Hummingbirds and flowers

We have been blessed this year with a family of Hummingbirds in one if our quaking aspens . I have 8 Weigela bushes,Trumpet vine, Honeysuckle, Salvia, and 10 or 15 annuals that draw in the hummers.  Here in the NW we have Anna and Rufus hummingbirds year round as well as Ruby throats, who migrate through the area .

                                                      at the feeder
                                                    

                                                          fledgling hummingbird
                                                        

                                                        Enjoying the Weigela        
                                            

Breaking Ground

Today ,  I had my neighbor bring his John Deere tractor with tiller attachment  and Till the two fenced areas in field B. ( Barn side) . One at the back of the property right next to the barn is 30X40 feet  . I have had it tilled 3 times before . Two years ago I put 2 yards of fresh, green horse manure , and let it rest . Before I laid down the horse dung it ground was almost fallow . lite in color and full of boulder , Now it's dark brown , almost BLACK. I am going to plant 6  blocks of sweet corn.

              The second area .I had him till a 40X60  foot area. which is where I plan to establish my 'Fig Orchard' . As i had mentioned before . my property is laid out East to West. The 'Fig Orchard' will be set in 3 hedge rows spaced 12 feet apart , running North and South. I also am going to do a step over with my Desert King figs .

Squash & Cucumbers are in the Ground

OK. so this year I'm planting out my veggie starts 2 weeks early. Although it has not stopped raining in 2 weeks , May, has been warmer than the past 3 years .




Acorn Squash

Spaghetti Squash

Sun Chokes

Trash Can Taters

Another can of Taters

Cucumbers

Crookneck Squash

Rain,rain go away!!

This spring has been anything but normal . near record rain in march. Records reached or broken with days without rain in May. And just last week it hit 86* ,another record.

But for the past week Western Washington state had been hit with storm after storm, I was going to take some photos of all the flowers in bloom,  in the wife's Hummingbird garden  . But the delicate  flowers could not stand up to heavy rain. so sad .

Fig cutting update

I am happy to announce that 80% of the cuttings that i received from UC Davis this year have rooted .

The cuttings are :

Castle Kennedy  

Dauphine

Golden Celeste

Mary Lane seedless

Monstrueuse

Pastiliere

St. Jean

the first photo is St.Jean Rooted and ready to pot up 

Photos 2 & 3  are Castle Kennedy

Cody'z FIG's

Ateano
Battaglia Green
Beall
Binello
Black Spanish
Blue Ishia
Brunswick????? Unk!
Celeste
Conadria
Danny's Delite
Desert King
English Brown Turkey
Green Ishia
Hardy Chicago
Italian white
Lattarula
Stella
Sultane
Violette de Bourdeaux
Vern's Brown Turkey
Violet Bavaria
Unknowns

Cody'z fruit trees

APPLE

Honeycrisp x 3 
Fuji  x 2
Lodi x 2
4 x 1 combo (Honeycrisp,Chehalis,Gravenstein and Liberty
Fireside
Golden Delicious 
Wolf River
Yellow Transparent 
Zestar!

PEARS

European Pears                                       Asian Pears

Bosc                                                       Shinseiki 
Conference                                               20th Century 
Crisp n Sweet                                           Chojuro
D'Anju
Seckel

PLUMS

European/Prune                                        Japanese

Brooks                                                     Beauty 
Green Guage                                             Catalina 
Peach plum                                               Fortune
Seneca                                                      Kelsey 
                                                                Shiro
                                                                Toka

My Intro & Thanx for stopping by

.

     This is my first entry, on what I hope to be a bountiful harvest . I am located in what is called the Chehalis Gap. It is a narrow river valley wedged in between the Olympic mountains to the north and the Willipa hills , which is part of the coastal range  to the south. The storms and all of the rain that Seattle is known for . We get hit with it  first . The storms come in from the coast , funnel through the gap and head north to Seattle . 

       My Plot of land (2.7 acers) is 16 miles  South of Olympia WA . I am in U.S.D.A zone 7~B. What sux about where I live is that , 5 miles in either direction is Zone 8A. 

      I think I'll start off by listing what I have in the ground .

On the side of my house is the Pear and Cherry orchard. With 4 Cherry,  4 European Pear,   2 Asian Pear &    2 Apple trees . In front of the house I have 7 Japanese Plums and a Hummingbird garden for my wife Linnea .  Behind the house, the field is split by a fence,   My property is rectangular with the length of it running East &  West .  "Side A" has the orchard , Pump house and a small barn . In the orchard I have on the Right  side, 7 Asian Pear,   4 European Plums and  a  D'Anju Pear .   On the Left side I have 12 Apple trees .  In between the Apples and Asian Pears is a very crooked Weeping Willow.

      I must confess that I am a bit of a  Fig nut . Fig's you say?  Yes, FIG's . I have been propagating  figs for the past 15 months. I am planning on establishing a fig orchard on "Side B" . This side has the main barn . It is a 5 stall horse barn with loft. 2 filberts (Halls Giant & Barcelona Hazelnut) also Triple Crown thornless Blackberries.

I have been working on a 40' x 80' fenced area on the South side of the field  for my Fig Orchard . 

       Lists  of fruit trees will follow .