January 22, 2017

planting shelves, seeds, and trays

My planting shelves and lights are ready to go! My husband set them up for me. (Thanks Steve!) Rather than putting them in the garage this year, they are in a small pantry where I store my canned goods, books, etc. I can adjust the temperature in here without heating up a large room. Last year they grew very slowly in the 60F garage. I addition to having the shelves ready, I just sent out my last seed order – the snail mail one to Sand Hill. I’m enjoying seeing…

September 11, 2016

fall seedling sale

We’re still growing! Here’s a link to our Facebook page with photos of our fall seedling sale. Belmont Victory Gardens fall seedlings on Facebook

September 9, 2016

fall seedlings on a hot September day

I brought my fall seedlings inside to stay cool today. They’re covering most of my dining room floor. It’s mid-September and it’s going up in the 90’s!! Hard to believe. I’m growing the seedlings for our community garden, but it’s been a struggle to keep them happy this year. They’d like cool weather. They were outside the last 2 weeks, but now they’re inside. Tomorrow we’ll sell them and gardeners will plant them out. Fortunately the forecast is cloudy and cool (low 80’s) with scattered showers. I’m growing the seedlings…

August 22, 2016

fall seedlings for my community garden

It seems crazy to be doing fall and winter planting in the middle of this August drought and heat. But it’s time. Since so few fall seedlings are available in nurseries, I’ve volunteered to grow seedlings for our community garden. I have 50 orders for about 150 pots of about 10 different varieties. I’m growing the. In small pots, about 4 plants per pot. I set up a large table in my garden to grow them on. I had to cover then to keep the cabbage worms away. With the…

August 7, 2016

planting fall seedlings!

I’m planting fall seedlings now for me, my mom, and my community garden. Our community garden is big: 137 plots on 2 acres. We’re selling seedlings $1 a pot to benefit the gardens. We’ve gotten orders for about 125 pots of seedlings so far. Plus, we want to have extra plants available for those who didn’t order and will want to buy some on our distribution day. We’re offering most as 4-seedlings per pot. Larger plants (like broccoli) will be 4-packs with 1 plant per cell. It’s a big job…

May 22, 2016

planting cabbages, brocccoli and bok choi

Finally! I’ve gotten the compost down to the garden (actually my husband did that for me – thank you, Steve!), spread and turn it. Then we hooked up the hose to get some water down to the garden. The brassica bed was ready for planting, so yesterday the plants went in! I have so many seedlings waiting to be planted that I’m so happy to be getting some planted. After planting and watering, I covered the bed with row cover to protect the plants from cabbage worms. I planted three…

May 21, 2016

new asparagus bed

Here’s my new asparagus bed. The sprouts are up, so I layered on another 2 inches of soil/compost mix today. I’ll add another 2 inches in a few days. The plants should have 5 inches of soil above the crowns. I squeezed my asparagus row between the fence and a raised bed. There was too much room there to let it go empty, but it’s a difficult place for planting. Hard to access. Also, the soil of the lawn below is rocky, compacted, and nutrient-poor. When planting, I layered on…

May 15, 2016

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!!

May 14, 2016

sunning seedlings

April 27, 2016

planting asparagus

I am SO busy with my Gardening Class added to spring planting on top of my usual work, but the asparagus I ordered arrived in the mail yesterday – so, it’s time to plant asparagus! I need to move a few wheelbarrows full of compost over to the bed I have planned for them, turn it under, then plant the crowns. Last time I planted asparagus, I set the crowns in wrong. I dug them up and replanted them. So this is my second time planting crowns and I’ll know…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost