first seeds planted
These are my first seeds planted this year! They are in seed cells inside under lights. Its 83 days (11 weeks) before my last spring frost. List:Echinacea (enormous purple cone flowers hand collected)Lavender augustifoliaCeleriac, BrilliantOnion, FrontierOnion, Ailsa CraigOnion, Yellow Sweet SpanishOnion, Rossa Lunga di FirenzeOnion, Ruby RingOnion, White Portugal I am also collecting plastic gallon milk bottles as I’d like to set out a few types of wild flowers and perennial flowers for winter sowing soon. Sowing 2009Sowing 2008
empty seed trays
I looked up my old posts describing my plant shelves and lights. Also the old planting table I used to use. Here’s the link. I set out my trays and plants cells. Sowing will happen soon.
gardening by the moon calendar
I have been looking forward to hanging this “Gardening by the Moon” calendar by my planting shelves this year. And tonight when the moon is so full seemed an appropriate time to dig it out of a drawer and hang it up. It seems that above the ground plants should be planted on the waxing moon and roots on the waning. Or is it the other way around? This is new for me and will be fun to read about over the coming months. The calendar has a number of…
sweet potato sprouts
One of my sweet potatoes is sprouting well, but very slowly. No growth on the other. I thought maybe they need more warmth than they get on the window sill, so I moved them to an 80*F location under my fish tank. I hope to buy a few more of different varieties soon.
my mom’s seedlings
These are my mom’s little tomato and basil seedlings. They are sunning on the front porch down here in Florida.
sprouting sweets
I’m experimenting with a couple sweet potatoes from the store. A white one and an orange one. I cut off an inch of each and put them in a glass of water. I’m hoping for a few sprouts I can pot up then plant in the garden when spring comes. I didn’t do so well with mail ordered slips last year. Maybe too early to start, but I’m looking forward to getting the garden going.
empty plant shelves
My husband brought the plant shelves and lights up from the basement today and assembled everything. Looks like a new garden ready to go. This is the only window in the house that gets beautiful full sun all day long in the winter. Its high enough to be out of the shadow of the neighboring house. And it faces directly south. I often find Skippy stretched out in the puddle of sunlight on the rug here.
fall planting
Here’s what I planted yesterday. My garden has little patches of free soil here and there. A spot where fava beans were. One where blighted tomatoes were. The empty garlic patch. I got rained on while planting, so the packs look ragged. Its late for fall planting. My calendar says I should have planted a few weeks ago. Last year I did my last planting on August 27 and only some of the greens matured by the first frost. The peas and spinach didn’t. (I’ve never gotten fall peas to…
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!
