It was cold. It was wet. But even then things grew. And if anything, it has been lush due to the cooler month of May that was. The hours of daylight increase even if it doesn’t seem as strong this year.
Tiny stalks of aspragus.
Apple trees blooming.
The first bell pepper blooms.
Tomatoes in the greenhouse.
My spirit animal right here. She was soooo tired of the rooster at that moment.
Mother’s Day weekend is normally when we plant the tomatoes outside. Not this year though. I did pull them all out, and started staking them up.
Back in the greenhouse, and the peppers potted up to grow inside where it is warm.
Tiny bell pepper.
Chicken eggs in the morning.
The green items grow well in the cold.
May was the month of broody hens. Two went broody. The one in the back was a mom twice over. The one in the front isn’t even a year old. They spent the month fighting over a clutch of eggs, to the point of sitting on top of each other. It was a mess overall.
The sun would come out, but it wasn’t hot by any means all month.
But things did grow.
I will talk about this later on, but much was done here.
Potatoes coming up.
Of the 17 eggs the hens sat on 6 hatched. 2 died after hatching, kicked out of the clutch. They never dryed out. A 3rd one we saved but something was wrong with it, and it passed away 2 days later. Of the eggs 3 more hatched successfully. The 3 chicks the experienced hen mother claimed them. I grabbed her and the chicks and moved them to a coop alone – to ensure there was no more fighting. The other hen sat on the remaining eggs another day and then suddenly popped her being broody. We tossed those cold dead eggs far away. She is now back to normal. Just hoping no one else goes broody for awhile.
Lupine grown from seed last spring, in bloom this year.
The berry bed.
When it’s cold, you start wrapping beds with plastic wrap to increase temperatures.
Rosemary in bloom.
On the last day of the month. There is still snow, fresh snow, on the Olympic Mountains, in the distance. Somethings have not faired so well. Our Lilac tree did awful – it barely bloomed and is only half leafed out. It looks sad and sick. A few blueberry bushes from last summer’s heat wave took a huge hit from the 100+ temps and may well not make it. I watch it to see what will happen.
There is much to do on the homestead.
~Sarah