fall planting

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I have so many empty spaces in my community garden plot that I would love to fill with greens. I have seeds ready for about 10 of my favorite lettuce varieties, as well as arugula, spinach, frisee endive, cilantro, and radicchio. I’d love to have a garden full of these like I did this spring. But with such hot dry weather, its hard to get them going. I’ve been planting weekly for 3-4 weeks and not much is coming up. Its hard for me to get to my plot to…
 
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birthday martini

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What better for a birthday than a local potato vodka martini with a big slice of freshly picked Diva cucumber. Ahhh.
 
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tomatoes on the window sill

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A sure way to tell its August! Tomatoes on the window sill. I’m gradually getting tomatoes from my shady garden. About one every other day. I beat the squirrels by picking them as they start to turn color and letting them fully ripen inside. I prefer to do this anyway, even without squirrel competition. Doesn’t seem right to have ripe tomatoes hanging on the vines. It risks them getting overripe without me noticing and lets the vine put energy into the rest of the fruits. When I went up to…
 
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a happier potato story

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I went out and dug a bit in my garden just now. What a relief to find a bunch of nice potatoes! From one All Blue plant, I found 4 potatoes. The other plant I dug was a Green Mountain (I think, though can’t remember for sure). Three big potatoes from that plant. The yields are low because the bed gets sun from noon-3. With so little sun, I’m really glad to get this many. And they are so pretty! And no critter damage! Yippee!!
 
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a sad story about potatoes

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Yesterday I visited my parents and we dug potatoes from their garden. We were looking forward this. But we didn’t have very good luck 🙁 Dad dug, I sifted through the soil and grabbed the potatoes, and Mom washed them. But there were hardly any. And the ones we did find were half eaten! Another critter! Its too bad. They had little tiny tooth marks and very large portions of the potatoes were missing. I thought the critter was maybe a mole. My sister suggested a pocket gopher might be…
 
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fall planting

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Its mid summer and I’m well into the fall planting. I had a email today from Lesley who just moved from Arizona to MA and is wondering what she can plant in her new zone and new vegetable garden. Here in Belmont, my first fall frost is usually early October (maybe Oct 10), so we have about 60 days of growing left. Today I planted seeds for: Carrots (St Valery)Lettuce (Oak Leaf Mix and Prizehead) I’m also watering every day to try to encourage seeds I planted last week (beets,…
 
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sunflowers!

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Its sunflower time! One of my favorite things to do is photographing sunflowers. Usually there’s a bee or several bees on it. Today there were also bright yellow gold finches. I planted my sunflowers late (actually the first planting was eaten by chipmunks and it took me some time to replant in pots and transplant to my plot). The flowers above are all growing in other garden plots – not mine. I have just one in bloom now (below, a Teddy Bear Dwarf Yellow from Botanical Interests),and three or four…
 
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Alwife redtail hawks

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Its been two months since we watched the 3 young red tailed hawks grow up on the ledge of the office building at 185 Alewife Brook Parkway. Today when I pulled into the mall parking lot to shop, I saw 3 red tailed hawks overhead. I haven’t seen the young birds since the week they fledged. I often look for then when I shop here. Today they circled the lot, rising and dipping and looking very like very skillful fliers. I don’t really know if these are the same birds.…
 
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aerial

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My side yard garden has had better years. It’s so shady! But the cold frame is filling up and tomatoes are s.l.o.w.l.y growing. I planted my Solanacea (tomato-related plants) here (instead of my community plot) for rotation this year. Click on the photo to see what’s growing.
 
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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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