December 22, 2007

winter solstice

On the darkest day of the year, I have to admit that I have gone South. Sat., Dec. 22, 2007, 1:08 A.M. EST (06:08 UT), marks the solstice—the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere. I am now almost midway between Boston and the equator in Naples Florida, visiting my parents for Christmas. Quite a contrast in weather and sunlight. 40 degrees warmer, almost two hours more sunlight and NO SNOW! Boston, Massachusetts latitude N42.3, daylight 7:10am-4:15pmNaples, Florida latitude N26.1, daylight 7:11am-5:41pm Below are…

September 26, 2007

full harvest moon

Tonight is the Harvest Moon. It will rise at 1848EST (7:48 pm EDT) in Belmont MA. It should be bright enough to harvest tomatoes and eggplants late into the night (if that’s what I was planning to do).

September 23, 2007

first day of autumn

A sad good-bye to summer… Something about the fall garden isn’t the same as the spring and summer one. I notice I’m not heading out there as much. I have fewer vegetable garden pictures to show. Instead I’m playing with my photos today.

September 20, 2007

autumnal equinox

I thought fall would begin on September 21 this year, but I was wrong. I’ve corrected my sidebar count down meter. The equinox is at about 9:30 am on September 23. That means an extra 2 days of summer that I didn’t know about. Three cheers!

May 31, 2007

once in a blue moon

April 4, 2007

spring

March 10, 2007

signs of spring

Finally, a few signs of spring in my garden. Pussy willows are out and snowdrops are opening. My gnome has emerged from the snowcover. The birds are plentiful and signing loudly. A lovely carolina wren was singing today, as well as the usual chickadees, cardinals, and sparrows. I am a bit concerned about my garlic. Its still under a couple inches of snow and the tips are looking ragged. I hope it survived.

February 24, 2007

Not much going on in my garden! Snow, snow, snow….

November 21, 2006

first frost

We had a real frost last night. I’m hoping my covered parsley and chard survived it.

October 5, 2006

harvest moon

The moon looked very big and almost full tonight. It’ll be full in two days – on Friday. The full Harvest Moon is the full moon that occurs closest to the autumn equinox. Its late this year, as it is usually happens in September. Often, we get our first frost at the first October full moon. I figure, if we make it past this moon maybe we’ll have a late frost and an extended growing season this year. We’ll see.

weeks and counting until my last spring frost