OK, no good excuse for the radio silence this past week, other than I've felt more like doing things than blogging about them. I intended to catch up yesterday, but got hit like a ton of bricks with a lower digestive tract bug of some sort. It knocks me flat around lunch time - hit fast and hard, so I was not inclined to go too far from the bathroom. Funny thing was, yesterday I woke up feeling normal, with a bit of energy and planting plans ... go figure.
Today I am still staying close to the house, but so far so good. I moved the newly hatched chicks out to the brooder tub, as right now we have no broody hens and Pollux has his wings full with last month's horde of Wyandotte chicks. This month, Azar's group had a horribly low fertility rate, and then only two of the four who developed made it out of the shell. Spikey's group fared much better, with nine of the no-so-little cheepers out and popping around. Only one didn't hatch.
Spikey's chicks definitely have his wide and flat back ... a couple I observed ended up on their backs when they flopped out of the shell for the first time. It took them a bit of effort to flip over on their feet.
On the plant side of things, I did manage to get the cheater-starts of Swiss chard in the ground, and have plenty more that I started from seed ready to move. I also have a few spinach starts, some broccoli starts, and of course peppers and tomatoes to transplant into larger pots.
The one really impressive volunteer mustard green continues to impress - I am going to do my best to get every seed from it once it bolts. The original parent plant was a Florida broadleaf variety, if memory serves, but I will be calling this strain Putnam broadleaf if I can keep it going. It is strong and healthy, and keeps putting up new leaves (to the bunnies' great delight). While we have no idea how it tastes, the rabbits certainly approve of it.
Oh, of the old seeds from 2013 that I planted a couple weeks ago, I have some white radishes sprouting. I was a bit surprised to see that the other morning.
Pics later - I am still trying to get caught up after yesterday's gastric fireworks.
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