Chickens

Got a piece of linoleum at the Scrap Exchange for 3 bucks. Easy clean up to just take it out and spray it down. Score!












The coop in it's permanent location. We had to level it out with bricks...in the process of lifting it to level it, two chicks got out and were running around wild!! It would have been fine if Bleu wasn't convinced they were dog treats! I'm not sure if she would have actually hurt them, but I sure wasn't going to sit around and find out. it was a fiasco for sure :) The apron around the bottom will keep animals from digging under the run to get to the chicks.




TA-DA!!







And now for the Beauties that will be enjoying the coop:



Little Bear and Houdini are Black Star Chicks. They will lay brown eggs.











Rebel is an Ameraucauna Chicken and will lay blue eggs.

The Basil Forest is getting bigger! Not long before it's HUGE!!










CHICKEN COOP!!!!! This is the coop in progress. The back of the coop will open so we can clean it out and collect the eggs. Our neighbor's have baby chicks and we are enjoying seeing them play in the yard. We can't wait to get our own!! We're gonna have 4 :) It was originally supposed to be an A-frame, but, even with my math degree, I was having trouble figuring out the angles. HA. This works just as well :)

Tiny Veggies

Hey There little guy!! I <3 lady bugs. She's taking care of the pepper plants for me :)












Tiny Tomatoes!! I was so surprised to see them so early! Can't wait till they're ripe to pick!










More tiny veggies!

First harvest of the season!!! Also, the SMALLEST strawberries I've ever seen. No bigger than a dime. We got 4, but they we so sweet and yummy!







The tomatoes are all planted and ready to GROW! We bought them at the Durham Farmer's Market this Saturday. 8 plants, 7 varieties, including a "Green Zebra." The name tells it all, but it's a striped green tomato! I'm looking forward to trying it :)






Johnny Jump Up's on the left, carrots on the right. From what I hear, carrots are pretty hard to grow (I've never tried), but we're giving it a go. Let's hope they turn out well :) We actually got the seeds free! I ordered a bunch of seeds from www.rareseeds.com and they sent us a free packet of carrots.






My spinach is sprouting!! Nothin' like home grown spinach. Tastes SO much better when it's picked fresh.

Welcome to the blog dedicated to documenting the evolution of our garden!! I love to watch things grow and develop, and then eat them!! Muahahaha! We've appropriately named this space "Basil Explosion" due to last summer's basil forest that we did not anticipate after planting so many seeds. After enjoy our "mistake" all summer AND winter, we're very likely to make a bigger "mistake" again this year :)

We planted these tulips last fall, and they are now a sure sign of warmer weather after a long and harsh winter! They are yellow and red, but the color filter on my camera creates <----- THAT really cool effect.










The mint exploded with the warm temperatures this week!







I planted the broccoli in the cold frame earlier this winter. If you look towards the back, you can tell that we had way more than I thought - the plants get a little closer together :) I am learning as I go - broccoli takes up a lot of space for only one head per plant. Given the small space we have, next year may not have quite so much broccoli, if any at all. We need a higher yield to make it worth time and effort.





POTATOES IN A TRASH CAN!!! That's right :) Far less work come harvest time. Just keep adding dirt and they grow up, not down. When you're ready to eat, no digging, just dump it all out! We are estimating ~150 potatoes from this harvest later this year.




More to come...