Growing Season 2012

Growing Season 2012 has come very early to the Clarktic Circle, and the Stones are ecstatic about it.  

We are at about 6 weeks ahead of the typical growing season in Clark.
At 34 weeks pregnant, Alethea is in the final 6 weeks,
give or take a week or two in either direction, of her growing season.  

This is what the garden looked like last May...

And this is what the garden looks like this May....

Farmer Tim and his Clarktic Farmlet Creations.

The un-seasonably warm spring is a welcome surprise to this expectant mama who is busy taking advantage of the weather to get some projects done before little Pebble is born.

Alethea and Pebble are covered in dust from sanding the patio furniture.

Alethea got all the patio furniture sanded and ready  for Tim to apply a fresh coat of stain,
but the weather  was fickle and forced him to wait for another day.  

Tim, being the extremely organized project man that he is, took full advantage of the early spring thaw to begin our planting season early.  He started a variety of seeds indoors on April 15th, grew them in the studio above the garage under an old aquarium light he wasn't using anymore, and moved them out to the green house today.

Interior view of the green house May 13, 2012.

We are taking a slightly different approach to where things are planted in the green house this year.  The cucumbers are planted on the north side of the green house (left) and the tomatoes are on the south side.  Last year the cucumbers grew so well that they blocked sunlight to the tomatoes.  We have herbs like basil and dill that Tim sowed directly into the green house soil on May 1st.  We are awaiting the arrival of bare root strawberry plants for the green hanging pots, and there are petunias that Tim started from seed in the flats waiting to be transplanted into the moss hanging baskets for our porch.   Also in the flats are Hollyhocks that we started from seeds gathered from Sally Gilchrist's garden last fall.

Out in the raised beds, Tim started the seeds on May 1st and installed 200 watt mini heaters.  Since we are still getting hard frosts, the heaters are set to kick on at 35 degrees to keep the frost inside the raised beds at bay.   Average last frost in our area is on June 8th!

Endive

Yellow beets, beets, onions and garlic.

Spinach (not up yet in this photo) and various lettuces

Bunching onions, cress and Tat soi.

Asparagus

The only things in the above photos that weren't started from seed this year are the garlic and onions (started from sets) and the asparagus which was given to us in the Fall of 2010 by our friend Caitlyn.  Asparagus is a crop that only flourishes for those who can withstand the temptation to eat it for 2 whole seasons!  You harvest it on the third season in order to give the roots plenty of time and energy to get well established.  It is oh so hard to resist breaking off a few stems when you are out there watering!

And finally, a chicken update.  Tim's chicken project last week was to design and install an automatic door on the chicken coop.  He has it set to a timer that will open in the morning and close at a set time in the evening.  Because, as they say, the chickens always come home to roost, the doors will close them all safely inside at 9pm, whether we are hear to do it or not.

Automatic door to the chicken coop.

However, the automatic door created another problem that Tim then set himself to solving.  We are not allowed to have fences in our subdivision, but the neighbor dogs roam freely between all of our homes.  This is great for the quality of life of the Clarktic Circle hounds, but not so great for the life expectancy of the Clarktic Circle free ranging chickens!  When one of us is home all day to intervene in the potential doggie- chicken encounter, we allow the chickens to free range.  But when we are both at work all day, the poor chickens were cooped up inside the entire time.  That is, until now!

Tim built this chicken run and enclosed the bottom of the coop with chicken wire to give them a safe outdoor space to use when we can not be here to supervise them and ensure their safety from predators.

The aforementioned automatic chicken door opens into the newly built chicken run.  

When we are home, we can open the side door to the run and allow the ladies to free range.  When we are not home, they now have three times the previous floor space to utilize.

A shot of the chicken digs with some of the ladies checking  it out.