Everything is up and growing, although it's been so hot that we've been watering every other day to keep the baby roots happy. I've started laying on the mulch now, so we'll be able to back off on the watering a bit. Our water pressure is low enough that we can't use a sprinkler of any kind, and the hard water deposits tend to clog up soaker hoses very quickly, so we hand water everything (or at least, DH does), it takes several hours.
The tomatoes are doing well, although I don't know what will happen to the fruit set with the high heat we have been "enjoying". We enjoyed a nice pot of green peas last night, but they are showing stress from the heat as well, so I anticipate a smaller than usual harvest of peas too. The Ute winter squashes are already setting fruit though- apparently they love this heat.
One of the two cockerels from this year's incubator batch has gone to a new home with friends. The second one we are keeping to replace Duke, our oldest rooster (he will be going into the pot before winter). This second one shows coloring that indicate that Taffy, one of our Americanas, was the mother, so I'm hoping he can pass on the green egg genes. We've named him Placido Domingo because he is the first rooster we've ever had with a 5 note crow!
We had to do some work on the fencing around the new part of the garden, because we discovered that the hens can just waltz right through the holes in the cattle panels we used (all those feathers make them look bigger than they really are). We managed to scrounge up enough chicken wire to attach to the cattle panels and keep them out though. Those piles of stuff tucked into the corners may be somewhat unsightly, but they sure come in handy!
But I'm so excited with each batch and love seeing them teach. Enjoy yours!!
