Chickens. 7.25.15

Earlier this summer, Ning gave away 2 of the post-menopausal hens for pets.  Then another died of unknown causes.

Three weeks ago, I bought 3 Rhode Island Red pullets.  They are growing nicely.

Then some mysterious person or persons, added 2 Leghorn roosters to the chicken yard.  Which resulted in battles and discontent and bloody feathers.  I found someone to take the roosters off my hands, and we are at peace.

The rooster and hen won't let me near the pullets.  They are very protective.  I think we will start getting eggs again in a month.

Stone Fruit Seeds. 7.25.6.15

El Dorado Genetic Dwarf Peach Seeds.   7.25.15

Peacotum Seeds.  7.25.15

 After letting the dried pits sit for a couple of weeks, I decided to remove the seeds from the pits. 

A Vice-grip works almost perfectly every time.  One precaution:  This needs to be done with the seed, vice-grip, and hand, in a plastic food bag.  The seed snaps open so suddenly, the seed and pit parts can fly across the room if not contained.

I was surprised at how puny and dried out looking the El Dorado seeds were.  Maybe they are not viable.  I placed them on a wet paper towel, folded, placed into a jam jar, and they are now in the refrigerator.

Not shown, two regular size peach seeds were a bit bigger, but still didn't look great.

Maybe this is an issue for early ripening peaches.  Or maybe I should not have let them sit for a few weeks.  Or maybe this is how they should look.

The peacotum seeds, same duration, are a little bigger but not much.

The apricot seeds, one week less, look much more robust.  That's either because they are better seeds, or more air-tight pit, or the shorter time.

Apricot Seeds.  7.25.15

I have the peacotum seeds soaking in some water overnight.  Maybe they will plump up.  If so, the same might be helpful with the El Dorado seeds.

Veggies 7.23.15

Veggies.  7.23.15

Getting more and more veggies.  Tomatoes, a few every day.  Ditto for summer squash, sometimes zucchinis, sometimes the yellow summer squash.  I have not tasted the pale yellow crookneck squash yet.  They have an interesting oily feel to the skin.   The green beans are the first of the Romas.  We had an earlier crop of yellow wax beans.

As usual with zucchinis, we have too many.  We can shred some to feed the chickens.  I have given some away.

New Daylilies, 10 days later in the heat. 7.21.15

Daylily Carefree Peach, 10 days later.  7.21.15

 The new daylilies are surviving the 100F week after planting.  I watered every day.  The original cut foliage died off, leaving the start of new leaves.  I  think this is promising.

These are tough plants.  I don't know of a lot of perennials that would take digging up, hosing to bare root, chop roots and top, then plant and expose to 100F sun.

Daylily Strawberry Candy, 10 days later. 7.21.15

Daylily Siloam Virginia H. 10 days later.  7.21.15

Starting Buckwheat for Green Manure / Cover Crop / Bee Forage. 7.21.15

Bed prep for buckwheat.  7.21.15

Today I took a little time to prep the former borage bed for Buckwheat.  I planted the borage late winter.  In this location, the borage plants grew to 5 foot tall, some 6 foot.  Might have been influenced buy the organic nitrogen, and might have been due to whatever was already in the soil.  The soil has been used, either as a dumping location for fireplace or grill ashes, or was a burn location.  Lots of biochar and ashes.  That may not be a good thing, for many reasons.  But the borage grew like gangbusters.

 The borage has dried out and was done blooming.  I wanted to collect seeds, but not up to it.  It pulled out  very easy, leaving an almost weed-free bed.  Quite a bit of water was needed to soften the soil, then worked it shallowly, smoothed with garden rake, spread buckwheat seeds, smoothed a little more, and watered.

Original book source: Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885, Gera, Germany.  Image via commons.wikipedia.org

From what I read, buckwheat is an excellent plant for conditioning the soil (green manure, cover crop).  It crowds out most weeds - which apparently borage also does - and is killed by the first frost.  Buckwheat grows in hot summer, and has a fast life cycle.  I don't know yet, but am hoping it will bloom in the fall.  Buckwheat is also considered excellent bee forage.  A comment on solarbeez blog states buckwheat started flowering 3 weeks after planting.  Mother Earth News states some bloom starts as little as one week from planting.  From Mother Earth News:  "Buckwheat is one of the best sources of high quality protein in the plant kingdom. It's easy to grow, harvest, and process; it prospers on soils too poor for other crops; and it's not susceptible to any major disease or pest problems. On top of all that, buckwheat is an excellent smother crop for weed control, a superb green manure crop, and a legendary nectar source for honeybees.".  From this extension website, Buckwheat is not tolerant of hot, dry conditions.  I'm thinking it will need the same watering as I am currently doing for squash and corn, until fall arrives.  Never having grown buckwheat, some experimentation is likely needed.  Also from the extension site:  "Buckwheat can be raised for grain if planted by mid-July in northern states or by early August in the South.  If we want to try, according to Mother Earth News, a gardener can get a usable amount of buckwheat for food in 40 square feet - a little more than my raised beds.  I guess, for us or for the chickens.

The seed package was very large - 5 pounds.  Plan: pull the weeds out of the 3 raised beds I lost to weeds, and plant buckwheat.  The area planted here is about the same as 1 1/2 raised bed.  Ditto for the garlic bed, once the garlic is harvested.  Ambition and energy, those are the limitations.