November 12, 2009

a nice fresh pile of horse manure

I still can’t get over how great it is that a local horse owner brings his extra *** to the community gardens. A fresh big pile today. Skippy has gotten very grown up about the pile. No more rolling in it or eating it. He gives a brief sniff and moves on. So I shoveled a barrowful, maneuvered to my plot, and dumped it onto the bed that will grow my popcorn next year. Such pleasure to think about what will grow next year…..

November 11, 2009

mulching with hay

I’d like to cover all my beds for the winter – to protect the soil microbes. So I went to my plot today to spread the last of my hay. Two garlic plots are already mulched. And another bed is already covered with popcorn stalks. Uncovered beds I noticed were the new asparagus bed, planted this spring. And my perennial bed with rhubarb, rose, thyme and oregano. I spread the last of the hay on these. If I get a chance to buy more hay, I will. It would be…

November 9, 2009

spreading compost and other winter preparations

A beautiful warm fall day for garden work. We were out cleaning up the yard and gardens – getting ready for winter. My main project was COMPOST. My old wood compost bins have finally composted themselves. After 10 or 15 years. Two homemade untreated fir bins. I pulled off all the old decayed wood, then carted the compost to my garden beds. My 2010 plan says there will be tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes and peppers in these home beds next year, which need a nice rich soil. A couple of the…

November 4, 2009

Beantown Seedsavers Seed Collection Event this Saturday

>> From: Erica Lafountain >> Subject: Beantown Seedsavers Seed Collection Event 11/7 12-2>>>> The Beantown Seedsavers are a new group of people with an interest>> in encouraging local seed saving to develop a source for diverse,>> acclimatized, disease resistant plants that are delicious,>> medicinal, and/or beautiful.>>>> If you have saved seeds in the recent past and would like to share>> some of them with others, please come to the Beantown Seedsavers>> Seed Collection event on November 7th from 12-2. Please bring the>> seeds in an envelope or baggie to the…

November 4, 2009

impression of the woods

The woods look like a Monet painting now. This photo is from last Sunday. Skippy and I followed an old stone wall instead of the path so I would see all the leaves up close. I did a little PhotoShopping to make the picture look more like the woods looked to me. Spots of color. Lots of filtered light. Pastel shades.

November 3, 2009

photos of my garden plot

escarole and winter radish kale, fava beans, Boston lettuce, red romaine and spinach asparagus, red cabbage and parsnips savoy cabbage and mixed fall greens My raised beds are beginning to look clean and organized again after the profusion of plants that overtook them this summer. The garlic is planted and covered with a layer of salt hay. Most of the old plant debris has been added to the compost bin. I layered compost and fresh manure on a couple beds and seeded cover crops in this. Its coming up nicely…

November 2, 2009

beets and squash for dinner

I started with the first recipe contributed on my beet post: borscht. Never having made borscht before, I was surprised by the combination beets, celery, garlic, carrots and dill. I even found a last sprig of dill in the garden. It was easy to make. And tasted great. While I was cooking, I made my favorite squash recipe from the first garden Butternut I’ve used this season. Carys’ Boscht Recipe: “I make borscht with cubed beets, carrots, sliced celery, garlic, lots of dill (seed and weed), salt, pepper. You can…

November 1, 2009

I added a copyright notice to my posts. At least its clear now that they are my posts: Pirate Blog.

November 1, 2009

a FANTASTIC book: Designing the New Kitchen Garden by J Bartley

I’m really enjoying reading this book. Every word. Its wonderful. Who would have thought a book on designing the New Kitchen Garden would start way back with medieval gardens? And that garden history would be so fascinating? The drawings of courtyard gardens are detailed and beautiful. Jennifer Bartley is a wonderfully creative and inspiring writer. I’m enjoying the lists of plants grown in different types of gardens. Medicinals and herbals from monastery plots. Always ready for new (and old!) ideas for next year’s garden, I’m imagining an officinalis section with…

October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween! – witch hazel with witch’s hats

The witch hazel around Fresh Pond in Cambridge is in full bloom now right in time for Halloween. I never noticed the witches’ hats before. Here are excerpts from Nature Observer Journal. A perfect Halloween story. When you find Witch Hazel examine the few remaining leaves… often see a small cone that resembles a miniature witch’s hat. This is a Witch Hazel Cone Gall; the temporary home of a Witch Hazel Cone Gall aphid, Hormaphis hamamelidis. H. hamamelidis has a life as bizarre as the mythical hags that transformed themselves…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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