January 9, 2011

garden review: G to parsnips

GARLIC: My garlic was a super crop this year. I cringed to mail order 4 types of high quality garlic seed bulbs that cost about $12 each as I remember. With shipping costs, it added up to a lot. I ended up planting about 100 cloves in my garden and a similar number in my parents’ garden. In July, I harvested 100 big beautiful heads of garlic. In October, I replanted about 1/10 of these – 100 cloves in my garden (and the same at my parents’). So the garlic…

January 9, 2011

garden review: A to F

APPLES: My dwarf Fugi apple tree is near a maple in my backyard. This year we only had one apple set. I bagged it, but a squirrel picked and ate it. This fall, we had a giant branch trimmed from the maple and I’m hoping more light will increase fruit set this summer. Bagging has worked well to protect from apple maggots, the only pest we’ve had so far (except for the squirrel). I’m hoping for a good crop this year! ASPARAGUS: I am looking forward to harvesting my first…

January 7, 2011

whats in the cold frame

A couple weeks ago, I covered my cold frame with a tarp to protect against the snow of its first winter. Today I peeked under. Everything looks good. Spinach, lettuce, escarole, and broccoli. Temperatures have been about 32-35 inside (on a remote thermometer) even when its very cold outside. The plants are still small and aren’t growing any more. I’m hoping they’ll survive the winter and grow again when sun and temp’s increase. We’ll see. I have to remember to bring a bucket of water out – they tend to…

January 7, 2011

2011 garden plan

I think this will be a good plan for my two vegetable garden plots for the coming year.

January 5, 2011

garden summary

I added up the costs of my gardens for the past three years and tried to estimate the value of the produce. My costs have been high because of fencing my plot 3 years ago, adding the cold frame this year, and the shelves/lights last year. These will each last many years. And its hard to estimate the value of produce, because I think its worth more when its homegrown. In any case, my produce is probably valued about $500- $700/year (which is also about the cost of a yearly…

January 2, 2011

These are our new martini glasses. Hand blown depression glass in two shades of green. The perfect accessory for planning a new garden. I’m working on a review of last year’s garden. It requires a lot of reflection. Cheers! And Happy New Year!

January 2, 2011

Happy New Year!

December 31, 2010

organizing last year’s seeds

I got out my seed basket, spread out all the seeds, stacked them by the type of vegetable, and then wrapped the little stacks with rubber bands. The basket is all organized and ready to go now. My first seed order arrived yesterday and I added these to the basket. I’ll be setting up my lights and starting up a few seeds soon.

December 27, 2010

planning next year’s garden

I’m starting to plan my next garden! Its much too cold to go outside. But inside a warm fire, leftover Christmas food and piles of new seed catalogs. I figure with my new cold frame I can move up my planting dates. Since the frame extended my harvest by 2 months this fall, I’m guessing I can start two months early in the spring for as much as I can fit in the frame. (I have to remember that I still have plants in there and I want to see…

December 27, 2010

white garden

Looks we got a foot of snow, but hard to tell with the drifting. And its still coming down. No sign of the garden gnome – guess he took off and went south.

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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