First planting in the big garden...

We planted four rows of potatoes (Kennebec and Norland), one and a half rows of snap peas, one and a half rows of shelling peas, two varieties of carrots (Nelson and Danvers - one row each), and one row of beets in the big garden. We left two rows for beans to be planted later -- we're trying companion planting of the beans and potatoes to try to keep down Colorado potato beetles and Mexican bean weevil.

We're feeling so on top of things this year! Of course, that mostly has to do with the weird spring we're having so far. We feel so fancy this year, our row markers are made of cherry thanks to some scraps from Max. :)

Garden planting is started.. see the tiny little markers. :)

Potato marker

Snap pea marker

Watering the garden

Ouch, frost.

We got hit with a decent frost overnight, not something we normally have to deal with in the spring since we tend to be late getting stuff out. Let's hope everything fairs OK.

Update: seems everything is going to be OK, everything has thawed and nothing looks wilty.. yay!

Frosted strawberry

Frosted strawberries

Another frosted strawberry

Frosted cranberry

Frosted pak choi

Big garden is tilled!

We'll it's done. We did it. We expanded the big garden. *grin* It's about four times bigger than last year, though the plan is to only use the part we've been using and green manure/cover crop the rest to prepare for a multi-year rotation. Last year's plot is really looking nice, the soil is loosening up nicely and not as chunky as it was last year.

The biiiig garden

The coop now has windows!

Max had his crew pre-trim the windows for the coop for us, it made installation a breeze and they look awesome! We think the coop is looking great and couldn't be more excited!

Max hanging one of the side windows

Laurie and Max working together

Coop with windows installed

Asparagus and rhubarb

We were starting to worry that the helianthus had out-competed the asparagus in our back flower garden, but it's starting to shoot up! We've been planning to move these plants to the new asparagus raised bed, but weren't exactly sure where they were. Now we'll mark them and move them in either the fall or early next spring.

Asparagus shooting up!

Rhubarb is looking good again this year!

Spring spring spring!

Not much to say, so a bunch of pictures instead!

Expanded high-bush blueberry bed

Herb garden

Strawberry plants - looking good!

Pak Choi seedlings

Daffodils

And more daffodils

Wild ginger in bloom

Pretty bluets

Marsh marigold

Really is spring!

It really and truly is spring, there are wildflowers in bloom!

Anemone in bloom

Trout Lily (or Dog-tooth Violet) in bloom

More blueberry bushes and signs of spring!

We poached (OK, we were allowed to poach) three mature high-bush blueberry bushes from Laurie's parents. They are awesome, huge, wonderful things! We spent this evening enlarging our berry patch and moving the high-bush cranberry to another location to accommodate them. Looks like the gooseberries will be moving at some point in the future as well since they are showing somewhat invasive tendencies.

In the process of enlarging the berry patch

Daffodils in bloom, must be spring!

Catspaw - even the wildflowers are starting to come on!

Another seedling update...

Just another seedling update. :)

Tomato seedlings

Pepper seedlings

Chicken coop construction gallery posted..

Laurie created a gallery of pictures from the construction of the chicken coop, you can check it out here.

More weekend work

We Typar'd and tar-papered the coop today. We planted our new basswood tree down by the river, 3 new sugar maples on our property line, and a weeping willow on the other corner of our property. Our whole Fedco Trees order is now in the ground, yay! I managed to get some of the old tomatoes raked out of the big garden and got the rest of strawberries planted in the end of the cranberry bed. We're talking about expanding the big garden this year to allow for a multiple year rotation with cover crops to enrich the soil in the off years. If you're going to dream, dream big.

Tar-papering the coop - leftover tar-paper from the roof
and some Typar that Max had in his barn, thanks Max!

Can't you just see this full of low-bush blueberries???

Pussy willow bloom

New American Basswood - we can't wait for this to grow up,
their blooms smell heavenly and bees just love them

Weekend work

I finished up preparing all the raised beds, turning them and adding composted manure to each remaining bed as well as adding peat moss to the new blueberry bed. Laurie finished shingling the coop, planted the cranberries, prepared a bed and planted some flower seeds down by the river (where we're going to be married) and planted pak choi, swiss chard, cilantro, and beets in the first raised bed.

Work in the raised beds

Laurie finishing up the shingling

Daffodils in bloom

Hyacinth in bloom

Peonies coming up

Gardening!

Laurie got the rest of the raspberries planted today and I did some work in the raised beds getting them ready for the cranberries and the rest of the strawberries.

The well-documented seedlings

New high-bush blueberries

New strawberry plant

New raspberries

View of the coop from the compost pile

New berries planted!

Amy was so sweet and came over to babysit for us for a bit while we ran out to do some gardening tonight. I planted 50 Sparkle strawberry plants and 25 of the 50 Earliglow strawberry plants in the end raised bed. Laurie planted our four new high-bush blueberries (Bluecrop, Blueray, Northland, and Patriot) and the 10 Pathfinder raspberry canes. We still have 10 August Red raspberry canes to plant, as well as the remaining 25 Earliglow strawberry plants (which means turning the end of the cranberry bed into a second strawberry bed), and 20 American cranberry plants. Then there are always the new trees that need planting!

Strawberry bed mid-planting

New high-bush blueberries

Cranberries waiting to be planted

More work on the coop...

Paul's son and his friend came over to work on the coop again today, working on trimming out around the roof, shingling almost all of the roof (until the shingles ran out), and last-but-not-least cutting us a door hole! It's looking really good!

Coop raising (day two)

Max, Paul, and his son Brandon came over to do some more work on the coop today. They made amazing progress: getting the rafters up, both end walls up and sheathed, and the roof sheathed and tar-papered!

Rafters all in place

End walls framed and sheathed

Roof sheathed and tar-papered