transplanting pear trees

2 Comments
 
 
With my son’s help today, I was very pleased to transplant one of my two espaliered pear trees (a ‘Parker’ pear) to my garden plot. It is nearly dead after about 5 years on my patio in the shade of the grape arbor and has never bloomed or produced fruit. I’m hoping it will recover and produce fruit at my garden plot. I planted it along the north edge of my garden and velcro’ed the branches to the fence. Since pears need cross-pollination by a different species, I am planning…
 
MORE

apple-tinis

 
 
Its time to celebrate finishing the plot expansion! This is the second apple from my little backyard Fuji apple tree. Delicious! Recipe: To shaker, add ice, a dash of dry vermouth, and 4 oz gin. Shake well. Pour into chilled glasses. Add several apple slices and some dried cranberries. Cheers!  
 
MORE

finished and fenced

5 Comments
 
 
As I remember, the original conversation went like this: me “I was thinking about enlarging my garden for next year”, husband “Oh we can just move the fence over”, me “What about the stumps”, husband “Oh, we’ll just take them out”. Me “Great!”. It seemed so easy. So we started at it…… Now, several weeks later, with sore backs and blisters, a BIG pile of rocks and giant uprooted stumps, we are done. But its a beautiful fresh new plot of dirt. Definitely a cause for celebrating with a nice…
 
MORE

winter cover crop

 
 
For a cover crop this year I am trying Johnny’s winter green manure mix. It sounds like most of the nitrogen fixing components are cold sensitive and will winter kill (field peas and clover), while others (winter rye) are cold hardy. If the fall is mild, I’ll get a good growth of the first group. If it gets cold soon, I’ll just have the rye. I think vetch is a more cold hardy and also builds nitrogen. I’ll keep and eye on these and see how they do. I planted…
 
MORE

rain

5 Comments
 
 
Our sixth day of rain. My rain gauge has 4 inches in it from this week. Overall, the fall crops are growing well in the mud. Not good for garden work though.
 
MORE

HOT! habanero chile

8 Comments
 
 
I finally got the courage to try one on my garden habanero chiles – described as the hottest chile in the world. I was warned to wear gloves, but I thought I’d try without first. I sliced the orange chile open and touched the cut edge with my finger and then tasted just a little bit, very carefully, only on the tip of my tongue. Well…. after scrubbing my hands several times with soap, drinking lots of water and washing it down with cheese and bread (and wine), I put…
 
MORE

list

 
 
I’ve gone through my 2008 crop list and added comments about how well the crop did. The list is here and there’s a link in the sidebar. My favorites so far this year are Easter Egg mix radish, Prizehead lettuce, Zephyr and Sunburst summer squash, Big Rock pumpkin, Lutz and Chiogga beets, all 3 varieties of kale, Russet potatoes, Windsor fava beans, hybrid broccoli, Mokum and Oxheart carrots, Brandywine and Giant Belgium tomatoes, Fortex pole beans, birdhouse gourds, Nufar basil, and Butterbeans edamame. For flowers, nice varieties were Zebrina hollyhocks,…
 
MORE

ideas for next year’s garden

8 Comments
 
 
I’m starting a list of ideas for next year’s vegetable gardens. I’ll book mark this list on the sidebar and continue to add to it. Tomatoes:Use rail and string supportsSpace plants more than this yearPlant as far from the old patch as possibleUse salt marsh hay instead of plastic mulchStart plants in two batches, one 1 week earlier than this year. the other several weeks laterFind a plant light set-up Other plantsAsparagus patchLeave an area where Skippy can digGarden benchA shade arbor over the benchMove my two pear trees to…
 
MORE

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!
Apple/iOS

My garden this week

Browse by topic

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."

Posts by the month

August 2026
S M T W T F S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  

 

 

 

Website by:
Verve Marketing Group

Menu