added safety for the pool.

I will update as the garden grows.

An Update:

                                                  

Our Fence of Morning Glories. I won't plant these again as they just can't take the heat.

Here is our herb garden, doing very well. Sage, Basil, Thyme and Parsley are all planted here.

\

Earlier photos of a tomato plant.

Earlier photos of our zucchini plants.

We had a good crop of peppers

These tomatoes are so sweet.

We have an albino zucchini plant. All the fruit from it is white.

Chickens grooming the garden.

To give you an idea how big the corn is. Can you see me?

There I am.

Here's a little of our crop.

Here is the start of our Sunflower row.

It surrounds the pool.

When the sunflowers are full grown and early morning photo of their reflections off the undisturbed water, will make for a pretty photo. 

The chickens!

-Garrett