free projects stuff

We've had a few fun conversations about the millions of things you end up doing when you have no money and lots and lots of time. (which is where we are at now) Funny thing is I think I've had more fun doing things this way then I would if we'd had plenty of money and no time, or for that matter even if there had been a balance.  I love that our garden projects have taken time and effort, somehow it makes the success better!   While thinking about this I felt like making a list of all the awesomeness because I like lists.  This starts from last year.

-free plant starts: tomatoes, cabbages, brussel sprouts, shiso, broccoli, peppers, dill
-free seeds: carrots, lettuce, beans, tomatoes, squash, kohlrabi, beets, broccoli, multiple herbs
-free burlap from coffee roasters
-free pallets from coffee roasters
-free 4x4's from neighbor
-free dresser (used to make potting table)       
-free table (used to build chicken coop)
-free bricks
-free mulch
-4" and 1 gallon pots

I'm sure there's more that I'm not remembering.  It's an amazing list.

chicken run 2 and gardening updates

We began the day (yesterday) clearing the space of all of the knotweed that had grown in and raking out the Photinia leaves.  We also pruned back the Photinia that was growing in the way.  We've set the run back far enough that the coop will be able to be partially in the shade but the chickens will still have mainly sun.  At least, that's the goal. Home Depot still doesn't have the mesh instock that we want to use so we are going to look into buying it online, it's just a 1" heavy duty plastic mesh, nothing special but it's significantly less expensive than the other products we've found.  The run only needs to keep out daytime things anyways since the chickens will be in their coop at night.  This afternoon I will most likely finish digging the corner posts then tomorrow dig the other 2 post holes.  6 total.  whew!

 Not much going on for gardening.  We're finally getting some sun so hopefully that will encourage things to grow.  I'm attempting cucumbers for the 3rd time and they seem to finally be growing.  I ended up buying starts about twice as big as I normally would but with all the rain the seedlings couldn't grow fast enough to out compete the pests.  Nothing is really dying but to compare by this time last year we were already eating green beans, tomatoes and zucchini's.  This year we have baby plants still :/  


We're starting to research more cold weather veggi's to try to extend our growing season which should be fun but right now we're studying for finals.   After next week I'll have more time to devote to reading fun gardening books!  Or at least that's the idea ;)