Angels Nest

It's one hot mess, yeah I know this, but don't even try to remove the "nest".  Oliver made this nest for Angel, yeah my 78 pound labradoodle really did this!  And if we remove it he only brings in more stuff for the old one to sleep on, which at this point is fine because I don't have to worry about her trying to get up or down from the sofa and hurting herself in the process.

There's a part of me that'd like to believe that Oliver feels guilty for having destroyed Angels princess bed and this is why he keeps making nests for her, but we all know that's not the case.

We're still hand feeding her, and she's become quite picky with some days not eating at all.  I've been blessed in that my neighbors help me out with her from time to time, like when I have to go places, and they have experience with an elderly dog whose time upon this earth is growing short. 

She's been with us nine years today, yes I got her on my birthday nine years ago she was a rescue, its hard to believe as the time has passed and quickly, her actual age is somewhere around 15/16 years.

Snow!!!

Woke up to some snow this morning.

Well at least the raised vegetable beds are getting some much needed moisture.

My more tender herbs are covered by plastic buckets.

Traffic is moving slow enough that I was able to get a clear shot of the intersection during rush hour.

Livestock Tank as Raised Vegetable Bed

Got these lovely livestock tanks this afternoon from an old friend of John's.  They are delightful in their shape, patina, and the fact that they will keep my madder root contained!

In addition to the livestock tanks, John also got a yard of composted horse manure for our gardens.

He's beat from all of the shoveling and moving of topsoil and manure, but I'm thrilled to have everything in place for the growing season!  This weeks forecast is rain, rain, and more rain.

All three beds are now dressed with composted horse manure.

Raised Vegetable Beds

From this, which was about ten inches deep...

To this which is about 18-20 inches deep; we need more soil though because...

The first thirty seven bags of organic top soil wasn't near enough to fill the box!  I will be planting leeks, garlic, parsnips, and a few other yummies later in the week.

Raised Beds Under Stress

This one just flat out collapsed and has taken on the appearance of a bathtub.

The bed to the far right is starting to lean.  The one in the middle has been over engineered so should stand up to the snow with no issues.

New Raised Bed

I need to edit the photos and post them here for this particular bed.  John has been experimenting with several approaches to the whole sustainable garden, one of those is the back to eden method.  In this new bed we layered composted wood chips and leaves on the bottom and then some good soil on the top.  I've planted lettuce in this bed and then once it's up I'll layer in leaves atop the soil in between the rows.

John will build the lid for it tomorrow, this will ensure that the rabbits don't eat my baby lettuce plants and the neighbors cat cannot use it as it's litterbox.

Angel's New Bed

Polar fleece filled with polyfil. 24x34 inches and designed to make a sheltie oh so happy!

Sheltie Heaven

The master bed is way better than a patch of polar fleece any day of the week!

yes she really does sleep like this, she's rather rigid looking isn't she!

Garden Update No.???

No pics tonight, just a note to say how much I hate Grackles!  The little buggers pulled all of my baby leeks and baby onions :-(  So tomorrow, if it doesn't rain, I'll be replanting and this time applying large amounts of bird netting over the nursery area.

Salad Garden

Bird netting now attached to the hoop house portion of the raised bed and just in time for the baby lettuce sprouts that are now breaking through the soil.

Raised Beds and Hoop Houses

This raised bed is waiting for it's hoops still, first I need to turn the soil and then plant it with lettuce, chard, and other salad nummies.

Tomorrow I'll add the mesh and then the plastic to the hoops.  The mesh is for later in the season to keep the critters out, the mesh I use is a half inch square plastic netting.

The boards are covering my leek trenches.

Adventures in Gardening

Soooooo today after consulting my plant compatibilty list I find out that my potatoes are in the wrong location!!! So up they come out of the ground and into a new bed that John tilled up for me, he also built a frame to go around said bed. I now have a 9 foot by 4 foot potato bed. He's such a sweet heart.