today’s harvest

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Five heavy butternut squash, a nice red cabbage head, a couple green Hillbilly tomatoes (I think they’ll ripen at home), a few Thai hot peppers (one with just a little bit of blight), some Purple Calabash and San Marzano tomatoes (just the edges show in the squash and pepper photos), big fat Oxheart carrots, and a bunch of white Portugal onions.
 
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my first popcorn harvest

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I think my popcorn is ready to harvest! I harvested a couple ears to check. I picked four that looked like they had bug problems. (Most of the crop looks much better.) The four ears look really good to me. I just chopped off the wormy tips. I’m really impressed. The kernels are nice and hard, but the husks are only just starting to dry. I’m hoping get over to the garden today to pick more. I think I need to let it dry before popping it. I’ll try a…
 
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harvests

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A couple photos of my harvest. At right, newly picked from my community plot. At the left, my collected tomatoes waiting to be eaten. Finally tomatoes today from my blight stricken community plot. Seems like the blight may be dissipating? Tomatoes actually ripening without rotting. I picked a few Opalkas and a nice Purple Calabash. I’m pleased. Time for T-sauce soon. Someone asked me if any of my tomato varieties have late blight resistance. Of 11 varieties planted, Purple Calabash, Opalka and Box Car Willie survived the blight and are…
 
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harvests

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Its hard to believe the bounty of mid summer. My fridge is full of every vegetable there is, it seems. All fresh and beautiful. Such variety. So many photos to take – and recipes to try. Its really wonderful. These are photos of: my first butternut squash, a day’s worth of summer squash, three types of beets (Chiogga, White Detroit and Lutz), my first eggplant harvest, a basket full of everything I brought home from my plot yesterday, and my storage onion harvest.
 
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this week’s harvests

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I pulled a bunch of beets this week: Chiogga, Lutz and White Detroit. Also carrots: Oxheart, Mokum and Bolero (a lot of funky shapes!). And my onions grown from sets: variety is Stuttgarter. Onions will stay in the garden 3 or 4 days to dry for storage. Its a good time with several days of dry weather ahead.
 
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Shung Yuang Asian white pole bean

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Seeds for these beans were given to me last year.  They are unusual pole beans with a lumpy shape, green and white color, and unusually crisp lemony flavor.  They are not Yard Long beans, which are much longer and thin. I’m very pleased these were shared with me. This is my first bean harvest this year. I think my pods aren’t as long as the pods Shung Yuang grew last year. I’m growing them next to my house where its a bit shady. My crop is late because of the…
 
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popcorn ears

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I’m really pleased with how my popcorn is looking. 2 or 3 ears per stalk now. I have 3 8 foot rows with about 20 stalks per row. But I’m not going to count the ears until I harvest them. I was talking with a real farmer yesterday who said to make sure I let the popcorn stay on the stalks a long time – until the silks are fully dry. She said this is the main mistake people make with popcorn. The trick she said is to pick it…
 
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at last – it’s tomato season!

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I have lots of Sungold cherry tomatoes now (from two plants), and a few ripe New Girl and Orange Blossoms too. Big Beef are ripening fast. The heirlooms are sizing up: Brandywine Sudduth strain, Giant Belgium, Purple Calabash, Box Car Willie, and Mortgage Lifter. Tomato varieties I’ve lost to Late Blight so far are: Pink Beauty, Cherokee Purple, Opalka, San Marzano, Early Girl and Hillbilly. Tomorrow I think I’ll check on my recollection of which varieties I have left and take a photo of the best tomato on each plant.…
 
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harvesting my first cabbage

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More photos I took with my foggy lens. I mostly grew cabbage because they are such beautiful plants. This is Super Red 80 from seed from Johnny’s. I’m also growing Alcosa, a blue green savoy type, also from Johnny’s seed.
 
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harvest

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Foggy photo. Its such a hot and humid day that condensation has collected inside my lens. This is my first cabbage ever and my first big head of broccoli. I’m feeling very accomplished!
 
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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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