Sunday, May 1, 2011

Spring Green Akeys Farm Update Part 2

Lilacs are in bloom! Nothing says spring like the smell of lilacs in the air.

I planted 1 row of zucchini in hopes for an early crop. The other 2 rows will get planted in a few weeks as the weather warms up. I am testing a few of these 'hotcaps' to see how they do.

The potatoes are all planted. This year we were smart and planted them in order from Early harvest to very late harvest. Didn't really think about that this last year and I learned my lesson. It's a lot of potatoes out there. I really hope they all do well. Though if they do well I have no idea if the CSA can eat that many potatoes? We'll sure try.

I am in love with my garlic yet again this year. The cool weather and the wonderful rain is helping them out. They are looking so good. Each year the garlic plot has doubled in size, if that keeps up it won't take long till the entire farm is garlic. I do think I will try to double the garlic for 2012 as I still see varieties out there that I want to try.

I love when all animals share the shaded areas in the pasture.

And speaking of pasture. It is growing! This year, as much as we want to put the animals on this pasture, we must wait for fall/winter as the grasses need to get established. If we put the animals out there now they would pull the grass up root and all. That would not be good. So these grasses will grow tall and we'll cut them once for some hay for winter. Then in the fall/winter we'll be able to let them graze.

This year we have 2 bee boxes. Unfortunately that means no honey again as we need a year of comb building and the honey that the bees do make needs to be for them to survive the winter.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Mmm, garlic, I love it because it lasts me most of the winter. By February I'll open up a head and maybe half the cloves will be shriveled and brown, but the rest are still good, and I am reminded of the joys of fresh CSA produce. I just used the last one from last year about 3 weeks ago.

Annette said...

You are evidently storing better than I am- where do you keep them? Mine usually die out by January and then I resort to the garlic I dried and froze. Unfortunately we had an accident that involved a young child accidentally dropping a quart of frozen garlic and it was in a glass quart jar. So no one is missing garlic more than me.

I tried 3 new varieties this year and 1 of them is looking absolutely fabulous and must grow well in our climate.

All the light rains are going to make for big bulbs! I'm very excited.