cucumbers and melons in the cold frame

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My cold frame is overflowing with summer vines. Four cucumber varieties, four melons, one pretty little acorn squash plant. I’m admiring the mix of similar leaves that have all gotten mixed up together. I didn’t do good planning where to plant. No space to walk between trellises and difficult to search the centers of green rows for hidden green cucumbers. I’ve been comparing leaves of the three curcurbits. All the same size and color. But cucumbers are pointed and star-like, melons are rounded and wide, and acorn squash has deep…
 
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popcorn ears

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I was worried about my popcorn. Tassels but no ears. And then all of a sudden, I have a corn patch full of little ears. Even some big ones. Amazing how fast they form! I think I may have had the same worry last year. Now that I see the ears, this seems like something that has happened before. I’ve been meaning to figure out what to do to avoid corn ear worms this year. Last year they ate the tip of every ear. I haven’t gotten a plan yet…
 
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baby melons

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This is a big challenge for me. I would LOVE to grow a juicy sweet melon this year. No luck the last few years. But the weather is perfect so far. Maybe I will be successful. My vines look long and full so far. I have several types of melons growing this year: Anne Arundel, Crane, Charentais, Edonis (early Charentais type) and Sugar Baby watermelon. I don’t know the variety in the photo, but I’m seeing lots of little fruits setting on my vines. I am looking forward to watching…
 
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radicchio

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I am very pleased with the radicchio I have this year. Even though only one in five plants headed, one head goes a long way. And its a beautiful red in our salads. Most of my radicchio bolted – probably because the season warmed up so fast. My Chinese cabbage (Wong Bok), which is supposed to be a big head, didn’t head at all. Just big furry leaves and then bolted into a big flower stalk. It made for lots of fresh greens for the compost pile. My savoy and…
 
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Long Island Cheese pumpkin

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The stem of my big early Long Island cheese pumpkin was broken off completely today when I went to my community plot. This pumpkin set fruit midway up on my fence and the weight of it was more than the vine could hold. The stem broke part way through a couple weeks ago. It looks like its nearly ripe. Its mostly beige colored, with only a few areas of greenish tint. Very early for a pumpkin. I’ll keep it on my kitchen counter for a month before I use it…
 
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seeds in the mail

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I often get requests from small seed companies to check out their seeds. Here are packages I received from Urban Farmer. Shirley poppies, Roma tomatoes and Large leaf Italian basil. The packages are recycled magazines. They have a nice website to check out. Here’s a link: http://www.ufseeds.com/ I looked up the poppies on google images and found: this link. Beautiful! I also looked up when to plant and it says fall or spring. I will save a place to put these seeds this fall.
 
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squirrel eats tomato

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I’ve figured out why I have so few tomatoes this year. Unfortunately, I could put up chicken wire to keep a rabbit out, but there’s not much that will keep a squirrel out of the garden. The poor squirrel was sad to drop his pretty tomato from the fence post. After the last photo above, he went down, out of my sight and I suppose found it and finished it off.
 
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broken pumpkin stem

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My big Long Island Cheese pumpkin stem broke, but not all the way off. It was growing half way up on my fence and, as the weight increased, it sunk lower. (I should have given it a support, but forgot.) Finally, the weight pulled the pumpkin all the way to the ground, but the vine couldn’t stretch quite that far. It has partially broken. I don’t dare touch it. It seems to me there may be enough intact stem for it to ripen. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Its a…
 
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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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