rain barrel info
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Since I’d like to set up a rain barrel soon, I’m bookmarking this useful post on Garden Rant.
much too cold
I’m hoping this is our coldest temperature of the year. 8 degrees F (or -13C)! Even too cold for my kale, which ended up with lots of little frozen spots on the leaves. Dinosaur kale is listed as cold hardy to 10F. I’m looking forward to the warming trend that is predicted for the coming week. Kale (Brassica oleracea, Acephala Group)
Capucijner peas for the New Year
I feel like its a BIG day! We ate my Capucijner peas tonight. Our first taste. Absolutely delicious!!! I tasted them every step of the way. I’m not sure why the bacon is needed. Really like gilding a lily. The peas taste like … peas. Almost like fresh summer peas in the middle winter. Aaahhh…. I found a simple recipe (below) for cooking Capucijner peas with bacon. The photo of the cooked peas at this site shows a nice pile of peas on the plate and sounds a lot like…
Capucijners
Happy New Year! Usually I make a Dutch treat called “olebollen” (similar to apple fritters) on New’s Years Eve. Because of my travels, I was too tired for that this year. Instead I am cooking my Capucijner peas. I asked my aunt about how she remembers cooking these peas. She said she remembers eating them often while growing up in Holland. Usually as a pile of peas on the plate with salad and meat. She liked mixing them with the salad. She also said these peas have a different taste…
little lemon tree
Since I just posted photos of my parents great grapefruit tree, I thought I’d photograph my own little lemon tree. Its a Myers lemon. It is about 8 years old now. Here in Massachusetts, I have it in a pot and bring it inside every winter and outside every spring. Two years ago it produced 3 beautiful lemons, but none last year. This year I am being very nice to it. I re-potted it this summer, and am trying hard to remember to water it now. I have one blossom…
Florida souvenirs
This box is filled with my Florida souvenirs. As I suspected, my own garden is still covered with snow. As I plan for next year’s garden, I’ll enjoy these fruits from Florida. Two avocados, seven grapefruits and a lemon.
backyard grapefruit
My little sister planted a grapefruit seed about 30 years ago. Now it is the most fantastic tree in the backyard of my parents’ Florida house. Thirty feet tall and every year filled with juicy Florida sunshine. Too many to even count. What is it about growing food in your own backyard that is sooo satisfying? It tastes delicious and is just there for the picking.
avocado flowers are unique
Here’s a bit of avocado biology: Avocado flowers are the only flowers with separate male and female phases! Each flower opens first as a female and then the next day as a male. On top of this unusual feature, there are two types of avocado trees with different timing of the flowers: A-type trees open their female flowers in the morning and these flowers reopen as males in the afternoon. B-type trees open their female flowers in the afternoon and then their male flowers the following morning. Since fruiting requires…
Christmas guacamole!
It’s the middle of winter and there is lots of produce in my parents’ Florida garden. Three avocados fell from the tree today and I made a delicious guacamole. My recipe: avocado, garlic, lime, and a little salt. Add chips and beer!
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
My garden this week
Skippy’s vegetable of the month – Egyptian walking onions!
