planning early for late blight

 
 
We had such a bad time with late blight at our community garden last year.  This year we will be distributing late blight resistant tomatoes to any of our gardeners who want to give them a try.  We have contracted to have 500 seedlings grown for us.  They will be grown locally by Sandra at Underwood Greenhouses, a old greenhouse (circa 1905) in Belmont. Sandra has purchased all of the seeds and is planning to begin planting in March (I think).  I am looking forward to photographing the process.  I…
 
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my on-line planting calendar is fixed now

 
 
Stan and Jan reminded me that my On-line Planting Calendar link was broken. So I have just now fixed it. It is exciting that it is time to start thinking about planting!!! If you haven’t tried this calendar before, its a piece of code I wrote that lets you calculate when to plants all sorts of vegetable seeds based on your last frost date. Here’s the link: Calendar link. The link is also near the top of my sidebar.
 
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more 2012 crop reviews

 
 
Carrots. I didn’t do a good job with carrots this year. Lots of room for improvement here next year. I’ve grown great carrots in the past, but for some reason, decided to experiment this year. I learned what not to do. Carrots sprout slowly and they need to stay moist. This is hard for me since I grow them at my community plot and don’t have time to go water every day. So I sowed my carrots in pots and and transplanted the seedlings, like I do for nearly every…
 
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2012 crop review

 
 
Beets. I grew a lot of different varieties this year. Bulls Blood, Detroit Red and White, Chiogga, Lutz, Cylindra, Early Wonder, Red Ace, Round Red Merlin, Blankoma. I like them all! But it was not a great year for my beets. I just never had enough of them. I planted a great crop for my parents. In March, I direct seeded a good thick row of Detroit Red in their garden. They came up well and produced all season and my parents were really happy with them. They gave me…
 
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2012 crop review

 
 
At the end of the year, I like to go through my crops from last year, one-by-one, and write down the successes, failures and what I’d like to do different next year. Going alphabetical the first is: Apples. Well I’m starting the list off with a failure. No apples this year from my dwarf Fuji tree 🙁 I forgot to spray it with dormant oil before the buds broke this spring. The tree got badly infected with something. No flowers and no fruit. Also, growth of a maple to the…
 
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late blight resistant tomato seed

 
 
Does anyone have experience with late blight resistant tomatoes? After all the problems we have had the past few years, we would like to provide our community gardeners with late blight resistant tomato seedlings next spring. I am looking into the best varieties. I am thinking of trying these: Defiant PhR (Johnny’s Seed) Mountain Magic (Johnny’s Seed) Plum Regal (Johnny’s Seed) Ferline (Thompson and Morgan) Legend (Reimer Seeds)
 
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my plant list

 
 
I put together a list of the varieties of vegetables, herbs and fruits I am growing this year. Vegetables Asparagus, Jersey Supreme Asparagus, Purple Passion Beans, Bush, Provider Beans, Bush, Royal Burgundy Beans, Bush French filet, Maxibel Beans, Bush Italian flat, Jumbo Beans, Bush Italian flat, Roma Beans, Pole, Orient Wonder Beans, Pole, Scarlet Emporer Beans, Pole, Shung Wang’s Beans, seeds given to me, I save and grow each year Beets, Pink, Chiogga Guardsmark Beets, Red, Bull’s Blood Beets, Red, Cylindra Beets, Red, Early Wonder Beets, Red, Red Ace Beets,…
 
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planting calendars

 
 
I have updated the links for my on-line planting calendars. Hopefully just in time for planning fall planting schedules. Spring calendar: https://www.skippysgarden.com/planting calendar.html Fall calendar: https://www.skippysgarden.com/planting calendar fall.html Both can be accessed from the link near the top of my sidebar.
 
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comparing tomato planting dates from previous years

 
 
Yesterday I transplanted 6 tomato seedlings to my side yard garden. Its been so warm this spring that it seems like tomato planting time already to me. Temperatures the past 2 weeks have been in the 70s and 80s, nighttime lows staying up near 50*F. The forecast is for a week of rainy weather in the 60’s – perfect for tomato roots to take hold and grow. I plan to plant another 6 plants out at my community plot. I will try to wait until mid May to be safe…
 
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2012 garden plan

 
 
I’ve cut back on a few things this year, no popcorn, no melons. Only 3 pumpkin plants. Only 12 tomato plants. I’m going to try my tomatoes scattered in different locations in the garden rather than all in one patch hoping this will reduce fungi problems I’ve had the last few years. In the center of my plan is a new feature currently under construction, a new garden arbor. I’m planning to grow squash up one side and flowers up the other. It is a good solid wood arbor that…
 
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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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