garden event cancelled due to heat
🙁 We thought it was best to cancel the Event scheduled at our community garden because of the extreme heat the weather service is forecasting. The humidity and heat are supposed to be dangerous here tomorrow through 8 pm. We’ll reschedule for August 25, 6 pm.
summer solstice
A beautiful day! So much sun. Six months ago, I dreamed of this day. Today… well my muscles ache from mowing and weeding and planting and walking. It can’t get any better than this. My garden has begun to take off. Everyday morning I check and the plants are noticeably bigger, the weeds are thicker, and there is some new bug or critter. I have a big toad that lives in the third path to the left in my community plot. He was out today as I came to check.…
spring! finally – flowers in my yard
These are the flowers blooming in my yard this week. I planted 50 of the bright yellow waterlily tulips (top) in my front yard last fall and they’re in full bloom now. The bright cerise Batalini tulips (bottom left) are at my community garden plot. I love early tulips! They open in the sun and close when its cloudy. I’m so happy to see them after a long and snowy winter. I bought a tray full of bright little violas to plat in the big pots in my back yard…
signs of spring
I think spring is right around the corner. The birds and squirrels seem to agree. The mornings have become noisy with bird songs this week. Snow piles have melted a bit in recent rains. The warmest southern sloped yard in our town has lovely snow drops in full bloom. A friend of mine who lives in PA told me lots of flowers are in bloom there – crocuses and tulips – so soon spring will make its way up to Boston soon. Its so exciting to watch the progression.
bitter cold
Bitter cold here – in single digits. 2 ft + of snow on the ground. My snow covered cold frame with remote thermometer is staying a constant 28-30*F.
watching the thermometers
My gardening has turned into watching the thermometers from inside the window. The bigger monitor has a sensor inside my cold frame, and the little one is outside. (The balmy 63.3 is inside the house.) I took this photo on a recent chilly night. The cold frame stays warmer when the temps dip low. They go up quite a bit when in the morning when I get a bit of sun on the frame. But right now, as I look, outside is 55* and inside the frame is 50*. The…
long shadows in my plot
Winter is approaching. The shadows are very long. My photos end up with areas of too dark shadows and areas of too bright light. I’ve covered much of my garden with salt hay by now. There’s a bit of lettuce, spinach and other greens hidden under the hay. Also some perennial flowers and my newly planted garlic crop. In the bare areas, small shoots of cover crops are starting to sprout. Winter rye and clover. These will grow during any warm spells we get or may just hang out and…
harvest moon
I just got the following note from an astronomy observer. Watch it right in your front yard— Summer usually ends on Sept 21 or Sept 22 (the equinox.) This year it ends at ~02h15 UTC on Sept. 23rd, i.e. 11:15 EDT tonight. And it’s the full Moon tonight, making it the last full Moon before the equinox, a.k.a. the Harvest Moon. And tonight’s moonrise occurs just before sunset, so the Earth will briefly be illuminated by both the Sun from the West and the Sun’s light reflected by the Moon…
irrigation in the HOT weather
How about this heat and dry weather!! What a difference from last year. My plants seem to be deep rooted enough to go for 3-4 days without water, even though we have temps well into the 90’s (F) all day. Then they need a long deep watering. This is great for avoiding fungal problems (like last years late blight). I’m hoping for a nice tomato harvest starting soon. I thought maybe my potatoes would be ready and pulled up a plant last Friday. Not! (I put away potato salad recipe.)…
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
My garden this week
Skippy’s vegetable of the month – Egyptian walking onions!
