I mentioned last week that I came back from a conference and everything seemed to be blooming and growing–as my sneezing can attest to!

Please just ignore the weed overload! A couple days of rain and a few days of 70 degree weather and we’ve had a weed explosion!! We’re working our way through with weeding and (I hope) mulching this week.

The kiddos strawberry bed is coming along really well!

So far our companion planting of strawberries and onions are doing great! The onions have doubled in size and every single one of the crew’s strawberry plants is surviving. Mr. Fix-It didn’t think they were going to make it that first week, and I have to admit, the bed looked a little scraggly. But other than the weeds, they look quite vibrant now.

Right now only two of our four raspberries are sprouting, but if our previous bushes are any indication, that’s more than enough to eventually fill the bed.

It seemed like forever before they popped up, but once the potatoes sprouted, they just took off.

The main garden is moving slow this year, but that’s our fault. We’re behind on getting things in the ground. The potatoes are up, the onions are up, and the beans should be popping out any day now.

Our new fruit trees are alive too. They just looked like sticks when we planted them, so getting leaves as proof of life is a big step to me! {smile} The boys adopted the two apple trees and the Ladybug took ownership of the new peach. (Our older peach is already showing baby fruit!)

This is a Pound Sweet semi-dwarf apple tree.

We picked two old variety apples to start with. The Pound Sweet is supposed to be delicious for baking and eating fresh from the tree. The Tompkins Country apple is supposed to be delicious for eating or for apple sauce (which is why Speedracer latched on to it!) and for canning. I’ve got my eye on a Grimes Golden and a Baldwin to add to the orchard next year. We’ll need the Grimes as a pollinator because the Tompkins and the Baldwin will not pollinate other varieties.

Our new peach tree is a Golden Jubilee and our old one is a Hale Haven. Peaches are self-pollinators so you don’t need more than one–but we like peaches! {smile}

By the way, if you’re wondering about all the pollination requirements, etc. then I would recommend two things. First, The Backyard Orchardist by Stella Otto–this little book has everything you need to know. Everything. Second, call the nursery you’re planning to order from. We’ve used Miller Nursery for all our fruit trees so far and their catalog and website are great and their staff is very knowledgeable if you just call and ask. {We’re not affiliates with Miller or anything. I’m sure other nurseries are probably just as helpful. That just happens to be who we’ve used and I called them several times to ask questions when I was picking out our varieties. The choices are just overwhelming and they were super helpful!}

Cherokee Dogwood from our front flower beds.

Mr. Fix-It and the crew also moved all the chicks and ducklings from the brooder house into the field pen while I was out-of-town.

Every year we patch a little more, but it still works.

And then the smallest and most adventurous individuals promptly discovered yet another hole…

The trouble-makers.

But it’s hard to be mad when they’re so darn cute waddling around!

Our “baby” runner ducks are growing up! They’re losing their baby fuzz and getting real feathers.

How are thing around your house and homestead? What’s new and in bloom by you?

See where I’m linking up…