Winter Gardening

Isn't it funny how temperature is somewhat relative? Today our high was 51 degrees and oddly, it felt wonderful outside! Homestead Man and I headed out in hoodies and layered long sleeve shirts, but before we were done we had both shed all but the last shirt and shoved the sleeves up past our elbows. Now, in the summertime, I'd step out to a 51 degree evening and say, "Brrrr...I'd better run back inside and grab a sweatshirt!"

Anyway, back to the gardening bit. I originally was heading straight for the coop to let the hens out then to beeline right back into the warm house, but along the way I noticed that I could still feel my hands...in fact, the sun felt pretty amazing. I thought I'd hook the garden hose up and water the trees real quickly. Then I remembered that I'd meant to slowly but surely begin shoveling the straw from the hen house around my fruit trees to give them a boost for spring. After cleaning out half of the coop, I thought of the pile of rock we'd rescued from a demolition site in our hometown so I popped my head in the back door & "invited" Homestead Man to come out and help me move the boulders to the backyard to create a new flowerbed around the backside of the kiddos' sandbox. While we were shuffling rocks about, my youngest joined us outside and pulled up some of last summers' dried up sunflowers and added them to the burn pile and the hens were busy at work stirring compost and cleaning up the last of the tomatoes that had fallen. Whew! Before I knew it, one thing had led to another and we'd accomplished quite a bit of winter gardening!

Just goes to show what can happen when you take advantage of one nice January day, doesn't it?

I love to visit the backyard in the winter and imagine what it will look like this year. When we moved into this house, the "yard" was just clay...no grass...no trees, absolutely nothing. Each year the trees grow, the bushes thicken, and we add more garden beds. It's so much fun to see the plants mature and to hope that this will be the year of the bumper crop of blackberries, or that the blueberries will make it past June this time. Every year we learn and adjust as the yard turns into our own little Eden. Here's a pic of our veggie garden last May:



I can't wait to see what it will look like this summer! I know every little bit that we get done on these nice winter days will help make this growing season that much better! So, tell me...what kind of winter gardening have you been doing? I'd love to hear tips about how to make the best of our off-season!

Some pics...

Here are the onions!!

And this is the backyard garden bed...the one with the onions, potatoes, beets, carrots, and loose leaf lettuces. Mom informed me that it looked like a graveyard. Ummm....thanks, Mom. The soil is heaped up in order to increase drainage in our heavy clay soil. Also, I needed to be sure the veggies got the most benefit out of the enriched soil we provided, so I heaped it up and left the walkways hard clay beds covered in loose hay. Hopefully it won't look like a graveyard after the freshly dug graves are covered in lush greenery.../sigh/

We also have another, larger bed out west of the privacy fence and two square foot beds you see in the background. I worked today on creating four container gardens in front of the chicken coop...perhaps pics of the decorated coop will come soon!!

Everything's comin' up roses!!

The fruit trees are just beautiful right now! I couldn't resist taking tons of photos when I took a morning walk around the OAH on Tuesday morning. These are the blooms on the pear tree (above).

This one's the apricot tree you saw in the chicken coop photos.

These bright pink blooms are on a miniature weeping peach tree...the most unique of our four peach trees by far! Aren't the blooms an amazing color?

The blackberries are showing signs of life! Check out these tiny, perfect leaves on that beautiful reddish-brown cane.

Last, but not least, the wando peas! These are really outpacing the other peas we planted. It will be interesting to compare yields from these two so we'll know what grows best in our climate for future garden plans.

We are getting some cold rain this morning...and it's cold enough that it was frozen on the cars when we got out to go to school, so I'll be checking on the trees and garden later today to see how they are faring. Everything we've planted thus far can reportedly take a bit of a freeze...we'll see.

As for the chickens, I moved the bunny hutch in with the little chicks. Ginger's hutch has a ramp that opens down so she can come and go as she pleases...of course, she has never had the opportunity to test this out because I was afraid she'd squeeze under the fence and get away. Now that she is in with the chicks, they are having a great time! The chicks were a bit hesitant at first, but they warmed up quickly. So, Ginger will play with the chicks awhile then hop up into her hutch for a quick nap and snack. I gave the chicks comfy shelter filled with lamb's wool (too short to spin into yarn) and they seem to be handling the cold quite well. I'm keeping a close eye on them today in case they need to come into the garage, but so far...so good.

Keep the comments coming on Tuesday's post! I love the ideas everyone has sent for prettin' up the chicken coop/bunny run. I hope to work on it over Spring Break...so stay tuned!

Chicken Coop...Need Advice...

We are pleased to present...the new chicken coop! It was made with tin salvaged from Granny and Grandpa's house when it was torn down and one of the salvaged wooden screen doors from the house. Dad kept the details secret, but he (and some of his friends) welded the frame so that it would "last forever." The metal frame is painted brown. It still needs a bit of work...I have to finish tying in the chicken wire on the top, create an enclosure inside the tin shelter area, and do some paintin' and prettyin' up over spring break (That's where you guys come in!), but I think our four ladies like it! They've been outside since we built it...scratching and flapping their new little wings like they own the place!

We've decided to name one of the hens "Nellie" (because it's just a great old fashioned name) and one of them "Amelia" (because that chick is always wanting to fly, so we decided to name her after Amelia Earhart). Any suggestions for two more great hen names??

You can see our apricot tree blooming just in front of the coop. Just to the left, planted against the fence, are two blueberry bushes. To the right of the coop are two teeny apple trees. This area of the yard will be positively heavenly as these bushes and trees mature and the chickens become an integral part of the OAH.

Please, please leave comments with suggestions to pretty up the chicken coop! I would like to paint the tin, but not the screen door or the brown framework. I'm also considering finding an antique sign to hang on the tin. What color would you paint it? What kind of sign would you hang? Do you have links to other great looking coops? Do share!!