April 16, 2016

transplanting tomatoes

photo by Amelia Fannin A group of volunteers from my community garden got together and transplanted tomato seedlings yesterday. We do this every year. They are late blight resistant tomatoes: Jasper, Mountain Merit, Defiant and Iron Lady. We transplanted about 360 seedlings. We raised them at home under lights and now they’ll be raised by Sandra Curro at Underwood Greenhouses. They’ll be distributed free to any of our 135 gardeners who want them. Extra plants will be for sale at Underwood Greenhouses beginning May 7: 20 School St, Belmont MA.…

April 14, 2016

sprouting my seed potatoes

I like to sprout my seed potatoes before I plant them. They’re all sitting on my kitchen windowsill now. I’m looking at them and wondering: does a watched potato sprout? (silly…) Potatoes are hardy enough to be planted outside now. One reason I’m sprouting them inside is I haven’t prepared my potato beds yet. It’s been chilly and I’ve been busy. But I have been researching how to prepare the beds. (They’re at my community garden.) I looked up whether potatoes like a fertile soil and I found all sorts…

April 2, 2016

my seedlings

April 1, 2016

my seedling shelves today

My shelves are tucked in the corner of my garage this year. It stays about 60F out there. I think this low temp will be good for the seedlings. I’m thinking they’ll grow a bit slower and end up a bit stockier and less leggy than when they were indoors at 70F. We’ll see. Here’s the list of what I’ve planted so far: my 2016 planting list. I’m having more trouble than usual with failed germination this year. It’s the old seed. I’m noting the ones that don’t come up…

March 30, 2016

seedlings trays

These are the seedling trays I’m using this year. 1. I plant most of my seeds in 2″ x 3″ thin plastic pots, 24 per tray: I’ve planted in plastic 6-packs for many years. I’ve made 100s of paper pots and I’ve used peat pots. But these are what I’ve come to like. I like them better than plastic 6-packs because I can plant fewer seeds of more varieties. Also it’s easier to give away one or two pots than to cut apart a 6-pack. They are thin plastic, but…

February 20, 2016

getting ready to plant onions and celeriac

Yeah! It’s time to begin planting indoors. This weekend I’ll clean some of my old planting pots and trays and get out the seed packets and potting soil. So fun to get my hands into soil again. I used to plant onion sets instead of seeds, but onions grow bigger and are less disease prone from seed. It’s a stress on the plant to hold it as a little bulb then get it growing again. its really easy to grow onions from seed. Only two tricks, get the right variety…

January 7, 2016

get ready to plant seeds!

We have an update out for Skippy’s Vegetable Planting Calendar app. It now has 50 vegetables to select from. If you haven’t tried the app, it’s very easy to use. Select from Spring, Fall, or Winter planting season (or all three), enter your frost date, select the crops you plan to grow, and the app creates your personalized calendar. Your planting tasks will be listed by the week. It includes sowing, transplanting, and succession planting dates. It’s a cute little tool to have handy on your mobile device for only…

December 20, 2015

potting up a sprouted sweet potato

My mom gave me this nice sweet potato. From the super market. I find it really hard to get these to sprout. I love to grab one that is sprouted. I put it in a pot. It’ll go on the kitchen window sill. They grow slow, then fast. I’ve heard of gardeners who start their own sweets having the kitchen window covered with vines by planting season. Well, that would be fun. Last year I bought 12 slips and they weren’t cheap (though I forget how much they were –…

September 11, 2015

sowing for winter garden – 9 weeks before Persephone

I just got a package from Johnny’s. More seeds to sow for my winter garden. Here’s what I have going so far: September 6, 2015 (10 weeks before Persephone) Kale, Red Russian Kale, Vates Blanching Onions, Nabechan Radicchio, Perseo September 10, 2015 (9 weeks before Persephone) Collards, Flash Swiss chard, Peppermint Cilantro, Calypso Lettuce, Bibb, Winter Density Lettuce, Romaine, Truchas Lettuce, Butterhead, Skyphos Escarole, Natacha Endive, Tres Fine Mustard Greens, Ruby Streaks Daikon Radish, Miyashige Looks like I forgot to order the turnip seeds. Maybe I’ll find some in a…

September 6, 2015

sowing seed for my winter garden

Even though my last year’s winter garden was eaten to the ground by voles, I’m planting another one this year. I’m planting all of the crops included in my Winter Planting Calendar App (part of my Full Season Calendar App). I’m using the dates recommended there. It’ll be a good double check of the app. The app requires an input of my “Limited Daylight Date”, which is the date when my area falls to less than 10 hours of sunlight per day (also called the beginning of the Persephone Period).…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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