May 8, 2009

update on planting and nesting

So much going on! Today I replanted my asparagus. Transplanted 3 packs of lettuce and escarole, 4 packs of onions, some thyme and hollyhocks and 8 tomato seedlings. Wednesday I planted carrot and fava bean seeds, and transplanted out celeriac, spinach, beet, cabbage and broccoli seedlings. Cukes and melons are sprouting well inside on a windowsill. I’ll wait a couple more weeks before planting these outside. Peas continue to pop up in the garden and the potatoes are up and growing fast. I think I’ll wait a bit longer to…

May 4, 2009

today’s garden work

A perfect spring transplanting day. Cloudy and 60’s. I transplanted to my home garden: 8 tomato seedlings, 3 rows of lettuce, 1 row parsley and 1 big planter of herbs (parsley, thyme and orange cosmos). My peas planted couple weeks ago are up and I filled in the empty spaces with more seeds (Sugar Sprint, Cascadian, Wando and Tall Telephone). Also planted Purple Podded Capucijner soup peas. I transplanted my lavender sprouts (only four) to an outdoor pot. I moved my alpine strawberries to a sunnier location, dividing one original…

March 21, 2009

garden work

The gardens were just beautiful today. Sunny and warm. Birds singing. Wonderful. Tasks accomplished:Moved debris pile away from my fence to make room for grass path by my fence.Added chicken wire to base of fence front.Moved half of rock pile to along my fence. Seeds planted yesterday:Surprise seeds from Dan (1 6-pack)Lavender (reseed pot where only 3 plants sprouted since 2-21)Lemon scented basil (1 pot) surprise seeds

March 15, 2009

first garden work day of the season

Another photo of my plot. This time with evidence of work that’s been done. The soil is now thawed and ready for work. And the weather this weekend was beautiful for gardening. Tasks accomplished:Brought tools to plot.Removed of salt hay from beds and stacked for reuse.Spread 40 lbs of lime.Gathered and spread about 5 wheelbarrows full of horse manure.Marked out beds and added up footage of boards needed for raised beds. And I finally mailed out my garden registration form and fee.Took down my birdhouse. The birdhouse removal has been…

March 4, 2009

to do list

After being away on vacation, there’s always a long list of stuff to catch up on. Here’s my list: 1- Take pictures of my new sprouts: tomatoes and thymes! (These were watered well in my absence.)2- Open a couple envelopes of new seeds delivered by mail in my absence.3- Catch up on email (its endless) …4- Eat my Florida souvenirs: grapefruit, tomatoes, limes and avocado.5- Finish uploading my photos of Florida flowers, birds and swamps.6- Edit my planting calculator, based on some very good suggestions.7- Check out my gardens –…

November 20, 2008

“slow gardening”

I didn’t know slow gardening was a new movement. My problem is I leave to go to my garden and say “back in half an hour”. Two hours later I come home. And no one’s surprised I took longer than I said. I always do. Its hard to know all the garden chores that need to be done until you are in the garden. Weeds can grow surprisingly fast. Tomatoes all of a sudden need staking or basil flowers need picking. Harvesting and washing a nice big crop takes time.…

October 22, 2008

winterizing the vegetable garden

I was looking at The 2009 Farmers’ Almanac and see they are predicting a “numbingly cold and snowy” winter for the Northeast US. OMG! I hope they’re wrong. I’m never ready for winter. I keep hoping we’ll skip it somehow. Nevertheless, my garden is winterized now. “How do you winterize you vegetable garden?” I see this question around a lot so here’s what I did. (Do you do the same?) To winterize, I removed all debris and summer plants. I pulled all the squashes and tomatoes and tomato poles and…

October 20, 2008

winterizing the garden

It was pretty chilly this morning. I guess winter will come again after all …. Skippy and I did a few chores to continue to winterize the garden. “We” planted spring bulbs, turned over the bird bath, watered the dry fall greens, and “our” main job – mulch. I collected freshly cut grass from the fields and started mulching my beds. Mulching with grass trimmings: I feel good tonight knowing my plants are tucked in with a nice covering of mulch. The fields nearby were recently mowed, so I collected…

September 25, 2008

plot work

Four stumps out, six more to go. One enormous rock gone, several middle sized ones yet to move. I’m still hoping to get a cover crop on this new soil before too long.community plot expansion project

September 21, 2008

more work on plot expansion

I’m lucky to have assistance with this project. We’ve got some gigantic stumps. (6 big ones and 4 or 5 little ones.) Too bad we couldn’t just bury a charge of explosive under them, back up and let them blow. Nevertheless, we are making progress. And we’ll sleep soundly tonight after all this work. community plot expansion project

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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