Skippy’s Vegetable Garden is moving

 
 
Skippy’s vegetable garden will move soon. The garden is at its peak, tomatoes ripening, big green basil plants, tall teepees of cucumbers and green beans. I am picking more than we can eat from this cute little garden. But, something else is going on too…. The cold frame is being taken apart and removed as we get ready to show the house to potential buyers. I wonder if someone will continue to maintain my little side yard garden? Or maybe it will be removed and replaced with grass. I wonder.…
 

summer solstice weeding

 
 
I am amazed at how fast the weeds are growing this year. But then, bet I say that every year…. I start weeding at one end of the garden and by the time I finish, there are big weeds at the far side again and I have to start over. As I remember, this weed phase is a late June/early July thing – the summer solstice weed race. Soon the vegetable plants will be big enough to shade the weeds. In late July/August, the weeds will wind down their growth…
 

rainy May garden

 
 
This is my shady garden. I know it will have even less sun this year as those trees keep on growing. The open cold frame gets the best light (5 hours of sun: 10am – 3pm). I’ll plant tomatoes, peppers and eggplants in it soon. I have a pile of compost inside ready to spread and dig under. Yesterday I cleared the last of the winter broccoli and lettuce out of the frame, so its ready to go when the rain clears. The seedlings are soaking up the rain and…
 

getting ready to plant!

 
 
Isn’t spring wonderful! I just now clicked on my label link below for “sideyard aerial photos” and was reminded what a tough winter it was. Only one month ago we had a foot of snow, Feb we were covered with nearly 3 feet, Jan and Dec were cold and dark, and October we had Hurricane Sandy…. All I can say is: Isn’t spring wonderful!
 

garden aerial view

 
 
I was talking with my brother yesterday. He’s looking forward to planting his garden. We were noticing that St Patrick’s Day is only ONE week away now! That’s when I planted my first pea seeds outside in the garden last year. We are wondering if there’s any chance we can plant that soon this year. I remember last year on a 70*F day in mid March I turned in a load of compost into my parents garden (mostly my son did the spreading and turning) and we planted seeds for…
 

snow

 
 
We had a powder sugar coating of snow on the garden on this first day of December. It accumulated to about 1.5 inches. It stayed around a day or two, and then melted back to bare ground. I’m reminded of my fig tree as I look at this picture. It’s still sitting in the garden in a pot, unprotected. I have read that its hardy down to about 10*F. We’re not close to that yet, but we’ll likely get down there in a few weeks. I’m thinking that once the…
 

weathering hurricane Sandy

 
 
We were fortunate with almost no storm damage, though it was WINDY!! The garden is wet and leaf-strewn. Many houses nearby fared worse, though nothing like NJ. Here’s a slideshow of my neighborhood after Sandy.
 
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