grapes

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These are grapes growing over our patio on a big arbor in the back yard. A red variety whose name I have forgotten. They’re not good eating grapes, to me anyway – probably a jam or wine variety, but birds and animals love them. Squirrels and cardinals are most often in the vines. Last evening as we relaxed on the patio, a fluffy black critter with a lovely white stripe down the center of his back ambled up within 5 feet of us – I think to sample fallen grapes.…
 
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cucumbers

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Still lots of cucumbers hiding under the leaves in my vine filled cold frame. It seems this is a good spot for them. I notice that most other cucumber patches around here have turned brown and stopped producing. I think the frame has sheltered them well in this hot dry summer. I’m starting to get a little mildew on the leaves now, but not too bad. I can’t even come close to eating them all. I meant to make pickles, and maybe I will soon, but I haven’t had time…
 
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baby lemons

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I took a bunch of photos of the lemons on my Meyer lemon tree just now. Its still blooming and setting fruit. But today’s lemon count was a little lower than my last one – 26 instead of 33. Maybe a few have dropped off, but its hard to count them, so the difference may be just my counting.
 
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new grape arbor – and my lemon tree

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I forgot to post this photo last weekend after my husband made this new arbor for my grapes. The vines were all over the place. I pulled them together and put them on their new arbor. Much more orderly looking. Add my little Meyer’s lemon tree is also in this photo. I will have to get a close up picture of the lemons growing on it. Earlier this year, someone told me that lemons need a lot of nitrogen. So I fertilized it well and added fresh soil. I’ve never…
 
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garden sparrow

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What do you think this guy is? An immature song sparrow maybe? They flit in and out of the garden plots. I think there is an abundance of food for them here now. I like the little tuft of feathers on his head.
 
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tomato sauce

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I made a great big batch of red sauce this week. It simmered all afternoon. Mostly tomatoes from my parents garden. Also a few from my garden and some from my Piccadilly Farm CSA distribution. I added to the sauce a couple grated summer squash, carrots, garlic and onions. It smells fantastic! Tomato varieties are: Mortgage Lifter, Box Car Willy, Pink Beauty, New Girl, Big Beef, Oxheart Red, Giant Belgium, Cherokee Purple, and Brandywine. Also two fantastic varieties of plum tomatoes: San Marzano Gigante 3 and Opalka. I’d like to…
 
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fall seedlings

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These are my little plants growing inside under the lights. With the hot dry summer weather and then pelting rain, its nice to baby them. I have several types of lettuce here, and some spinach. They’re ready to go outside soon. I checked my community plot today. I’ve been sowing seeds there regularly. Not much sprouted during hot dry weather in July and early August. Today I see several patches coming up. Nice pea sprouts, and a little bed of tiny lettuces. Also a row that looks like broccoli, but…
 
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a new mulch for my vegetable beds

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One of my projects this weekend was to weed and mulch my side yard vegetable beds. Weeding the beds was a big job as I’ve neglected them recently. I removed two wheel barrows full to my compost bins. Most weeds had grown up in the paths between the beds. After weeding, I spread mulch. A new product for me: Coast of Maine hay and straw mulch. Its finely chopped and sterilized and they say it doesn’t have weed seeds. Its spreads very nicely and one bag covers lots of ground.…
 
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new flower bed

 
 
I’ve been fixing up a little flower garden next to my cold frame. I had a few perennials here that had grown together and gotten weeds and then they got trampled when my husband painted the house this summer. Now that the painting is done, I replanted the bed. I dug out everything, separated all the perennials, removed the weeds and replanted. I added some compost and a few new plants, including a red bee balm (monarda), orange butterfly milkweed, a purple New England aster, a classic Autumn Joy sedum,…
 
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Kathy Martin
This is a journal of my vegetable gardens. Skippy thinks the garden is his, even though I do all the work. We're located near Boston, in USDA zone 6. I have bees, chickens, fruit trees and berry bushes, too. I use all sustainable organic methods and strive to grow all of my family's vegetables myself. -Kathy


weeks and counting until my last spring frost

What I planted recently

Jan 21
thyme, lettuce, escarole

Feb 21
celery, celeriac, parsley, leeks

March 11
cabbage, kale, arugula



What I'm planting soon

April 1
peppers, eggplants, marigolds, beets

April 12
tomatoes, basil, sunflowers

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My garden this week

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17 years of archives!

Check out the food pantry farm I helped to start up:

Aurelia's Garden

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Skippy’s vegetable of the month – Egyptian walking onions!

“I envision a day when every city and town has front and back yards, community gardens and growing spaces, nurtured into life by neighbors who are no longer strangers, but friends who delight in the edible rewards offered from a garden they discovered together.” – Greg Peterson

"What can happen to a seed is a miracle."

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