April 30, 2011

my cold frame after vacation

Everything is growing fast now. The lettuce, spinach and escarole are filling our salad bowl. These are plants from last fall, that overwintered in the cold frame. My overwintered beets are also doing well with nice greens now and just starting to form roots. The overwintered broccoli did not do well. It grew nicely, but then “buttoned”, that is, it formed tiny little broccoli heads. I picked them a couple days ago and they made a single small serving. I’m told that broccoli will button when its stressed. I’ll pull…

April 30, 2011

today’s garden work

It was a sunny warm day, in the upper 70’s, perfect for gardening. Its nice to be back to work in my own garden after being away for a week. – Some marigolds and cosmos transplanted to pots.– Sow 2 flats of seeds for cucumbers, zinnias, pumpkins, winter squash, summer squash, melons and broccoli.– Prepare one garden bed and plant fava beans.– Weed the garlic and asparagus beds.– Weed the main path in my community garden plot.

April 29, 2011

vegetable gardens in Switzerland

I was so impressed by the Swiss garden plots. Such a nice mix of flowers, grass and productive space. Most of the plots I photographed are ‘community gardens’. They have small huts, eating space, and grassy areas so the plots can be enjoyed as a vacation or weekend getaway. I was impressed by the nice pruning of espaliered fruit trees. I will try do prune back my pears and apple tree this year. Also different from US is that most gardens seem to use a cover for tomatoes. These are…

April 28, 2011

photos of Switzerland

I’m just back from a vacation in Switzerland and have photos of vegetable gardens and the Saturday morning Farmer’s Market. Photos of the Farmer’s Market in Basel Switzerland are here. Basel is located in the northwest corner of Switzerland, along the French and German borders. There was an amazing variety of local produce. Truly amazing. We filled our bags with food to make a delicious Easter dinner. Though Basel is at a more Northern latitude than us here in Boston, the weather is much warmer. The lilacs were in full…

April 24, 2011

Happy Easter !!!

April 24, 2011

Boston Globe article: a sense of community

Erica from the Globe wrote a very nice article about our community gardens. Its in today’s paper: here’s the link. I love the way she wrote little bits about lots of different gardeners. That the way our garden is: a patchwork mix of different garden styles and gardeners.

April 21, 2011

seed potatoes arrived

My seed potatoes arrived in the mail today. I have to get their bed ready and get them planted – next weekend.

April 16, 2011

side yard aerial

I planted the bed at the far left with 3 rows of peas a few days ago. I’m watching for sprouts. The cold frame is filling up fast and perennials in the bed next to it are sprouting.

April 16, 2011

furry catkins

The bees are out and about when the sun warms things up. This tiny little one was collecting pollen in the willow catkins outside my dining room window.

April 14, 2011

please vote for my cancer research company

Please vote for my company!! When I’m not in the garden, I work at a start-up biotech company to develop new tests to help breast cancer patients. We have entered a contest, called MassChallenge, because the prize money would be allow us to bring our test to patients sooner. Start-up companies from all over the world enter this contest and the competition is fierce. Please help us by voting for BIOARRAY. ANYONE CAN VOTE FOR BIOARRAY. To do so, register with MassChallenge by going to https://masschallenge.org/user/register. Fill out the log-in…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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