October 24, 2009

pumpkins

Jarrahdale pumpkins Baby Pam pumpkins Long Island Cheese and Cinderella ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’ pumpkins pumpkins from my garden this year Big Rock pumpkins pumpkin from Spain – Calabaza RoteÑa So many varieties! I’ve been confused about when a squash is a “pumpkin”? I’ve read that a pumpkin is, by definition, a round orange winter squash. But shape can vary from tall to fat. And in addition to orange, but they can be green, white, red, yellow or blue-gray. Usually smooth, they can also be heavily ribbed or knobby. A very…

October 24, 2009

vegetable gardening books to read

I have a big pile of edible gardening books that Timber Press sent me. I am looking forward to sitting back and reading all of these. Nothing like a good gardening book on a cold winter day.

October 23, 2009

taking stock of my larder

© Skippy’s Vegetable Garden I’ve been mostly just stuffing vegetables from my garden into my larder this fall. Thought I’d take stock. My larder (Merriam-Webster “a place where food is stored”) is mostly in the basement. It consists of a root cellar (a small ‘fridge), a deep freezer, a couple big baskets, some hanging small baskets, and shelves for jars. (Wikipedia “Very few modern houses have larders since the convenience of modern grocery stores obviate the need to store food for long periods.” Love that word “obviate” – to make…

October 22, 2009

a beautiful day in the garden

Today’s harvest is a big pile of carrots (Bolero and Oxheart), the last of my beets (White Detroit and Lutz) and a few more potatoes. My garlic is all planted. Lots of it. Four orders of garlic is a LOT! I’m looking forward to a big harvest next summer. I mulched it with salt marsh hay that has saved well for a second winter now. And I finished up composting and planting cover on one bed. The corn bed, where squash will go next year. Three more to go. I…

October 22, 2009

so many fall asters

One one of our walks this week, I tried to photograph every type of aster I saw. I’ve heard that there are hundreds of varieties of wild native fall-blooming asters. One of the last plants to bloom and one of the loveliest. They are covered with bees. Blankets of whites, blues and pinks under the falling leaves. Profusion. Prodigality. © Skippy’s Vegetable Garden

October 21, 2009

2010 planning

I’m starting the planning process early this year. I want to figure out where the garlic should be planted and where I need manure/compost. My gardens have gotten too big to enrich all beds, so I’m looking into crop rotation plans. The general strategy is to rotate crops that use a lot of nutrients with those that use low levels and those that generate nutrients. The diagram below shows the strategy. Most crops I plant use heavy amounts of nutrients. Crops like tomatoes and squashes. I’ll need to add manure/compost…

October 19, 2009

snow in October!

… just a dusting. It won’t last long.

October 17, 2009

plot work

I cleared off all but one bed today. Its a lot of work to clear corn stalks and the deep weeds I had. I started planting my garlic. I found many garlic shoots coming up in the parsnip bed – my 2 year old top sets, I think. I transplanted all these to the new garlic bed. I have a couple weeks to finish the job of planting the rest of the garlic. And I dug potatoes. My guess about 30-40 lbs. I’ve been eating potatoes from the bed since…

October 17, 2009

what’s this bird?

Skippy and I walked by the big old Euonymous (nice to know its name now!) and the red inner parts of the fruits are disappearing fast! I found out why. Birds are enjoying them. This is one of the birds. What is it? A young robin?

October 16, 2009

aerial of my sideyard garden

A rainy dark day. A hard frost was predicted, but temps only went to about 35*F. I have removed a lot of the plants by now and a couple beds have a cover of mixed green winter manure (cover crop mix of vetch, clover, peas and rye) growing. Yesterday I harvested the last of the shell beans and cucumbers, plus nice handfuls of fresh herbs.

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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