January 13, 2009

BVG plot assignment day

News for Belmont Victory Gardeners: A date has been set for the Plot Assignments and Garden Clean Up. Saturday, APRIL 4. Mark your calenders. (so exciting!!!) Its a little earlier than usual this year. New gardeners will be able to get an early start on their spring plating.

January 13, 2009

reading more seed catalogs

I’m still looking through seed catalogs. So much to read and circle. Here are some quotes from Sand Hill Preservation Center that I was amused by “Sorry, but the rabbits continue to destroy the seed crop. This is ironic since we are surrounded by fields of genetically engineered Soybeans. Do you suppose the rabbits know something that we don’t know? “Butterbean: 85 days. A deep green soybean, used best as a green shell bean. (Unavailable for 2009)” I’ll have to find Buttterbean seed somewhere else. And here’s another quote on…

January 12, 2009

garden gifts

I received some cool gifts for Christmas. Buzz-Off items: gardening gloves, an apron with lots of pockets for garden tools and a great cap. Also vegetable note cards. (I suppose those plastic wine glasses aren’t really garden items…) garden gifts

January 11, 2009

robin in the snow

The North wind doth blow and we shall have snow, And what will poor robin do then, poor thing? He’ll sit in a barn and keep himself warm and hide his head under his wing, poor thing. The North Wind doth blow and we shall have snow, And what will the dormouse do then? Poor thing! Roll’d up like a ball, in his nest snug & small, He’ll sleep till warm weather comes in. Poor thing! –author unknown, traditional nursery rhyme This robin was eating berries from the snow covered…

January 11, 2009

a First Portie??

The big news today….. The first dog choice has been narrowed down. This from an interview by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos this morning (link). (Also NYT article.) Stephanopoulos: “What kind of a dog are we getting and when are we getting it?” President-elect Barack Obama: “The — they seem to have narrowed it down to a Labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound.” Stephanopoulos: “A medium-sized.” Obama: “Medium-sized dog, and so, we’re now going to start looking at shelters to see when one of those dogs might come up.” Stephanopoulos: “So,…

January 10, 2009

wheelbarrows in the snow

Another set of photos I took Thursday at the community garden plots. The wheelbarrows look forlorn. Our weather has been miserable. 22*F and windy. Ice on everything.

January 9, 2009

winter skies

Yesterday Skippy and I went to check out my community garden plot. I would have loved to do some gardening, weed a bit or take photos of vegetables. But the gardens are like frozen tundra 🙁 So Skippy ran around and I took photos of the sky – which is spectacular at this time of year. I’d rather be gardening….

January 9, 2009

garden catalogs

I wasn’t going to look at all these catalogs. (Nine so far this year.) Its quicker to do plant orders on-line. But the colors are so nice this year. And the plants look so pretty. So I’ve been circling items. Wildly. Don’t know if I’ll be able to find all my circles and narrow down a sensible list to buy. But its fun to rummage through seed catalogs. I suppose what caught my eye first was the seedless tomato on the Burpee catalog. I had to do a double take…

January 7, 2009

Chinese bean seeds

I was given some beautiful hand collected Chinese pole bean seeds a couple of days ago. These were collected by a local gardener/colleague, who also shared some fresh beans with me last summer. The fresh beans were long, very crisp and a bit lemony in flavor (my photo). I was hoping I could grow some myself this year and am extremely pleased he shared his seed crop with me. Thank you Shunguang! There’s nothing better than hand collected, heirloom seeds. Shunguang says the seeds store best in their shells, but…

January 4, 2009

potato pancakes

I ran into a very nice woman and dog the other day and we walked around the fields and talked. She’s a good cook and, when I told her I grow potatoes, she asked “what do you do with potatoes?” (with her expression implying “why on earth would anyone want to eat potatoes…”) I sheepishly told her, “well I like to make French fries…..” Then I thought it best to change the subject. But I do enjoy cooking with potatoes. In early summer, when I first dig small handfuls of…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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