clover as a ground cover

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I have a new crop of Crimson Clover. The leaves are very pretty after the rain. They collect the droplets like shiny jewels. The clover is in the garden bed adjacent to my house. This bed has lead levels too high for vegetables. I had cleared the shrubbery from this area before testing the soil. I am planning to fill the bed slowly with flowering perennials and small bushes. In the mean time, I’ve planted clover. Soon it will bloom with flowers the bees should enjoy. Scattered in the clover…
 
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home garden aerial

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Its another damp day. I always like how bright the garden greens look in the rain. aerial views of my home vegetable garden
 
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local CSA farms

 
 
Here’s a Boston Globe article on our local CSA (community supported agriculture) farms. I read about this on the Belmont CSA blog and wanted to link to it here too. Gretta has a nice quote in the article: “I think people are getting a lot smarter about the importance of a strong regional food system and about healthy food. They’re getting smarter about living in ways that are environmentally friendly and the positive consequences of that,” said Anderson, who grows her vegetables on a 1-acre garden on Glenn Road. About…
 
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northern redback salamander?

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I was moving a rock in my community garden today and found this cute little amphibian underneath. What do you think – a four-toed salamander or an eastern redback? It seems like those are the two most common ones around here. After a quick photography session, I let him scramble back under a rock. Nice to see who’s living under there. I was very happy to read that these guys eat ticks. Way too many of those here. My garden is outlined with a nice ring of rocks. After finding…
 
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poppies, poppies, poppies….

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Lots of poppies in bloom this week at our community garden. A beautiful bright red that my camera can’t focus on. (Are they making poppy seed bagels?) Also breathtaking iris and lupine. If I had any talent with paint, I’d set up an easel.
 
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my morning reading – A Growing Trend!

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On the front page of the Boston Globe today is a great article about an increase in home vegetable gardens! Awesome. A few snippits from the article: Seed sales are up 20% … Boston has 3000 community gardens and hundreds of people on the wait list currently (plot fees are $30) …. people turn to gardening in economic slowdowns … gardeners at least partly motivated by saving money … 15 healthy tomato plants will produce about 100 pounds of tomatoes …at $3.99/lb …$400 … estimated to cost $55 to grow…
 
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bluebirds in the Meadow

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I was pleased to see the bluebirds are still in the nesting box at the back of the meadow. I’ve seen them there since early April. A surprising thing is that there is a new nesting box that has been added very close to the occupied ones. A bluebird pair has had the front box and a swallow the back box and now a new box is added with these. I wonder why someone placed it so close??? Another good sighting is a second box with a nesting bluebird at…
 
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checking on the brassicas

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I have kept my kale and broccoli under row cover to protect them from the cabbage worms. Today I peeked under for a check. I found five fat green cabbage worms helping themselves to the broccoli. Not too much damage, but the idea was to have no damage. It looks like I will need to replace the cover with one that has fewer holes in it. I left the five fat worms out on the walkway for the hungry baby sparrows and robins. I think also think the broccoli should…
 
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robin fledgelings

 
 
I was enjoying watching a couple of American robin fledglings in my yard today. The mom is busy tending them. In the bird house next my home garden, the sparrows must have just hatched as I can hear a quiet peeping coming from inside. I bet the bluebirds at the meadow are busy feeding young, too. garden birds (Hortus Aves)
 
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fava blossoms

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Last year I planted fava beans (broad beans) for the first time. I was served delicious grilled fava beans at the East Coast Grill and was determined to grow some myself! I planted them in my shady home garden. But they were totally eaten by black aphids before the beans formed. This year, I planted them at my community plot which has incredibly full sunlight. NO APHIDS YET!!! The plants are blooming and I’m keeping my fingers crossed…. Vicia faba
 
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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

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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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