today’s harvest – eggplants!

July 23, 2020

My first eggplants of the season!! I am excited to harvest these. Eggplants have trouble growing in my garden because of flea beetles. Last year I had didn’t get any eggplants, though I planted a dozen plants. The leaves had more holes than green, the plants barely grew, and no…

lady beetles

June 27, 2020

---, Pests & Pathogens

I’ve found a bunch of lady beetles around recently. I thought ladybugs (actually a beetle, not a bug) were only the red and black spotted ones. Not true. There are about 5,000 species of these beetles. Many are native to the US and many have been introduced from Europe or…

mice in my hoop house

April 14, 2020

---, Hoop House, Pests & Pathogens

I knew I had a mouse in my hoop house. It was leaving half eaten acorns in some of my plants. Then it started nibbling on the pea seeds in a couple big trays full of pea seedlings. I took the peas up to the house to grow and put…

planting peas

April 24, 2019

Pests & Pathogens, Starting Seeds

I planted my peas today. I started them indoors in big flat boxes and cut off paper bags. I’m a fan of planting indoors, mostly because I can watch them grow. But also I can baby the seedlings, making sure they get the right amount of water and light (under…

sprouting fall seedlings and evading the chipmunk

July 29, 2017

Pests & Pathogens, Starting Seeds

My little fall greens seedlings are sprouting. No thanks to the chipmunk that dug up several of the pots. Maybe he didn’t find much, maybe I had planted twice what I needed, as it seems I am getting a lot of sprouts anyway. Lettuce, escarole, arugula, bok choy. They will…

crop rotation

January 30, 2017

Garden Planning, Pests & Pathogens

I recently finished making plans for my vegetable gardens and posted the diagrams. A reader noticed I always plant my butternut squash in one place: on the arbor in the middle of my community garden plot. I like it there. It looks nice and does well. But the reader asked:…

Master Gardener class with Roger Swain

November 17, 2016

Garden Planning, Pests & Pathogens

I keep writing about this. What a treat the class was!! It was so great to hear Mr Swain talk from 9 am to 3 pm all about vegetables. I have 12 pages of notes. I wish I had a tenth of his knowledge. And a tenth of his ability…

planting cabbages, brocccoli and bok choi

May 22, 2016

Garden Work, Pests & Pathogens, Starting Seeds

Finally! I’ve gotten the compost down to the garden (actually my husband did that for me – thank you, Steve!), spread and turn it. Then we hooked up the hose to get some water down to the garden. The brassica bed was ready for planting, so yesterday the plants went…

green bean varieties resistant to Mexican bean beetles

March 8, 2016

Pests & Pathogens

I’m putting together a collection of green beans that have some reported resistance to Mexican bean beetles. Getting ahead of this pest in our organic community garden is going to be one of my things to focus on this summer. They are voracious! Some resistant varieties are listed here at…

what caused my garlic to rot? rotation, rotation, rotation

October 11, 2015

Garden Planning, Garlic, Pests & Pathogens, Root Vegetables

I’ve been thinking about why half of my garlic crop rotted this year. In early spring, my garlic plants yellowed and curled and then died. This started mostly in one area of the bed and then gradually other plants curled and died more slowly. Some just stopped growing looking like…

today’s harvest – eggplants!

lady beetles

mice in my hoop house

planting peas

sprouting fall seedlings and evading the chipmunk

crop rotation

Master Gardener class with Roger Swain

planting cabbages, brocccoli and bok choi

green bean varieties resistant to Mexican bean beetles

what caused my garlic to rot? rotation, rotation, rotation

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