digging potatoes

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Freshly dug potatoes! I grew 4 varieties this year: Cobbler, All Blue, Green Mountain, and Rio Grande Russet. The Blue potatoes produced very well and are a nice purple color. My favorite is probably the Russets, which grill very nicely. I only harvested about 1/10th the amount of potatoes of last year’s harvest. This year, I planted in a very shady bed in my home garden. Mostly because of last year’s late blight problems, I decided to remove all late blight susceptible plants from my community garden. Next year I…
 
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today’s harvest – chiles and broccoli!

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Even as I was picking these Numex (Joe Parker) chiles they seemed they they should be stuffed. Chile Rellenos? I’ve never made them before, but these chiles smell so yummy, I think I will try. And I was really happy to see some nice broccoli heads today. Its still my old spring planted broccoli plants. I never needed the space for something else, so they have stayed in just for the nice blueish-green of their leaves. With the cooler weather, they are producing some sparse heads.
 
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today’s harvest

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It is so nice to have a steady stream of tomaotes. Even though my plants aren’t producing lots, they are producing enough give us fresh tomaotes of all different varieties whenever we want them. The bottom of this bowl is all cucumbers. And I finally got around to making pickles today!
 
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chiles for a ristra

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I’m accumulating a lot of small red chiles this year. Time to figure out how to make a ristra. I see instructions at eHOW (eHOW ristra instructions link). They say a ristra is decorative, but its also a good way to dry chiles and keep them for fall and winter use. A couple years ago I made a ristra with wire. It was hard to make and didn’t hold the chiles well. But they did dry and keep well. I used them all winter. eHOW’s method uses string to tie…
 
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today’s harvest

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My first cayenne peppers are ripening. I am growing a variety Amelia gave me 4 or 5 years ago. I save seeds every year. They seem to get better every year. I also have some shell beans Dan gave me. Vermont Cranberry beans. They are mixed with French flagolet shell beans. And, of course, the main summer crop – my Sunburst yellow patty pans. Always delicious.
 
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tomatoes on the window sill

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A sure way to tell its August! Tomatoes on the window sill. I’m gradually getting tomatoes from my shady garden. About one every other day. I beat the squirrels by picking them as they start to turn color and letting them fully ripen inside. I prefer to do this anyway, even without squirrel competition. Doesn’t seem right to have ripe tomatoes hanging on the vines. It risks them getting overripe without me noticing and lets the vine put energy into the rest of the fruits. When I went up to…
 
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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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