Austin Lake

As I was sharing my pictures of the chicken coop with my friend, she asked for my blog address.  To which I realized I have never explained why it's called "Austin Lake Gardening."  We live on an over-sized pond which is named Austin Lake, and blog name choices were very limited.  I'm proud of our little lake, it attracts awesome waterfowl and gives us a beautiful view.  After this month's rain it's higher than it's ever been, I hope it can stay up for a couple years. 

We have a family of Sandhill cranes that have lived here every summer, along with a pair of Mute Swans, and many Canadian Geese and Mallards.   Occasionally we will see Herons and other birds, and there is an Eagle in the area who has stopped by a couple times.  His name is Dark Wing Bright Beak. 

It's a pretty beautiful place to live.  The spring and summer make up for the long, dreary winter.  

 

A New Growing Year and A New Adventure

After last summer's dismal garden, I am so excited to get started for 2013!  Last year at this time most all the trees were budded, the flowers were out, and I had vegetables planted.  This year, we have had snow and rain every other day.  It snowed AND rained this morning.  That was special.  I'm not adding beds this year, but I am adding something even more special.  Husband finally said yes to Chickens.  The coop is started and I'm hopefully getting 6 chicks next week!   I don't think anyone's ever been more excited about chickens than I am this last month.  Actually, there may be people with no food in Africa who received chickens as a food source.  They are probably a little more excited than I am.  But not much.  And their coop is not going to be as awesome as mine.

 
I also want to include some pictures of last fall's garden so I have inspiration to get to work.  Flowers and spring go well together, and I got some good shots of pretty flowers last summer. 

Ripe Tomatoes

I've harvested 3 tomatoes as of today, and so many more are blushing.  My large plant is super producing, and the other 3 smaller plants are about a quarter of the size, but still have fruit.  

I have 3 butternut squashes, one big squash and 2 on the vine, I've lost three small ones that have rotted off the bud. 

My cucumber plant has rallied and is coming back with authority, taking over the entire trellis for one plant. 

My beans are sprouting and setting their third sets of leaves, so I'm hopeful they will produce before the fall freeze. 

A mole (vole?)  pulled a celery plant into it's hole,  and there are many other holes popping up in the garden as well.  Not my favorite rodent right now.  I can't find my camera, so no pictures today :(

Right On Cue....

The Japanese Beetles are here!  I found 3 in the garden today, and one in my hair after I came inside.  I looked back to last year, and my post about the beetles invasion was July 31st.  Must be the time!  I have found some stuck to the fence, trying to get in, so maybe the fence is also keeping some of them out?  So far no more hornworms, but some sort of goose or large bird ate our blueberries and promptly pooped all around the bush.  That was a nice surprise. 

The beans I planted last week in the potato plot are sprouting and growing nicely.  There is much more room after the zucchini plant was pulled out, and I have FOUR butternut squashes starting on the two plants.  I hope they continue.  My cucumber bush which got chowed down is coming back, and sprawling out to take over the trellis. 

I have one tomato blushing and 3 mystery squashes growing in the lettuce plot where I added the dirt from the worm garden. 

 

I love the borage flowers and Oldest enjoys eating them and the leaves.  I also am happy with the butterfly flowers, I wish the annuals grew from seed, maybe next year!   Overall, this garden  has been so much harder, yet it still seems fun!

Pictures from this weekend.  

Squash Vine Borer

I should stop asking if anything else could go wrong.  Of course it can!   This garden is getting the best of me this year, but I'm a fighter.  I pulled a wilted stem off my zucchini plant tonight, and guess what?  A big white grub was inside the base stem.  I have noticed some orange powdery stuff around the base, but didn't think it was important.  Apparently it is.  It's a squash vine borer!!!  YAY!  Now that it's identified, it will be destroyed.  Maybe I should go back to the ground soaking sprinklers.  That seemed to work better last year. 

Tomato Hornworms

I've had my fair share of pests this year.  I still haven't caught any raccoons, although I haven't had any more problems with them either. 
My newest pest is the Tomato Hornworm.  I found one chewing a bald stalk of a pepper plant, and then 3 more on the actual tomato plants.  Fortunately, I have one big tomato plant and that's where they were.  I picked the buggers off and haven't seen any more. 

My tomatoes are funny this year.  I have one HUGE plant that is being supported by a broom stick, in the far corner of my east garden, and then 4 little plants that are producing, but not a lot.  My Big Boy is growing a beautiful tomato.  Emphasis on a.  There's just one.  And the plant is small, I don't know how it's going to support itself!  Many tomatoes are starting, and the waiting for them to blush is hard as the whole garden is a bummer this year.

I also harvested all my yukon gold potatoes, and some reds.  They were small so I left the rest of the reds to grow a little.  We had a mixed potato meal last night and it was SOOOO good. 

Early Berries

This week was peak Blueberry picking.  Early for Michigan, but we've had such weird weather I'm thankful we got any at all.  We ended up picking 9 pounds, and bought 20.  Many pounds have been eaten, and I want to make that cake again.  The Blue Gold we got from Palmers were very sweet and the Gold Barn we picked were also good, but very stemmy.  I don't remember the pre-picked berries having so many stems, but they are still good.