State of the Homestead Spring 2024

While other parts of the US are experiencing snow, we seem to be having an early Spring. I generally don't trust the temperature until the end of March, so I'm bringing in my seedlings at night.

We've had some rough rain storms move through which is normal for March. That's another reason to keep fragile seedling indoors a few more weeks.

This year I experimented with "foreign" seeds. During my visit to Arizona last summer I collected all manner of seeds from plants that looked interesting.

I'm a bad scientist though. I bagged up the seeds and took pictures of the mature plants but I didn't number the picture with the seed, so they're all mystery seedlings. Why? Because I was sure I'd remember who belonged to what. Idiot.

Out of 10 mystery seeds, 8 sprouted nicely and are strong and straight.

I'm looking forward to growing red yucca, which I found in Texas. They looked good during the worst summer drought so I thought they'd make good landscaping plants at the pasture gate.

I also tried my hand at starting lavender from seed. Usually, I do cuttings, but I was curious to see how they would grow from seed.

Lavender takes a bit more work. It needs to chill for several weeks. And because the seeds were so tiny, I laid them on a wet paper towel, covered them with another wet paper towel and stuck them in a plastic bag for another couple of weeks. 

Once they sprouted, I carefully put them into seedling pots. So far, so good.

My new-to-me-vegetable is jicama. This was a hard seed to find as it only grows best in hot and humid climates. It took a long time to sprout but some of them are finally up. This one will take up to 9 months to harvest if I want the big tubers.

My biggest gamble are the fruit trees. I always said I'd never try them again, but this time instead of buying them locally, I went to Gurney's and ordered their dwarf trees.

Unfortunately, they were out of the peaches, but I ordered two apples, one black raspberry, and one bush cherry. Still waiting on the raspberry, but everything else is planted and staked.

I also bought two pear trees from a local nursery.

I've decided to try strawberries again too. This time I plan to net them to keep them away from birds. In the past I couldn't get a single strawberry that wasn't nibbled.

Speaking of wildlife, we have had a flush of hawks and crows lately. One hawk likes to perch a few feet from the chicken pen, no doubt hoping something tasty will escape the coop.

All the songbirds are making a racket (singing) from dawn to dusk. It won't be long before the hummingbirds arrive. 

I miss my goats and I kind of miss my quail, but this might be the year to go fallow on animals. I'm hoping I can convince Greg to build me a bee condominium that I can set out in the field. I'm not looking for honey, just pollinators. 

Greg dug up a 1200 square foot area that we seeded with wildflowers and sunflowers. Usually, he lets the field get tall so the existing wildflowers get to bloom. This year we're seeding with different wildflowers in the hopes of getting them to reseed and settle in.

The chickens are laying like crazy. They've been doing this since December. I didn't do anything differently. It's the first year layers that decided to put out extra early.

Ironically, the batch of chicks I hatched last year gave me nearly all hens. Only two out of twenty were roosters. That's never happened. I usually get half and half.

I desperately wanted to have my garage sale before April, but we've had rain every weekend, and more the next two weekends.

We've been prepping gardens on every dry day though, so I think at least they'll be fully planted by the time I go in for surgery.

My only chores left are planting the flower beds, moving another truckload of wood chips, and painting a guest bathroom. If there's time there are three more beds for us to weed and cover with weed barrier.

After that all I need to do is clean the house top to bottom and write an itinerary for Greg, giving him the timetable for feeding and medicating the dogs and cat.

How's the weather by you? What are your plans for 2024?

I go to the knee surgeon again for my pre-op appointment today. Surgery is scheduled for April 3rd.

I'm glad it's before the eclipse. We're supposed to be able to see a full solar eclipse on April 8 and I'd like to see it.

My neighbor has invited us to see it through his telescopes. If I feel up to it, Greg can drive us over there.

Will you be able to see totality of the eclipse where you live?

 

Check out Amazon's Spring Sale in Gardening!