sowing onions at drumlin farm

 
 
Last week I volunteered to help at Drumlin Farm, Lincoln MA. They were sowing onion seed. Everything’s done by hand at the farm, with lots of help from volunteers. I was really impressed with the way they did things. – The greenhouse was filled with trays of beautiful arugula and peas tendrils in all stages of growth for selling to local restaurants. – They simply lay newspaper in a doubled up 10-20 tray, fill it with dirt, and use that for planting. No pots. – Before planting, they water the…
 
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AmaRosa potatoes

 
 
Last night I fried up some of the potatoes I grew this year. One was a relatively newly released potato called AmaRosa. It looked interesting to me because its skin as well as its flesh are red. AmaRosa is described as a mid season fingerling-shaped tuber with red skin and red flesh that is ideal for microwaving, frying or baking. Also, chips made from AmaRosa retain their rosy color and resist fading. Photos and information at PVMI (link here), show it as very deep red. I bought them from Fedco/Moose…
 
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sweet potato harvest

 
 
I harvested my sweet potatoes today. I just had one small row that I grew at my community garden. With a very bad vole population this year, I was afraid I find all sorts of half eaten tubers. But only one had nibble marks. And many of the tubers were pretty good size. I was surprised to see several were sprouting already – underground. What’s that about? The hot weather? I’m glad I got them out of the ground a bit early. I normally would wait ’til after a frost…
 
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today’s harvest

 
 
This is today’s harvest from my community garden. It was boring digging potatoes alone. As a pup, Skippy would dig a bit with me. As an adult, he would bark at passersby. Not really a good think to do. I’d say “shush!”. He thought it was his garden and I was more than glad to share it with him. The other story today is the dryness. The garden soil is rising in clouds as I dig. So dry. I’ve been watering as when I can, probably every four days, a…
 
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today’s harvest

 
 
This is the harvest from my community garden plot today. The onions are so small with the drought. I’m picking my tomatoes very green to ripen at home because the chipmunks are eating them for any moisture they can find. The green beans are hardly producing at all. I wonder what will be under the soil when I dig the potatoes and sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes droop down so fast in the dry weather. A nice thing is that I’ve had 4 pretty little acorn squash ripen very early.
 
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sprouted potatoes

 
 
After 3 weeks of sprouting on my window sill, this is how my potatoes look. No, I did not sit and watch them the whole time. 😉 Tomorrow, I have two potato planting events scheduled. I’ll help the kids at the Wheelock School in Medfield MA plant their potatoes and then I’ll go to my community garden plot and plant my own potatoes. It’s potato planting time!!
 
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sprouting my seed potatoes

 
 
I like to sprout my seed potatoes before I plant them. They’re all sitting on my kitchen windowsill now. I’m looking at them and wondering: does a watched potato sprout? (silly…) Potatoes are hardy enough to be planted outside now. One reason I’m sprouting them inside is I haven’t prepared my potato beds yet. It’s been chilly and I’ve been busy. But I have been researching how to prepare the beds. (They’re at my community garden.) I looked up whether potatoes like a fertile soil and I found all sorts…
 
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seed potatoes arrived today

 
 
My seed potatoes from Moose tubers arrived today. My plan: let them sprout a couple weeks, while I amend their beds, then plant them. I have the tubers on my kitchen windowsill so I can watch them sprouting. To amend the beds, I want to add a good 2 inches of compost and dig it in. No scimping this year! I want my spuds in happy soil.
 
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getting ready to plant onions and celeriac

 
 
Yeah! It’s time to begin planting indoors. This weekend I’ll clean some of my old planting pots and trays and get out the seed packets and potting soil. So fun to get my hands into soil again. I used to plant onion sets instead of seeds, but onions grow bigger and are less disease prone from seed. It’s a stress on the plant to hold it as a little bulb then get it growing again. its really easy to grow onions from seed. Only two tricks, get the right variety…
 
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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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