June 5, 2011

garden work

My accomplishments in the garden this weekend: weededplanted sunflower seedssquished potato bugs (yuck!)tied up asparagus frondswateredfilled the bird bathtransplanted spinach seedlingstransplanted peppers seedlingsadmired 3 rows of 1 inch tall popcorn seedlingstransplanted leftover tomato seedlings into paper cups (to give away soon)gave away cucumber, squash, pumpkins, tomato and pepper seedlings to my parents

June 5, 2011

pea plants

Not my best year for peas. I’m trying to grow shell peas. I planted three different varieties (Cascadia, Oregon Giant and something else). (I even used pea innoculant on all.) Usually sugar snap (Johnny’s Sugar Sprint) do very well in my garden. I’ve tried shell peas several times before and they have never done well. Not sure why. Maybe shell peas need more sun? Next year I think I’ll go back to Sugar Sprint and just let the pods get big and shell them. We really like fresh shell peas!!

June 4, 2011

lots of thyme

I have a BEAUTIFUL patch of thyme – finally. For years I’ve tried one variety after another. I think this is one my mom gave me, though not really sure. It has survived a couple of winters now and is expanding. My gnome tends it. I can now harvest thyme with abandon. Ahh! I don’t know anything that doesn’t taste better with a bit of fresh thyme.

June 1, 2011

birds in my backyard

I have a cardinal nesting in my backyard in a climbing hydrangea vine. I noticed the nest because there was a pale blue egg with lots of brown speckles on the ground. It had a small hole in it (the size of a wren’s beak) and was empty. I looked above and found the female cardinal sitting on her nest. Since I found the nest (last week), she has been faithfully sitting – so I think she has laid more eggs. There is also a pair of wrens are in…

May 31, 2011

baby pears

I was very happy to find a bunch of baby pears (my first!) on one of my espaliered trees in my community plot. I have two trees trained on a 5 foot fence. One tree (a Bartlett) has been there for 3 years now and the other I planted last spring. Last year both trees looked bad – with some bugs in the leaves (red spots – scale I think), so this spring I used a dormant oil spray just before buds opened. The fruit has set on the newer…

May 31, 2011

Memorial Day weekend garden work

My plot from the southeast: What a fantastic weekend for gardening! Our weather has gone from cloudy and cold (40-50*F) last week to hot and sunny (80’s). Some plants love it, some don’t. I am very pleased to see the sun!!! My weekend accomplishments: Transplanted tomato seedlingsPlanted popcorn seedsWeeded the garlic bedsTransplanted pumpkin and squash seedlingsConstructed squash supportWatched a hummingbird visit wild bluebellsMowed about half of the community gardens pathsDiscovered a big fat toad in my gardenHilled potato plantsDiscovered baby pears and apples formingBegan pruning my espaliered pear treesWatered the…

May 29, 2011

skirt for garden bulletin board

My husband made a nice skirt for the base of the garden bulletin board that a Belmont boy scout recently made for us. He used pressure treated 2 by 6’s and filled with topsoil. I’m deciding what to plant in it. What do you think? Black-Eyed Susan’s? Daffodils and day lilies? Native wild flowers like tansy or Joe Pye weed? A couple low blue berry bushes? Marigolds, cosmos… sunflowers…. there are so many choices.

May 25, 2011

sad seedlings

This is a picture of my sad basil and pepper seedlings. They were in seed cells that didn’t drain well in my closed cold frame during the very wet, cold weather last week. The seedlings have a problem called damping off. Its caused by a fungus that attacks the stem and makes the plant fall over and die. 🙁 I brought the trays inside yesterday and put them under lights to warm up and dry out. Cold, wet weather is hard for a cold frame. I didn’t know whether to…

May 22, 2011

cold and damp spring

We have had such a cold and wet spring! I can’t believe it. We had a miserable, dark and snowy winter and now a damp, dreary spring. Arggh. Today I bundled up in a jacket and turtle neck. My mom even wore a fleece scarf. Young girls dressing by the calendar wore shorts and sandals, and we shivered just looking at them. I’m hearing that there is concern already about late blight. Its out there, they say. I posted an announcement on our garden bulletin board (below) reminding gardeners to…

May 22, 2011

Google Earth image of the Belmont Community Gardens

Isn’t Google Earth amazing! It looks like this image is from mid-July of last year. I can see my squash plants are still looking like well-behaved separate hills. By August they were a tangled mess and spilling into adjacent beds. You can see the 16 new plots we added at the upper right.

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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