A hot summer update on the garden.
Oh my it's hot! Temperatures are wonky again.
It is going to be extremely hot, 104F instead of the normal 71F.
This year has been crazy and a hard year for growing. All squash and pumpkins failed after replanting 4 times. We had a frost mid july (normally the last frost date is mid may and recent years it's been in april.)
Some miracle seeds survived the digestion of pigs and cows so just recently a few pumpkin plants popped up and they seem to grow like crazy so lets just trust them instead of our calender. Same goes for 2 or 3 zucchini plants.
Since it's warm and dry we started harvesting some of our potato plants.
We always plant at least two varieties to have early and late ones. The early ones are sooooo delicous but they are prone to disease and do not store well. So about 1/4th of our potatoes are early ones and we can enjoy them until autumn. Then we switch to the late variety which is hardy and stores well for our winter supply. I want two more varieties maybe something to make great tasting chips or is especially good when baked. We'll see...
The hot weather also means we need extra care for the animals. Our does have a pasture connected to their stall so they can head in when they want.
You know it's hot when your chickens are all under the eggmobile.
Blue, the flock queen is being a nasty broody and kicks everyone out. That is why they are all underneath. The roosters and the leftover hampshire hen are still making their rounds every so often. Crazy chickens!
Sometimes they stand over the water and hang their feathers to cool down. They could go for a swim (don't worry it's shallow) and I had chickens that did that. Seems like the Jersey's are not that fond of water.
The pigs are.. being pigs. Moving from mud to shade and back.
Amazingly these pigs are 1,5 month apart in age but definitely not in size. They are best buds, at night the Kune is always sleeping on top of the other.
The corn in the wannabe food forest is still thriving. You might not be able to see but there is alfalfa, kale and strawberry growing in that spot as well. Next year I want to incorporate some beans too!
Wooh! Too hot!
Cool idea planting strawberries with corn! Do you use it to insulate them over the winter?
What zone are you in? We had an awesome spring and summer. Last Frost was the first week in April, and I think we still haven't hit 100F. Zone 8a, north Central Texas. I actually think the forecast high today is in the upper 80s!
We are supposed to be zone 8 but I disagree whoever put that map out. I think 7 is more accurate.
The strawberries were actually some leftover plants that I planted on a whim. Large weeds grew over them and I forgot they existed until I send the chickens through. Apparantely the strawberries feel at home there and are covering the forest floor. That is a good thing because these young trees are not able to produce/drop enough leaves yet to make their own cover.
Since then I just plant random things in between the trees.
I really want to send the pigs in to turn it over just for a little bit. The trees are still a bit too thin to take a on a butt-scratching pig. Maybe next year although we are not sure if we have pigs then. We still have a tiny bit of beef, a moderate amount of pork and plenty of chicken in the freezer. This year we will add our two bucks and at least the large pig.
So in terms of meat I don't think we need them next year.
Food forested pork sounds positively divine! I did the same thing with random plantings in my food forest this year. So glad I did, it made a world of difference. How old is your forest?
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We started constructing it three years ago. We bought this land as empty pasture, no fences, trees, shrubs.. nothing! Some trees came up as volunteers after the pigs tore the ground up (isn't a seed bank amazing!!). I covered the area with woodchips to keep out most of the grass long enough for other things to settle in.
We have a lot of issues with diseased trees in this country so we did buy a chesnut which will be the mother tree of all future chesnuts on our property.
I also replanted a lot of trees that we could get from building sites and other people. Just young trees where you can still get to the roots.
This country is being foolish. Once a tree gets a disease it needs to be removed and that species isn't replanted. As a result we don't have that much diversity left. One of the remaining trees is the oak.. and guess what.. this has become a huge problem due to the oak processionary caterpillar we now seem to have. It's on the news every week, people are getting seriously hurt or blind.
Sometimes I think there is no cure for this country...
If I ever aquire some unexplainable amount of money I will make my own country somewhere on an island. Homesteaders only, make your own home, barter goods and keep the diversity in nature since you depend on it.
At least the pigs look happy! :D
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We put a lap pool in the hoophouse coop for the broilers when it's that hot. We put 2 pint size ice cubes in there also. They fight over who is going to stand in the pool!
This was their first day with the lap pool.....
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