FAQs

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I will finish answering these soon. Please ask more questions! I’ll post a link on the sidebar. Camera/photography Questions: 1. What camera do I use? I have a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi. A fantastic camera that I highly recommend. Its relatively light and small for a digital SLR, a good size for my hands. I used to take it everywhere with me. But now, I end up taking most of my photos with my cell phone. They have surprisingly good resolution. I keep saying I’ll use my Canon more.…
 
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coming soon

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This is a reminder to myself to post the following: an update on my compost tumbler, update on my Botanical Interests seeds, and a list of FACS (with things like “what kind of camera do you use?”, “how do you format your blog?”).
 
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popcorn

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My popcorn plants are almost as tall as me. They’re getting tassels now but no sign of ears yet.
 
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mid summer wildflowers

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I’m adding some pretty photos to follow the warty toad and blighted potatoes. The fields near our community gardens are beautiful now with bright mid summer colors. Joe Pye Weed is always my favorite. Its just starting to bloom. Also lots of golden rod, purple loosestrife, milkweed, vetch and Queen Anne’s Lace. wildflowers, weeds, invasives and natives
 
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garden toad

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I think this is why the slug damage isn’t so bad in my garden any more. Toads eat lots of bugs, slugs and snails. This big guy has been hanging out under my squash vines. garden amphibians
 
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blighted potatoes

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I thought the potatoes I dug were fine, even though the plants were heavily hit with late blight. But after three weeks of storage, I have realized they’re not fine. The fingerlings and Russets that were hardest hit and that I cut down and dug first are turning brown and rotting in their bags. [Late blight produces] characteristic coppery-brown discoloration of the potato flesh under the skin…. Infection of potato tubers arises from spores that develop on foliage. Tubers exposed by soil cracking or erosion of hills may come in…
 
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community garden bill in congress

 
 
A bill to fund Community Gardens has been proposed in Congress. Here are a couple of letters that were forwarded to me. Dear Gardener,Please lend your support and encourage your congressional representatives (House and Senate) to support both of the bills referenced below. With over 150 active, vibrant community garden sites in Boston’s city limits (and over 200 in the metro area), please cite the important role community gardens play (providing fresh economical nutritious food, building community, recreation, green space, and more) for our citizens! Jo Ann Whitehead, Garden Educator,…
 
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weather complaints – a VERY wet and cool first month of summer in Boston

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Yes, I’m complaining again about the weather. Here in Boston, we only survive the winters because we dream about the beautiful summers we know will come. July 24 and we’re still waiting…. Twenty of the first 31 days of summer have been rainy. I’ve only watered my garden once so far. My rain gauge is almost always full. And our temperatures have rarely exceeded the normal summer average. Daily departures for the month have totaled 97 degrees F below normal. The clouds hover and there’s no sun to dry up…
 
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fava recipe

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Just a quick bookmark for myself since I’m planning to go out to my plot tomorrow and pick a few more fava beans: A Recipe for Grilled Fava Beans. Nice fresh favas are good pod and all. Or you can pop out the beans from their skins.
 
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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

Make your own customized planting calendar. Try out my app!
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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

Flickr

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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