A Tidy Harvest.

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We are using a combination of herbicides since our weed whacker doesn't work. This year is our first year trying out a 1-Year length chemical. We only spray this under fences where we know we are not going to want anything to grow for a long time. It can't be used under trees, or it can get into the root systems.

Here is the garden fence. We sprayed here about 4 to 6 weeks ago. We ended up moving the fence a little after we sprayed. So far the horses are keeping this part chewed, so I'm not going to worry about it.





I did a little spraying around the house with short term spray, Round-Up, to keep stray weeds from taking over, as well as along the side of the property so the electric fence doesn't short out over there.

Here the berry rows look much neater having been sprayed a couple of weeks ago. You have to be so careful not to get any leaves on your plants. I've actually gotten really good at this and can spray even in the wind and right up close to the plants. So far, so good...





The vineyard never got sprayed for weeds, so we'll try to get to that this coming week.





Michael is taking care of push mowing where ever the riding mower could not be taken. We should get a good crop of those bush cherries and bush plums this year. The frost did not get either grouping.





The hardy kiwi are looking good. I hope another mockingbird builds a nest in there again this year. We so enjoyed watching the babies.





I will really enjoy it if we ever get a crop. But wait, what's this....?





Could we be getting flowers for the first time? I hope so, and I hope that means enjoying some fruit from them this year!





Many suckers need to be cut off from the grapes before we can spray for weeds. Also, with the black rot, you want as dry an area near the vines as possible, so the closer to dirt we can make it below the vines, the better our chances of getting a grape harvest.





This vine is always laden with clusters. It's a European grape, and highly susceptible to black rot. Tasty, but after this year, I am probably going to thin out the grapes in each row to about half. This one may go.





The Doyle Thornless blackberries are getting ready to blossom out.





Getting ready to harvest some Red Sails lettuce. I believe the deep red color is likely due to the abundance of sunshine, as I have another bed in the shade, and it is almost all green.





I decide to take the outer leaves rather than cut the whole plant.





And this is what came from one. About two dollar's worth of organic lettuce. I ended up filling the basket to overflowing.





We can't eat it all, so I just take the biggest for now.









I planted Arugula to go with the lettuce...
Now what? LOL I'm thinking it is probably too far gone.





On my way up to pick strawberries, I get to enjoy the variety of herb blooms.

Chamomile.





Cilantro.





Sage.





Here's that marker stone I was mentioning before. I like them, but there were only four available. I would like to make some for all the herbs, and maybe even vegetables.





The chives are about to go to seed now. I need to build alternate year beds so I can have a cutting bed, and a bed to enjoy the blossoms.





This rhubarb's crown ended up being covered by the time heavy rains came. Once I cleared earth away from it, it got a lot happier and sent up some leaves to match it's sister plant.





The strawberry bed. I believe the sparse section is the one grouping of June bearers we planted.





They produce quite a few berries, but look awful. And, of course, I've forgotten which type we put in. Most of what we picked came from here.





The ever bearers are much healthier looking, and getting ready to gear up for production.





About 4 dollar's worth of berries, but half of them are gone. I told Michael to just eat his fruit while we picked. I like the really ripe ones. He likes the ones that are not quite, in my opinion, ripe. So we've got quite a mix here.





Washing the lettuce and hoping it will dry well enough before we have to leave for office cleaning.





Then a fun evening of barn prep!

~Faith

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