June 20, 2011

summer solstice

A beautiful day! So much sun. Six months ago, I dreamed of this day. Today… well my muscles ache from mowing and weeding and planting and walking. It can’t get any better than this. My garden has begun to take off. Everyday morning I check and the plants are noticeably bigger, the weeds are thicker, and there is some new bug or critter. I have a big toad that lives in the third path to the left in my community plot. He was out today as I came to check.…

June 19, 2011

popcorn sprouts

My popcorn is a couple inches tall now. I thinned it once to about 2-3 inches apart and will thin again to about 6 inches soon. There is a giant sunflower that volunteered at the far end of the bed. It should be able to outgrow the corn. I am planning to order some parasitic warps this year to see it I can get ears without worms. I need to order these soon.

June 19, 2011

baby pumpkin

Baby pumpkins are forming! We’ll see if they set.

June 18, 2011

tied up asparagus

I was asked about how I “tired up” my asparagus. Here’s a picture. A couple wood posts and some string around the edge of the patch. As I look at other asparagus patches, they seem to stand up better on their own than mine. Mine flops over onto the broccoli. Maybe because its young (3 years old). This does the trick. I’ll remember to bring some fertilizer to it tomorrow. And I suppose it could use a couple inches of compost layered on top. Please let me know any advice…

June 18, 2011

espaliered pear trees

I have two espaliered pear trees in my community plot. This week I pruned them and tired up some stray branches. My new pear tree has 5 little pears that set. The older Bartlett tree again had no fruit – like last year. It has crossed my mind that maybe its because I am pruning them wrong. Could this be? Maybe I should prune earlier in the year.

June 16, 2011

apple tree

This is the back of my side yard – behind the vegetable garden. Center view is my little Fugi apple tree. This year is has at least a dozen apples!!! More than ever before. :)) We trimmed a big branch off off the maple tree in the backyard and I guess the apple appreciated it. I like to cover the young apples to keep away bugs and squirrels. I’ve used stockings in the past, but don’t have enough old stockings for such a big crop. I’m looking into other options.…

June 15, 2011

young cardinal on my cucumber trellis

June 14, 2011

arial view

The top photo is labeled to show what planted where if you click on it.

June 13, 2011

flowers in my vegetable garden

A mix of weed, annual and vegetable flowers are decorating my community plot. The blue ones are bachelor buttons (seeds from Botanical Interests) that I planted two years ago. They self-seeded this year and are big beautiful plants already. The white flowers are bladder campion weeds. There are also marigolds, violas and johnny jump-up’s. The potatoes and fava beans are budded and will pop open any day now. Lemon thyme and a pink old rose are in full bloom. Other flowers are yet to come. I planted nasturtium seeds this…

June 10, 2011

BVG community garden bulletin board

Here’s what’s on our garden bulletin board this week.

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31