Farmer Friday; Things are Exploding Around Here!

Cilantro in bloom

Whoa! Things have been crazy around here this week! The garden is exploding with produce, flowers are blooming, bees buzzing, pesky rats, mice and squirrels have all shown up (and wiped out several crops!) Chicks and ducklings are hatching and growing like crazy.

Cilantro, aka Chinese Parsley is entirely edible, root, leaves, flowers, seeds and all. The seeds are known as the spice Coriander, but there are varieties that are slower going to seed, that are grown for the leaves. Cilantro is sort of an acquired taste. I find you love it or hate it, but once you develop a taste for it you actually crave it. I often snack on it while working. Cilantro in my climate is a winter weed, growing well while it is cool and damp, then running to seed when it gets hot. I always leave a few plants to bloom even if I don't need the seed. Great bee and butterfly fodder and I often see a lot of ladybugs on the plants. Cilantro will not grow in the summer heat, in fact the seeds won't even germinate when the soil warms up.

Collard greens

This is probably the last week for this patch of collard greens, it is trying hard to go to seed and a lot of leaves were damaged in the heavy winds last week.

part of the small hoophouse

The little hoop house has a motley collection of chard, lettuces and potted seedlings. along with a couple of flowers and a flowering radish.

A giant red mustard and chard

A Giant Red Mustard volunteered in the chard bed and is going to seed. The chard is also trying to bolt. The nice thing about chard is that if you cut them back and give them some fresh compost they will go back to making leaves. These plants are over a year old.

Snapdragon

I grew this snapdragon from a cutting. It is easy to do, after they are done blooming cut the stem back and when the new shoots are big enough cut them off and put in some fine potting soil or seed starting mix. Keep in the shade and keep moist. They will grow new roots quickly.

Scarlet Kale

I don't have enough of the Scarlet Kale to bunch by itself, so you will find a few leaves mixed in with the Red Russian for now.

Dahlia seedling at perfect size for transplanting

This dahlia seedling is at the perfect stage for transplanting. Note how it does have roots through out the space BUT it is not root bound. Set in a bigger pot or the ground it is ready to take off and keep growing. Any plant held in a too small pot too long will get root bound and then it will try and bloom at a small size, even if transplanted later it will never make as good a showing as when moved at the right time. I transplanted about 60 of these into one gallon pots this week. Dinner plate dahlias from Baker Creek Heirlooms.

Dahlias all potted up

mixing potting soil; peat moss, worm castings, perlite

Black Beauty Tomato blooming

assorted pepper plants in new pots

weeding the beets aka cutting greens for the chickens

radish and carrot sprouts

The kittens grew up

Sweet Magnolia, purple snap peas, blooming

picking snap peas

8 pounds and 12 ounces of snap peas

Ameraucana baby

All Kinds of Cheeping goin' on!

mystery flower

I tossed out wildflower and other seeds over the winter and this is one of the things popping up. Have no idea what it is, but it is a pretty little blue flower. Forget me Not perhaps?

planting carrots

The baby mustard got tough and was trying to bolt so I fed it all to the chickens and worked up the bed. Normally I would broadcast carrot seed this time of year, but we have been pretty warm and dry so I used my summer sowing technique. With my triangular hoe I make a little furrow and sprinkle some worm castings in the bottom, sow my seeds and cover with more castings. The  worm castings are rich in organic matter, soluble plant foods and even plant growth hormones. They will help keep the seeds moist and provide excellent nutrition for the seedlings. I planted a short row of Amarillo Yellow, Pusa Rudhira (bright red from India, supposed to have very high lycopene content) and Atomic Red. I planted 2 rows of Rainbow Mix. I watered them in well and covered them with a row cover.

52 Tomato plants going in

Last year at this time I was putting tomato plants into 1 gallon pots, in case we had a late frost and I needed to bring them in. This year I am more daring and have put them straight into the ground under row covers. This is the 'way back' garden. Some of this years tomato varieties are Snow White, Black Cherry, Berries & Cream, Yellow Pear, Chocolate Pear along with Black Beauty and Black from Tula.

3rd Hatch of the season

I now have 3 hatches of chicks (and some baby ducks!) with several more to go. Some of the cuties in the last hatch are for a friend of mine and some are for me. Baby ducks are just so stink' adorable!

Chicks & Ducks Oh My!

Ducklings hatched May 15

My day job has been pretty crazy of late so I just haven't had time to take pictures and put a post together. Here is a little update.


The Welsh Harlequin ducklings that hatched in May are growing like weeds. The are now in that gangling teenage phase and look like little dinosaurs. They are still for sale, so if you are near Globe, Arizona email me at hysong AT cableone   DOT net.

Young Easter egger with a juvenile Welsh Harlequin drake.

Also available are two older brothers of the little ducklings. All of the older girls have been sold except one I"m keeping for myself.

See that Easter egger in there with him? I just love their poofy cheeks. That comes from their Ameraucauna parentage.

Easter Eggers

The fun thing about Easter eggers is that they can be any color and pattern. They are not a true breed, but a mix of Ameraucauna with other breeds. True Ameraucauna only come in 8 recognized colors. EE's can look like anything. The EE girls also tend to come into lay quicker than the purebreds.

Some of these are from two Easter egger parents and some have an Easter egger daddy with a Welsummer mom. They should lay a light olive green egg, although plain brown is also a possibility. The ones with two EE parents will lay light blue or green eggs.

Buff Orpingtons

The Buff Orpingtons hatched in March are somewhat disappointing. About half of them have yellow legs when they should be white. So all the  yellow legged boys will be heading for freezer camp, while the yellow legged girls are up for sale as layers. You would not want to breed from them and get more yellow legs, but they are super friendly and will make nice, light brown egg layers. A couple of these try to sit in my lap or even fly up on my shoulder when I hang out with them.

Easter Eggers hatched May 3

I still have some Easter egger chicks which hatched May 3. These are younger siblings to the ones in the picture above. The boys are just getting their red combs so we should be able to sex them pretty well, at least 75% accurate right now. These are all for sale and if you take the whole bunch I'll make you a smoking deal because I need pen space!

eggs from 6-17-13

I have such fun with my birds and I love to collect all the different colors of eggs! I just wish the camera could pick up the subtle differences in shades in the blue and green ones, they are very hard to photograph!

From L to R: Black Copper Marans, Easter egger, Buff Orpington and Buff crosses, Welsummers.

Ducklings

Harley & family

Last summer a friend gave me some ducklings, mostly runner ducks crossed with Welsh Harlequins. But one drake looked to be pure WH. Harley is really beautiful with his emerald green head and wing bars, with black and brown on his white body. So I kept him and I got a pretty female from my friend too. She's a little light and does not have as much color on her as I've seen on other WH girls.

She doesn't have a name, I just think of her as Harley's girl or Mamma Duck. She started laying at New Years and laid every day, without a single break until mid April when she went broody.

Now I had read that hatching duck eggs in an incubator is harder than chicken eggs. But I had several hatches of 90-100%. Mamma duck is not very big and was trying to cover too many eggs so I put some in the incubator and left her with 13.

Last week Mamma hatched 10 of her 13 eggs and 2 more babies hatched in the incubator. As soon as they were dried off I gave them to her and everyone has been doing fine.  Harley doesn't bother the babies at all. Oh but don't make Mamma upset because Harley will come to her rescue and Mamma will charge if you try to get to the babies!

All of these babies are for sale, so if you are looking for Welsh Harlequins and are near Globe, Arizona, contact me! (hysong AT cableone DOT net)

Mobile Chicken Coop

My new coop is finished except for a couple of minor things like finding my tin snips so I can fit the metal on the roof to the edges better and nail it down all the way around and putting actual roosts inside.

It is now installed in the new pen and the older chickens have been moved in. I've also moved a couple of 'meaners' ducks in with them. These are some Muscovy's that are pulling feathers and are generally being mean to the other ducks.

This coop is inside an enclosure of 6' chicken wire with two strands of electric fence for predator prevention.

Once I moved out the big chickens and the meaner ducks I was able to open up the baby pen and let out the little ducklings. I think I might have a pair of pure Welsh Harlequins, while the other three look like crosses with some Harlequin markings, runner duck bodies and one with a crest on its head.

As soon as the weather cools off a bit more I will be having some duck dinners as most of the 11 Muscovys that I bought appear to be drakes.

Garden & Poultry Tour

Eggplant

Well tons of stuff going on around here. We've had a slight break in the heat with some humidity and some rain so things are really taking off. I swear some things like squash vines grow a foot overnight.

I'm going to link up with Oregon Cottage's Garden party, go check out all the pretty gardens!

Lots of new stuff coming along too. Another eggplant, more a pinky lavender color which is really pretty. I think this is eggplant #8, I'll have to check.

Black Tail Mountain Watermelon

The Black Tail Mountain melons are setting fruit.

King of the Garden Lima

The King of the Garden Lima beans are running up the trellis. These are giant limas, speckled maroon. Peter Henderson Co. sold them at the turn of the century, another name for them is Leviathan. These are big plants, too. Last time they went 14 feet tall.

Green house bed

I'm kind of a lazy gardener in some ways. If things sprout in the compost and aren't too much in the way, I tend to leave them. Here is the bed in the greenhouse, you can see a cantaloupe, an onion going to seed, some nasturtiums and a tomato. The feathery leaves in front are sweet alyssum.

Hale's Best Jumbo

Further down the bed is the first melon to set on these plants and what a whopper it is! I've never seen one so big; I just hope it tastes good!

Tromboncinno

The tromboncinno vines have run more than 10 feet long along the house and are now putting out a lot of side branches. Tons of male flowers every day.

baby squash

And now finally, what looks like the first female blossoms coming on. Sure hope they start setting fruit!

ducklings

Now onto the poultry tour! Two months ago I had 9 chickens. Today I have 16 ducks and 13 chickens, with possibly more on the way. (I have a broody hen that should hatch eggs by Friday).

There are 5 baby ducklings in the house. They started close to the same size but now two are much larger than the other three. Either pure Harlequin or Harlequin x Runner.

It maybe a couple more months before we can determine sex on these. But all the boys will be named Dinner.

Muscovies

Yesterday I went and picked up some Muscovies. I have been looking for this breed of duck for awhile. They are not related to other ducks, but can breed with them, although the babies are mules. They say the meat is much leaner and tastes different from other duck meat. I got quite a variety of colors and patterns, can't wait to see them all grown up. I don't expect they will lay until spring though.

Welsummer or Welsummer X Dorking

Still not sure if the four poults I got from a friend are pure Welsummer or crossed with Dorking. They are just beginning to get their combs and so far everyone looks about the same, so it will be a while yet before I know if there are any roosters. If so, their name is Dinner.



Bringing in the Muscovies caused quite a ruckus in the yard. I blocked off the baby pen where my Buff Orpington pullets had been living, so I could put the ducks in there until they get used to their new home. The pullets are getting big enough and have been running around with the big chickens for awhile now, but they keep trying to get back in their baby house..

Poultry, Melons, Squash & More

Ducklings, about 1 week old

Well, I've moved the ducklings to a rabbit cage with a wire floor and a pan under it, so taking care of them will be easier and less messy. They also have more room to run around. As soon as they are feathered they will go outside in the chicken pen.

Welsummers

The young Welsummers went out yesterday. They are so wild and I don't have the time right now to tame them down, I just went ahead and put them out with the big chickens. They are half the size of my Buff Orpington pullets but they have made themselves right at home with the adults, even checking out the adults house. The Buffs are still scaredy cats when it comes to mingling with the adults.

Broody Hen

I also have a hen gone broody, she was quite persistent to sit on the egg nest so I made her a nest in a dog crate with about 10 eggs. When I first moved her over she was pretty upset, but it was almost dark and soon she settled right in. I'm not sure how hatchable the eggs will be, some of them had been in the refrigerator, but I'll try and candle them in a week or two and see how many look good.

Mr Roo and a couple of the girls

Mr. Roo has grown up into a very handsome rooster. However he is also getting to be mean. I have bruises on my knee and thigh where he is hitting me for no reason at all. I move slowly and quietly in the pen, careful not to upset the hens, and then BAM! here he comes. So unfortunately he is going to become chicken stew very soon. I am wondering if part of it is because I did not raise him from a chick, so he doesn't see me as the boss or the food source?

New Bed, Lima's on trellis

I did get that carrot/potato bed dug and will be planting some small artichoke plants out this evening, with black eyed peas in between. This bed is next to a large trellis out front and has some King of the Garden (aka Leviathan) lima beans starting up it.

artichoke plants

Baby Blue Hubbard Squash

The Baby Blue Hubbards are going like gang busters, I think there are 5  or 6 on this plant with more coming on.

Bee Balm

The Bee Balm, Monarda citriodorata is blooming. Click on the pic to see it larger, you can see the bees and hover flies that are draw to the flowers. This is also supposed to be a good tea plant but I haven't tried it yet. Self seeding annual.

eggplant

More eggplant are coming on, both white and purple ones.

Melons on the greenhouse trellis

There are at least 4 more large cantaloupes coming on the greenhouse trellis.

Society Garlic

The Society Garlic is blooming again. The flowers are great in a salad or as a garnish, tasting like a very  mild garlic. It is totally rootbound in it's pot but I haven't decided where to plant it out yet.

tomato wilt

On a sad note I have lost about 5 large tomato plants due to some wilt disease. Here is one of them, about 2 or 3 days ago it just looked like it needed a drink of water. (and the soil was a bit dry so I gave the bed a good long soak) and this morning the leaves are shriveling and drying up. I'm hoping no more succumb, as I didn't plant that many large canning tomatoes.