Gardens and Chickens and Bee's

05/07/2024

Wow it’s amazing what I can get done when it’s not 100 and hot sunshine. I put up shade cloth on my straw bale garden today. Things were getting a little toasty. Bring on the high temps. Hopefully I am ready.

24/06/2024

I learned something the last few weeks. If you pick your tomatoes when the are just starting to turn you don’t have trouble with bugs eating them. It has worked for me.
I picked tomatoes and basil today. I am going to make homemade sphaghetti sauce from my ripe tomatoes.

02/06/2024

Having grapes is a first for me. I did not even know what young grapes looked like, so this has been educational also. Here is a pic that was taken just 26 days apart. From what I have read it takes about 3 months for grapes to ripen. We will see.
All I did was put posts up and attached cattle panels. Very easy!!!
I am loving this.

21/05/2024

My straw bale garden is doing great this year.
I am growing squash vertically for the first time. It is doing really well. And my blackberries are doing great also. I can’t wait to make a blackberry cobbler.

14/05/2024

If anyone is needing more plants for your garden, Bomgaars has great ones in their greenhouse at their store. They were nice size and on sale!!

18/04/2024

Grapes and garden are growing. Flowers are planted. Always hopeful for a great year.

29/03/2024

I am so excited. I planted some veggies today that I started by seeds in February .
I also planted some flowers in the backyard that I started by seeds at the same time. My first time for flowers by seeds.

I am not worried about planting too early because everything I planted today has been outside for over a month. I brought them in a few times when the temps were gonna hit 33. So they are as hardened off as they can get.

My fruit trees are doing great and my grapes which are in their second year are blooming and doing well.
My blackberry patch has some beautiful blooms and the blueberries are blooming also.
I am hopeful for a very successful year!! Time will tell.

28/02/2024

I can’t believe I am doing much better with seeds this year. I repotted ones that were getting too big or leggy. I think this will work well for me this time. I can’t wait!!!

22/02/2024

14/02/2024

I was not going to do seeds this year, but I found these cups on Amazon that you push up from the bottom and does not injure the roots.

So they came in and I planted them had a lot more seed starter and lots of seeds, so I just added it to a large aluminum pan and then planted lots of seeds.

Why not? I am so excited for garden season. I put them in my front east window and a heat seed mat under them and covered with Saran Wrap.
The first two pictures are from Saturday when I started them, the next two are today, 4 days later.

I am so glad I did this and sure hope I am successful!!
Could not have been easier

30/01/2024

I fed the bees some heavy sugar water today. They were loving it. I will do this as long as the weather is warm.
They have sugar bricks inside their hive. So far this winter they are doing great.

04/12/2023

Picked my only lemon today. It smells great. Looking forward to lots of blooms this spring. I will protect it better from the elements early on when I put it back outside.

03/11/2023

I picked my peppers before the freeze and made hot/sweet peppers. Looking forward to garden season next spring. But until then I will look at seed catalogs😂

30/10/2023

Got my two lemon trees in the house. Looking forward to next spring to see how they will be growing.

10/10/2023

My son, Jake Cantrell harvested honey from his flow hive. This is the first time with a flow hive for both of us. I will certainly be using mine next year.

23/08/2023

Yea! The first broody chicken this year. This is the first time in several years that I have let them hatch eggs. Usually when one goes broody several decide they will do that too.
So I will follow up with a video when they start hatching in 19 to 21 days. So now I’m on maternity watch!!

15/08/2023

I wanted to share a video on my latest venture. I will be dehydrating some garden produce and other things. This was fun and I am looking forward to making jerky also.

26/07/2023

The girls are loving the cucumber seeds that I had leftover yesterday from making chow chow.

25/07/2023

Been working all day and just this little bit. My kitchen looks like a disaster. But it was fun. On left chow chow, next, cowboy candy(sweet jalepeno’s) and then sweet hot pickles. I have more cucumbers that I will work on later this week. The garden has been great this year.

01/07/2023

Made some jelly this morning. PSA- the Ball Jam and Jelly maker is amazing. This took under 30 min. I usually make jam, but today I got grape, apple and strawberry lemonade juice and mixed it. It is so good!!! It makes small batches which I love. No stirring over a hot stove.

17/06/2023

This will be the last comparison picture I share this year. It still fascinates me.
I have added a trellis to the area that had been on a place we owned by the Blue River. Special memories and I think it completes the garden set up. I planted climbing roses on it and I can’t wait to see it full of them. Still no weeds and no bending for this old lady.

08/06/2023

44 days. Set it and forget it as the ad says. I am putting up trellises today. I just love this. Straw Bale gardening is so easy and this has been a great year for gardening.

24/05/2023

The girls wanted to say hi!! They are mad that the bees have been getting all the attention.
The little white bloom on the next pic is my first ponderosa lemon bloom. I am so excited. I started them from very small three years ago.
And I have not killed my flowers out front yet!! Yea me!

19/05/2023

This is why I love straw bale gardening. No weeds and no bending over you can see in 23 days how it has grown. So excited about this year and love the rain we have been getting.

13/05/2023

My sons hive in Alabama is doing great. From start on the right to today on the left. In less than one month. Busy Bees!!

08/05/2023

How is everyone’s straw-bale garden doing? The bales are decomposing and that is what we want. Here is a little tip.

15/04/2023

This is a very first for me. My son Kyle Cantrell found a hive in the side of his barn in Alabama. I have never done a cutout but we did it!!! This is Kyle’s first time to do this also. It could not have gone better. He cut the wood off on the soffit and there the bees were there . See pictures below. And video in comments.

05/04/2023

I finally got my garden set up.
If you are interested in a Straw Bale garden you do not need containers. You can set them on grass or even concrete. I have done both. They are so easy and no weeding or bending way down. That’s the beauty of them. I got my bales today at Ada Feed on Main Street.

03/04/2023

Hope everyone is doing well. I got some flowers planted today. Yea me.
I wanted to let everyone know about an app that is so helpful. It is Picture Me. When you are shopping and you want to know more about what you are looking at, or if you can’t find the name, just shoot a pic and it tells you all you will need to know. I have used this for years. It is a huge help!!

01/03/2023

It’s been 6 days since I put the seeds in the tiny greenhouses. It’s exciting. I added 3 more greenhouses today.
Success!!