September 7, 2009

full corn moon

There’s a beautiful full moon out there these nights. The September full moon name is the Corn moon, however, the full moon closest to the Atumnal equinox is called the Harvest moon, and sometimes the September moon is the Harvest moon. This year, September’s moon falls on September 4. The equinox falls on September 22 and the October moon is full October 4. The Harvest moon will be Ocrtober’s full moon. – from Small Farm Life

August 1, 2009

August !

Its deep summer. Ahh. How wonderful. The perfect month. “In summer, the song sings itself.”– William Carlos Williams

July 24, 2009

weather complaints – a VERY wet and cool first month of summer in Boston

Yes, I’m complaining again about the weather. Here in Boston, we only survive the winters because we dream about the beautiful summers we know will come. July 24 and we’re still waiting…. Twenty of the first 31 days of summer have been rainy. I’ve only watered my garden once so far. My rain gauge is almost always full. And our temperatures have rarely exceeded the normal summer average. Daily departures for the month have totaled 97 degrees F below normal. The clouds hover and there’s no sun to dry up…

July 4, 2009

wet July potato plants

My rain gauge says almost 4 inches of rain in the past week! Wow! After reading about Late Blight in the news letter from Piccadilly Farm (my post from yesterday), I took a close look this evening at my potato plants. They look great overall, but there are a few nasty leaf spots here and there. I suppose it could be late blight starting in my patch. I’m planning to start my potato harvest this weekend. Most of my varieties have finished blooming and are fruiting already. (Love those cute…

June 22, 2009

Father’s Day and first day of summer

Summer is here! But who would know?! A Nor’easter in New England is bringing us heavy overcast, winds, and more rain…. Summer began 1:45 A.M. EDT on Sunday, June 21, 2009. This day had the longest daylight of the year – and we couldn’t see any of it. Also Father’s Day. I gave my dad a couple of gardening gifts: I cleaned up his old red garden trowel that I had “borrowed” accidentally for the past few weeks (as he’s been asking for it back) and I put a nice…

May 18, 2009

cold spring weather

Brrr! We’re having a run of cool days. At midday, its 54*F in my yard and will go to low 40’s tonight. Frost warnings are up for the north and western part of the state. Bbrrrr. But then things are supposed to warm up nicely. Highs in 80’s – lows in upper 50’s for remainder of the week. I’ve been keeping my warm weather plants inside under lights for the past couple weeks. I had them outside but the chilis didn’t seem happy. So now my melons, cucumbers, squashes, chilis…

May 8, 2009

plant corn when oak leaves are as big as squirrels’ ears

I brought home this stem of white oak leaves today to remind myself to plant my corn seeds soon. Its time … “Plant corn when oak leaves are as big as squirrel’s ears” is an old phenology truism. These oak leaves are almost as big as rabbit’s ears now. I better get to it! phenology: planting by natural cuesPopcorn (Zea mays averta)

April 9, 2009

watching for spring birds

They are finally arriving! Last year I saw bluebirds in the meadow by the gardens on April 11, so I’m watching for flashes of blue. The birds I saw yesterday include a few spring migrants and a lot of NE residents: white-crowned sparrow, eastern phoebe, red-winged blackbirds, lots of American robins, one lonely cold tree swallow, chickadees, nuthatch, downy woodpecker, ring-necked pheasant (no visual), starlings, and blue jays. The fields and woods are still bare and brown. But if you look close, small grass shoots are coming up, leaf buds…

March 31, 2009

crocuses mean it’s time to plant the peas

The crocuses are in full bloom in my side yard. I haven’t had time to rake yet, but they’ve popped up through the old leaf layer anyway. Another job still waiting is to rake out my side yard raised beds and plant peas. It’s time. I could have planted peas last week. I don’t think it’ll matter to be a bit late. As I admire the crocuses, I’m thinking that these bright faces are a good sign that its time to plant pea seeds. Sometimes its hard to know when…

March 9, 2009

spring is getting closer

More and more signs of spring are around now. Though snowstorms seem to come weekly, it melts fast. Underneath, crocus and tulips are sprouting. Winter hazel is blooming bright. And Skippy’s swimming hole has thawed. After this winter, it seems almost too good to be true…..

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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