June 25, 2009

prime lettuce season

I am SO excited to have big heads of Boston lettuce forming. I haven’t grown this variety before and it is just beautiful! I may have a new favorite lettuce variety. My old favorite, Prizehead, is doing good too. It seems that the slugs prefer Prizehead to Boston. WARNING: The photo below may be offensive to some gardeners. Don’t scroll down if you are bothered by the sight of slugs.

June 24, 2009

summer squash – big flowers on tiny plants

I’ve collected photos here of my squashes. From top: Zucchini Cashflow, Zephyr yellow squash, Anne Arrundale Muskmelon, Waltham Butternut, Crane Muskmelon, Sugar Baby Watermelon, Charentais Muskmelon, Jarrahdale Pumpkin. Not photo’d are Starship Pattypan, Sunburst Pattypan, Big Rock Pumpkin, and Baby Pam Pumpkin. Some look good, some have seriously suffered from slug damage. I started with 4 or 5 plants of each. Probably most disappointing is the single pant of Charentais melon I have left. 🙁 Some years I have big leafy squash plants and few flowers – this year lots…

June 22, 2009

Father’s Day and first day of summer

Summer is here! But who would know?! A Nor’easter in New England is bringing us heavy overcast, winds, and more rain…. Summer began 1:45 A.M. EDT on Sunday, June 21, 2009. This day had the longest daylight of the year – and we couldn’t see any of it. Also Father’s Day. I gave my dad a couple of gardening gifts: I cleaned up his old red garden trowel that I had “borrowed” accidentally for the past few weeks (as he’s been asking for it back) and I put a nice…

June 21, 2009

Obama Foodarama

Here’s a nice new blog – http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/. “The Obama’s harvested 12 pounds of snap peas and 73 pounds of lettuces and a single lone cucumber this week. “The First Lady gave a remarkable, policy-dense speech–considering she was primarily addressing fifth graders–and discussed food deserts, food security and food justice; getting more fresh and nutritious foods into the USDA’s Child Nutrition programs; the critical issue of reducing diet-related disease; supporting local and smaller food producers; encouraging urban and community gardening.” 3 cheers for community gardening! Go Michelle!

June 20, 2009

compost tumbler assembly

A couple weeks ago I received a wonderful delivery in the mail – a compost tumbler. I’m reviewing this product for World’s Best Organic Tumbler. On a sunny Saturday afternoon, the assembly was a family project. Skippy supervised and then took a nap. I took the photos. And hubby and son did all the work. (A good deal for me!) This project took “us” 1 hour. (I noticed Carol at May Dreams Gardens assembled her’s in 30 min – maybe all the extra supervision and photos wasn’t all that helpful…)…

June 19, 2009

stir fried bok choy on noodles

Encouraged by my pretty little bok choy, I have taken up wok cooking. I think this will be my preferred method this summer. So versatile: – only one pot to clean – I like to see everything cut up and laid out ahead of time – QUICK! – delicious My Mom gave me this recipe: sliced pork lion chopped garlic (I used scapes) cooked thin spaghetti noodles chopped greens (bok choy or cabbage) chopped carrots chopped onions cilantro peanut oil Steam the carrots in a half inch of water in…

June 19, 2009

new potatoes

Talk about delicious! Ahhhh…. I let a number of volunteer potatoes plants grow this year in my paths and my cabbage bed. I guess I missed some spuds last fall and they sprouted this spring. This week, the plants began shading the cabbage too much and I pulled them out. The prize was a few tiny little baby red potatoes on the roots. These were so young and tender that the skins almost rubbed off when I washed them. I boiled them 3 minutes, then threw them in the pan…

June 18, 2009

potted rosemary

I bought four new rosemary plants this spring and planted them together in a big pot (at right). Four different varieties. I didn’t realize rosemary came in different varieties. I have “BBQ”, “Salem, “Prostrate” and an unnamed plant grown by Chef Jeff. I wonder if we’ll detect any taste differences? My three year old rosemary plant is getting woody (at left). I think this is just something that happens to older plants. Especially after spending a couple nasty New England winters indoors. Dry air, dark and gloomy – not really…

June 16, 2009

fava flowers

These just starting blooming. My fava bean crop will be late this year because I planted very late.

June 14, 2009

tomato blossoms

My first tomato flowers! The rule of thumb is 30 days from flower to fruit, so, lets see, that’s July 14 for my first tomato. That would be super timing for me. I usually get my first tomatoes at the end of July. In fact, for the past THREE years, my first ripe tomato has been on the same day – July 31! Here’s my 2008 first, my 2007 first, and my 2006 first. To get earlier tomatoes, this year I planted a few tomato seeds very early (Feb 21)…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost