April 2016

So we got baby chicks!!! Finally.  I tried three times to get them from my favorite feed store in Chico but it just wasn't working. So Tracter Supply it is and they sell organic feed now.  I just hope we don't lose too many and none are roosters!!! Remember Naomi and Wynona who turned into Ted and Ned?  

Looks like we may get some peaches this year but I think the cherries are planted too far apart from each other.  We have varieties that cross pollinate but they are not setting fruit.  They flower but they don't set.  :( Our Fuji apple in the chicken pen had a lot of die back, almost a third of the top of the tree.  So I cut it out.  Oh and our big pluot died.  I don't know why, no signs of disease or wounds.  

(I am not mentioning the dreaded grasshoppers on purpose.) 

The kids weeded between the raised beds.  It looks great.  Since we put gravel there the weeds are super easy to pull out.  But it is clear to me that the soil in the beds is in need of some major rejuvenation.  So one of my main goals for this next year is creating better soil.  

And now I am fighting Bermuda grass.  Yes, it has finally breached the garden beds.  So my next adventure will be how to live with Bermuda grass.  I have already seen many ways where it is a benefit.    1. It has covered many areas which used to be annual grasses.  I used to have to mow and mow these areas in the spring.  And I am allergic to their pollen.  This spring I have not had to mow and my allergies are not so bad.  2. It is perennial which means it covers the soil year round and cools the temperature in the summer.  Also unlike annual grass which when cut is a fire hazard, Bermuda grass doesn't usually get as tall as wild oats or other grasses.  Obviously I am trying to be optimistic.... 

We lost a lot of plants from last summer's grasshoppers so I am re-thinking many areas.  A happy note, the Duke avocado somehow survived!!