mushrooms!!!

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I was amazed to notice today that I had Shitake mushrooms growing on logs I cultured last winter. Wow!! My husband and I drilled lots of little holes and hammered in a lot of mushroom cultures that I bought. Five or six types, each on the type of wood they preferred. These Shitake’s are called warm-weather Shitake’s and I grew them on oak logs. I cut them off the log and carried them back to the house in a little basket. I’ll have to look up a nice recipe for…
 
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yesterday’s harvest

 
 
Spinach! It was really sweet as a salad last night. I planted this last September. Some of it over-wintered in my double layer (row cover and plastic) winter tunnel, and some was only under row cover all winter. It’s a hardy plant!
 
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Brussels sprouts

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I ended up with a nice pile of brussels sprouts. Just over a pound, 5 cups. They taste really really delicious raw! Mild. Like sweet tender broccoli. I think the many nights of hard freezes sweetened them up perfectly. Now I need to find a recipe for roasting them. Since they taste so good raw, I think a simple recipe will work fine. Its my first year of growing Brussels sprouts that have matured. I’ve tried 4 or 5 years now. For me, the trick was to start the seeds…
 
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cold weather makes super sweet carrots!

 
 
Baby carrots! I harvested them last week and I’m amazed how delicious they are. Really really sweet and very crisp. I wonder if the frosts and cold weather improve their flavor. …. Internet search …. Yes, it does! I didn’t know that. “In order to defend itself against the cold, [carrots have] developed all these amazing physiological responses, including increasing the sugar content. Increasing the sugar content helps defend against ice crystal formation, which can do all kinds of terrible things to cells like dehydrate them, crush them, rupture them.…
 
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yesterday’s harvest

 
 
My tomatoes are in!! I thought this photo was worth playing with and making it into a piece of art. I love all these vegetables. The big tomato is a new variety I’m trying this year – Dr Lyle. I like it. I also pick a huge orange tomato yesterday, but we already ate it – Chef’s Choice Orange. Unfortunately the critters like my tomatoes too. Chipmunks have taken bites of several tomatoes, so I’m picking them a bit green to ripen inside. This happens every year when the tomatoes…
 
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today’s harvest

 
 
My first ripe tomatoes of the season! Of course they are cherries – Sun Gold. Also my first blueberries and squash.
 
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Kathy Martin
This is a journal of my vegetable gardens. Skippy thinks the garden is his, even though I do all the work. We're located near Boston, in USDA zone 6. I have bees, chickens, fruit trees and berry bushes, too. I use all sustainable organic methods and strive to grow all of my family's vegetables myself. -Kathy


weeks and counting until my last spring frost

What I planted recently

Jan 21
thyme, lettuce, escarole

Feb 21
celery, celeriac, parsley, leeks

March 11
cabbage, kale, arugula



What I'm planting soon

April 1
peppers, eggplants, marigolds, beets

April 12
tomatoes, basil, sunflowers

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My garden this week

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17 years of archives!

Check out the food pantry farm I helped to start up:

Aurelia's Garden

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Skippy’s vegetable of the month – Egyptian walking onions!

“I envision a day when every city and town has front and back yards, community gardens and growing spaces, nurtured into life by neighbors who are no longer strangers, but friends who delight in the edible rewards offered from a garden they discovered together.” – Greg Peterson

"What can happen to a seed is a miracle."

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