Long time no post!

Lots of activity on the Bell Family Farm over the past few weeks, but most of it has involved the removal of weeds and some unruly ivy --- gallons and gallons of weeds over the past three weekends.  And unfortunately, there are at least twice as many weeds left on the property.  We'll probably have to pull out the old weed whacker before we're done!


While we've been busily removing weeds, the rest of the garden, thankfully, has been taking care of itself! It looks like we'll have a great blackberry crop this summer -- lots of the berries have already set and sections of the rows that have rarely produced are loaded with potential.

The backyard apple tree is in full bloom and, if it's not overshadowed by the surrounding oaks, we should have a good crop.  The frontyard tree, that I severely pruned last year and this spring looks like it's taking the year off!  We had only a few blossoms and already it's suffering from the mildew that it gets every year.

 Last week, the walnut tree was loaded with blossoms, more than any other year.  Hopefully we'll see something as a result of it's hard work.  But when I checked this week, all the flowers had fallen off... oh well.
The cherry tree has done well and there are easily 4-5 dozen cherries already set.  I imagine that the birds will get them the day before we decide to pick!

The rock roses that we planted about 6 years ago have really been beautiful this year ... thriving on neglect!  And the little seeds that I planted f ew weeks ago are sprouting.  I even had to tie up my little tomatoes today.







It all goes to show that gardening is cyclical.  You fertilize, mulch, plant and set the automatic sprinklers and the plants you want take care of themselves.  In the meantime, you pull and prune the plants you don't want while the fruit and veggies grow.  By the time you're done with all the weeding and pruning, it's time to harvest, preserve and enjoy!
Twenty minutes later, you prepare the beds for the next season!