Mother's Day

Well, Mother's Day weekend proved to be pretty awesome in terms of weather.  The temperature didn't get over 80...I'm not even sure it got over 75 degrees yesterday.  We all know how I feel about that.  I was able to get so much done this weekend in the yard/garden.  

I started with all the soaker hose issues in the vegetable garden.  I had to rearrange one hose completely so I could splice the incoming water.  The peppers were getting way more water than the tomatoes.  I personally like tomatoes better, so I really want them to grow.  They have been growing, in fact, and the task of pulling up the soaker hose proved to be a little more challenging than originally planned.  I managed to get the hose out and then proceeded to clothesline myself while putting it back down in the reverse direction.  I'm sure it would have been a comical sight to any bystanders, which thankfully there weren't any.  After I got the hose laid out, I tried the new set-up and it works really well.  Everything is more evenly watered.  

I discovered a negative in the awesome watering set-up...possibly fueled by my overzealous watering...weeds!  There suddenly are so many.  Luckily most come out really easily.  All the tall weeds (the ones that grow straight out of the ground) came out with a gentle tug.  The one that is making me especially grumpy is the proliferation of Bermuda grass.  While not technically considered a weed (most of Fresno has this stuff as a front lawn), it is a complete nuisance in the vegetable garden.  Two ways to get this stuff out.  Kneeling and actually getting your fingers around the base of each plant...they have feelers that drop roots as well...and pull out.  Or, spray the stuff with Round Up.  I opted for the latter...I had stopped at the farm store to see when I worked next and they had the stuff on sale.  Yes, please.  I had to spray carefully, so as not to dammage anything good in the garden.  I did well...only inhaled some of it once.  I should be good to go as far as weeds in my lungs.

So, feeling like I should accomplish more in the garden, I heard somewhere that you should plant marigolds in the garden to repel insects, rabbits, and other undesirables.  Me being, well, me...decided to Google it and find out what the story is.  Of course, there is no definitive answer to this question...just a lot of speculation.  Some say that the marigolds will fend off certain kinds of beetles that will cause harm to any plants.  Some say that they will protect your tomatoes from evil creatures.  One article said that planting an entire row of marigolds at the entrance to your garden will keep rabbits away...this seems rather suspect.  We don't have a rabbit problem, so it didn't really concern me all that much.  We do have what appears to be a squirrel problem, but that's an entirely different story and doesn't affect my garden at all.  After reading several articles, which all had conflicting content, I decided to plant marigolds in the garden anyway.  They look nice and cheery.  Reason enough to plant.  

One last note about the garden...my little pea seeds have sprouted and are growing quickly.  Which, of course, has now led to another project.  I only have a trellis for the green beans.  I think I am going to have to put in another t-post and string some string or wire from the t-post to the trellis for the peas to grow on.  Maybe next year, I will do another row of goat fencing, like I did on the other end for the tomatoes.  It works really well, as the tomatoes have already figured out that their job is to scale the wire fence.  Well that and produce pounds of deliciousness. Soon...

Since the demise of Big Bird, Thunder is taking his role as head honcho pretty seriously.  He has been ruling the roost, so to speak.  The hens seem to be pretty happy these past few days.  Egg production has nearly doubled.  About time, I say.  It could also be the cooler weather...I don't know.  I decided that while Fish and her friend cleaned out the babies' tub, I would put the babies in with the teenagers.  While I don't think they are ready to permanently be in there, I though it might be okay to let them hang out for a few minutes.  A few minutes should have been okay, but my distractable mind left them in there for nearly an hour.  First, my child came running in the house laughing...apparently she and her friend had to capture one of the teenagers that escaped the little coop since I left the top open.  Not sure how she got out, but I suspect the babies may have taught the teenagers about the chick stack.  Probably some sort of deal like, we will teach you the chick stack, but you have to leave us alone.  I'm pretty sure the teenagers reneged on that deal.  When I went out to check on them, both babies were wedged in the corner behind the water container, trying to get out of the coop.  All they had managed, though, was to get their respective heads stuck in the chicken wire and were peeping quite loudly.  Part of me wanted to run in and get the camera, but the more reasonable part of me said that maybe it would be best to extricate them from the wire first.  They seemed a little dazed, so that was a perfect time to grab them and return them to the nursery.  While all these shenanigans were taking place, the teenagers were going about their business like nothing had happened.   They are a crafty bunch.  

A rare moment of harmony in the halfway house.  I'm pretty sure this was taken immediately after the "chick stack for peace and quiet" deal was made.  

Quite a productive weekend it was.  Lots of watering issues solved.  Weeds were sprayed.  The last of the herbs planted.  Chairs painted.  Coop water relocated.  Coop cleaned.  But, as always...a long list of things yet to do.