April is the planting month where we live, there always seems to be a march surprise, so just to make sure I plant the starts in April. 

You can hardly see the little Pepper plants buried in the mulch. The vines on the left are snow peas planted in March.

Below are tomatoes plants I took a chance and planted in March, they are doing very well so far, 

The blueberries are formed and now just need the time to ripen.

The Blackberries below are full of blooms and will be ripe before the blueberries

 

The asparagus has emerged as the soil got a little warmer.

it looks like a great crop coming up!

The squash below is taking hold, it is one of the first to produce fruit. I cover them at first with a light cloth to keep the stem worms from taking hold. and once the moths are gone I uncover them to start producing flowers to get pollinated.

I love the way the row covers create a private space for the plants. these are beets that are looking really good, as long as the nematodes don't get them again!!

Below a lowly spinach, not a great season for that .

 Richard is creating rock borders to create more definition around the trees to separate the driveway from the flower beds.

Getting the garden ready for planting

This has been a mild winter. The greens and broccoli have been very productive. The asparagus has not shown up yet, not quite warm enough.

The onions are in really late, we will see what they do....

The blueberries below are looking great, The row we planted on the left is getting rooted in their new environment.

A SNOW DAY ON THE RANCH!!!

Oh the RARE winter wonderland!!! It was all gone by noon......

Repairs and tree removals

WOW Parts from china in the ground only 5 years.... took about a week to dig, find the leak, find the bad part and replace.....

The Beauty Berry had to go, it was growing in the middle of the drive to the well house. We wrapped a heavy chain around it attached to our truck and pulled it out of the ground. That was after we dug and watered it like crazy to soften the ground.

Random July/August photos

Hen #23 is the best mama , she taught her babies to roost so early.... this is the last photo I have of the group. Our dog was out and about one day when no-one was home and he killed 14 out of 18 of them in a few hours... it was heart breaking to say the least....

Above is the shell of a Cicada, they appear in the summer when it is really hot , chirping loudly through the night to avoid predators , then die and leave behind this shell.

Mother Of Guadalupe for protection.

St Francis for homage to the animals..
  

A shrine set in the trees along the driveway...

Mediating Buddha with a chorus of Angels...
 

The replacement chickens , a mixed bag of "I am not quite sure what they are" I bought at a feed store, Marins, Dominics ???? Male/female???

July at the ranch

It is more sunny with the trees cleared out...just the right amount!!

Our tractor waits patiently waiting for the diesel doctor to work his magic , so far we have replaced the air filter and all the fluids, it is still not running....

June Garden

The garden and the greenhouse look so small now that the trees are cleared .
This is the herb row: Rosemary- cilantro-Oregano- basil- thyme- mint and  lavender.

The grasshoppers have been horrible this year along with the cabbage worms, the chard and collards look like lace.

Asparagus, middle row is the artichoke,onion and broccoli, the far row are the blackberries.
 

We had them push back the trees about 20 feet from the edge of the garden.

The beets are getting eaten by the bugs as well and something else? The tomatoes are holding their own and climbing up the trellis, I do like this arrangement for the tomatoes.

At the end of the row are the cucumbers, which are doing very well this time of year even in the 100 degree days because I have them heavily mulched with hay.
 

The blueberries have all been picked and the grapes are heavy with fruit.

Below is one of the first harvests on June 1st.

 

 Both of these were the harvest on June 22nd.