DO fence me in!

All is well here, yesterday was rainy in the morning and I woke up with a cold. All worked out well though because yesterday ended up being a good day for indoor chores and I also had a hair appointment up in Mt. Vernon with my favorite hair dresser, Michelle. Today has been a gorgeous Pacific Northwest day - sunny with temperatures around 65. After returning from church we spent the day out in the garden, lots of little projects and one big one - with a nice break for Trader Joe's strawberry popcycles.

By the late afternoon I was feeling tired but quite on top of things. I even took the time to put some poppy seeds into the ground - right along the path up to my green house. I also put many, many sunflower seeds into the ground...I am definately getting my heart set on the Tuscan field look again this summer!

I had two more starts to put into the ground - tomato and basil. I noticed that a couple of the tomato plants that I have already planted in the "hot umbrella" are blossoming - this makes me very happy. I have dreams of fresh caprese salad made from my own tomatoes and basil.

Everything in the garden got a good watering...while watering I noticed that my strawberries are starting to blossom. I'm pleased because I was concerned that transplanting them recently might stunt their growth for the season. Doesn't appear to be the case, I'm hoping in a month or so we'll be able to start picking them. Yay!

Several of the other seeds (and bulbs) I've put into the ground have sprouted

• carrots
• head lettuce
• broccoli
• peas
• beans
• radishes
• red onions

In the green house my seeds have sprouted as well:

• pumpkins
• zucchini
• butternut squash
• lemon cucumbers
• roma tomatoes
• heirloom tomatoes

Most of what is currently in the green house will go into the ground in May - probably in the middle of the month. Around then I'll also put my corn seeds into the ground.

I also have to show yet another couple pictures from the orchard...this is that gorgeous Asian Pear again...Love those blossoms!Another project we worked on today was putting up wire on the posts surrounding the garden - the husband had put the posts into the ground using the post-hold-digger on his tractor earlier this week. At first it was a little hard to get the wire stretched out properly, but after several posts we figured out a system. It is not quite done yet, there is still another section of the garden that needs to be fenced. The tops of the posts will also be trimed off.

We are also going to put a gate at the entrance to the garden and using the extra material we have after trimming the posts, a pergola will be built above the gates. I am super excited about that little detail...I am hoping to grow wisteria on the pergola. That little orange furry friend in the picture below is Figaro. He was supervising today's fencing project.

Lastly, the chickens are still doing well, growing like crazy - and of course obviously eating like crazy. They all have cute little tail feathers now - and their bums are nice and round - not as scrawny as when I got them a week ago. I can't believe it's only been a week, I feel like they are such a big part of my life now! I've been asking all sorts of questions of my friends who already have chickens...figuring out this whole poultry thing! They moved into a bigger space yesterday - a couple of boxes I joined together an made a wire "lid" for. I even put in a sand box play area and a dowl for them to practice perching...I've caught a couple of them using it already - they seem to need to practice a bit to get the balance right. Well enough chicken talk for now, have a fabulous week, I hope there is lots of sunny, wonderful gardening weather where ever you may be!