February 3, 2008

lost week

Well I suppose it wouldn’t be a true New England winter experience without your basic winter cold. Thank goodness that’s out of the way now. But today, as I got outside to walk Skippy for the first time since I posted my smiling face last week, I felt a bit like a groundhog emerging from hibernation. The sun has gotten noticeably brighter and most of our snow has melted with the heavy rain last night. Its nice to welcome in February. We’re that much closer to spring planting. I look…

January 28, 2008

me

I don’t usually post a photo that someone else has taken. In fact, I don’t think I have ever posted a photo that I did not take. But why not a first. My husband took this picture of me. Garden Rant recently asked what we gardeners are doing with ourselves in the off season (their post is titled “Substitutes“). Here, I’m doing my only outdoor winter activity. The daily dog-walk. At least this gets me out. Today we have light snow. A few inches of very light fluffy whiteness. The…

January 25, 2008

flowers by the window

January 25, 2008

seeds arrive!!

The days are getting a little longer (abut 2 minutes a day!) – the sun is getting a little brighter – and my seeds are here!!! Spring seems just around the corner. (57 days, I think.) Slave to a springtime passion for the earth.How Love burns through the Putting in the SeedOn through the watching for that early birthWhen, just as the soil tarnishes with weed,The sturdy seedling with arched body comesShouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs. – Robert Frost

January 23, 2008

forgotten chiles

As Scott reminded me, I did not order any chiles. I was actually feeling that I had way too many last year and I needed a break. But I just looked back over comments from last year and found Scott’s suggestions about chile varieties. In the future you might consider other, more flavorful, New Mex chile varieties such as: Hatch (“supreme” or “big jim”) or Espanola Improved… big jim is the local favorite but I prefer the supreme. Maybe I’ll order one package of seeds ….. just to try these.…

January 22, 2008

row direction

I’m planning to go back to my north-south rows this year, which I have usually done in the past. Last year I tried east-west rows, because I read these get better sun exposure. Not only do I think the longer rows (N-S) look nicer in my garden, I think they grow better. Not that I’ve done a good study of this – it just seems that way to me. Any other ideas on N-S versus E-W rows?

January 21, 2008

garden tee

Not much to do in the garden now, so I have a new garden-related project. I’m working on designing a gardening tee-shirt with my photos. I would like a design that is black and white on a colored shirt. Ideally pictures that look like ink drawings. And words that relate to growing vegetables. I have some nice software to work with the photos. This design is a start, but pretty far from what I’d like. I’ll continue to work on it.

January 20, 2008

collecting seed potatoes

My husband brought home a nice bag of fingerling potatoes from our local warehouse store yesterday. A mix of La Ratte, Russian Banana, French and Rose Finn (though I don’t know which are which). Since these were varieties I was planning to mail order as seed potatoes, I immediately pulled out a bunch. I’ll save these for planting instead of ordering and paying for shipping costs. Last year I had very good luck with planting supermarket potatoes. Why not? I also noticed I had a Yukon Gold that was beginning…

January 20, 2008

spring planting time line

I like to get a list of when and what to plant in the spring. Another way of working on the garden when its still the middle of winter. Also, I can get an idea of when I need to have the soil and pots and tables ready. This year I’ll use my fish tank light again as a good area to keep the soil warm for sprouting (>75F). It worked well for peppers last year. This year I’ll plant peppers, tomatoes and squashes (cukes, zukes, watermelons, pumpkins) indoors. Spring…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

lost week

me

flowers by the window

seeds arrive!!

forgotten chiles

row direction

garden tee

collecting seed potatoes

spring planting time line

My garden this week

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17 years of archives!

Skippy’s vegetable of the month – Egyptian walking onions!

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My garden this week

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17 years of archives!

Skippy’s vegetable of the month – Egyptian walking onions!

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