July 22, 2007

zucchini search

This is 39 second action thriller video where the gardener searches the dark and dangerous underworld of a squash bed in search of a lurking zucchini. I won’t reveal the final ending, but its almost as exciting as the last few pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Well, to a fanatic gardener anyway… At some point in the video, you can see the white cheesecloth I wrapped around one or two of the squash stems. This is a non-chemical experiment to protect from squash vine borers, which are…

July 4, 2007

pumpkin flowers

Lots of big orange pumpkin flowers have begun to bloom this week. They open early in the morning. All male flowers so far. Last year I planted pumpkins in a big pot and they shriveled and died in the heat of mid July. I told myself, no more potted pumpkins. But here it is – pumpkins in a pot. (Where did I read about the folly and eternal optimism of gardeners?) This year they are in a bigger pot, nice potting soil (instead of last year’s garden soil) and they…

June 22, 2007

summer squashes

This year I have planted several types of summer squash. In early May, I planted seeds for Casserta, Sunburst and zucchini. The Casserta never sprouted and neither did a second seeding in potting soil several weeks later. The zucchini (Cashflow) came up fast and the Sunburst (a green and yellow colored patty-pan shaped squash) was slow but eventually sprouted. I purchased some plants of Gold Bar, a cylindrical yellow squash, to fill in for the absent Casserta. In all, I have three hills with about five plants each. I planted…

May 22, 2007

zucchini sprouts

The zucchini is up. A little yellow on the edges. I don’t think it liked all the rain. That’s OK – were having zucchini weather this week – sunny and warm.

May 10, 2007

planting squash seeds

Skippy and I planted squash seeds today. Its a really sunny warm day (80 F) and I’m guessing the soil is above 60 F now. I turned over the soil to mix in all the compost I added to the squash bed. Looks like great soil. I put the cucumber trellis at the back of the bed and made three hills for three different types of summer squash at the front of the bed. I planted seeds for two types of cucumbers (Diva and Striped Armenian) and three summer squashes…

October 12, 2006

pumpkins in the field

(picture not available) This picture is from the website of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. It was taken at Malinowski Farm in Hatfield, Massachusetts. A great picture. Yesterday I bought a few pumpkins for my front steps. Wish I had grown them myself, but I didn’t get any pumpkins this year from the little plant I put in a pot on my driveway.

September 29, 2006

multi squash

This is the overactive yellow squash plant I photographed 3 weeks ago. The center of it has rotted a bit, but many of the squashes (at least 10!) are growing fine. How big they get is just a question of when we get our first frost here. Or when we decide we’d like some grilled baby squash, which does sound good.

September 10, 2006

squash profusion

I’m not sure what’s going on here. This is the growing tip of one of my yellow squash vines. Looks like about 50 thousand little female squash buds all squished together. Kind of overboard it seems.

September 6, 2006

grilled summer squash

Finally a yellow summer squash!! Sunday evening I picked my first one. I sliced it in 3/4 inch slabs, brushed with herbs in olive oil(rosemary, parsley and garlic), let it sit awhile, then grilled and ate it.

August 19, 2006

more yellow squashes

The squash flowers always look so bright and fresh. Since there seem to be fewer bees around now, I brought a Q-tip out and pollinated this female blossom myself. Just to make sure.

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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