First Day of Winter

Please enjoy this four minute video taken in the garden today on a foggy, drippy morning.

We have Babies!

We have babies! Bewick’s Wren babies, that is.

We have a male wren that hangs around our yard every year, making nests. Apparently the male wren makes several nests each year to impress the female, and then she chooses where she wants to live. Well, the male has never attracted his female to our yard before, that I know of. I guess his nests were not good enough, or our yard not safe enough. But this year, I noticed a nest going in the Williamsburg jar house that we have on Adam’s train shed. And a little while later, I surprised Mama Wren by looking inside. She flew out, startled, and I was mad that I scared her. I took this picture of the nest, but I didn’t think she came back.

She did! And yesterday I noticed cheeping! So today I sat outside and filmed one of the birds coming back to the nest to feed the babies. It’s only 30 seconds long.

This makes me very happy, indeed. I hope I can see the babies fledge.

This weekend, we noticed a few things: One, the weather was going to be good for the next week (we were told HOT), and two, the tomatoes needed transplanting into bigger pots. I decided to go ahead and just plant them in the ground. It’s way too early. Here’s how I know: I just looked at the weather for the next week and it’s totally changed. It’s not going to be hot at all. Argh. Oh well, the tomatoes are in, and now it’s up to them to survive.

40 varieties. Oh, I used paint stirrers as my compostable plant labels, this time. They are quite large and stick up out of the ground beautifully, so I don’t have to squint to see them.

Next weekend we’ll hope to get basil and cilantro planted, plus beans and cucumbers. The peppers need a while longer in the greenhouse, which is good, since the shallots and garlic aren’t ready to come out yet. Although it’s getting closer to that time!

First Day of Spring

Five minutes of new spring in my garden.

Weekly Walkthrough: The Transition

April is that month for us, the one where every weekend is just a blur of activity. This week, we get two new chickens, open the bee hive, get the tomatoes and peppers in the ground, get the stakes and trellising up, and check all the drip lines. Thanks for watching!

Weekly Walkthrough: Good Soil

Tom and I filled the raised beds with a top-dressing of 'veggie mix' soil from our local Sloat garden center in Danville, in preparation for summer planting. 

We watch the drones come home - every day they go out to a 'drone congregation area,' which is a in a secret location, in the hopes of meeting and mating with a queen. They come home about 4 pm, bumbling and loud. It's fun to watch them.

I also visit Annie's Annuals in Richmond, thanks to an unexpected gift card. I was able to get some plants for the shady porch, the pollinator garden where Ginny the chicken eats any seeds I put out, and for the pallet planter which has up until now housed strawberries (they simply need better nutrition than what I can give them in that pallet). 

Thanks for watching!