giant pumpkin vines!

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Thank goodness I only planted four large pumpkin plants! They are monsters! I bet they are growing a foot a day. And I have no doubt they will cover my entire garden by the season’s end if I don’t keep after them. I tie them to the fence around my garden. Since this is nearly covered now, I will soon let them crawl on the lawn. The variety of my big vines is Howden, an old standard for Halloween pumpkins and produces fruit 15-25 pounds (up to 40 pounds) in…
 
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checking under the row covers

 
 
My broccoli seedlings look like happy campers under their row cover. And when I checked my dinosaur kale I was amazed at the beautiful big crinkled leaves. I’ve never used row cover in the summer before and am impressed at how warm and bright and humid it is underneath. The plants are growing very well. I covered my kale and broccoli because of green caterpillars of cabbage white butterfly. These were eating holes in the leaves of the kale and eating entire baby broccoli plants. BrassicaceaeKale (Brassica oleracea, Acephala Group)cabbage…
 
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mystery squash

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I had a whole bunch of squash plants that sprouted in my compost bin this spring. Many of them volunteered in the garden, too. This is the first of the fruits. It looks like a gourd I had on my table at Thanksgiving!
 
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another mystery squash!

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This is the fruit of another one of the squash plants that volunteered in my compost this spring. A medium-sized pumpkin. Its still tiny – only about 3 inches across.
 
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storing garden vegetables

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I usually don’t store many vegetables from my garden, but this has been a pretty productive year. I suppose I often give up on garden work by mid-summer, but this year I have been keeping at it. (Good job, Kathy!) So far if have stored:frozen green beanssun-dried tomatoesbasil pestodried soup peas On my list to do soon are:tomato pureefrozen roasted chile peppersdried red chilesfrozen stuffed chilesfrozen grated zucchinidried pinto beans Basil pesto: Maybe my most important garden crop. I like to make sure we have pesto to last all season…
 
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sun dried tomatoes

 
 
“Sun-dried” tomatoes: Well, since sun drying takes 4 days even in a dry climate (and I don’t live in the land of enchantment but in soggy Massachusetts) I used the oven dying method. Directions are at the Victory Garden: Cut tomatoes in half or smaller and brush lightly with olive oil. Place them on a baking sheet at extremely low heat — 150-200 degrees F — all day long. I store these in baggies in the freezer so they will last 6 months. I mostly use them on pizzas.
 
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freezing green beans

 
 
A lot of my beans ripened all at once this year, so I froze a few servings. These instructions are from the Victory Garden Cook Book: Blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes, chill in ice water, then freeze in baggies. Pretty easy. They’ll be good in winter stews. Fabaceae
 
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the garden after vacation

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Mid-summer a risky time to leave a garden, even for a few days. As I expected, there were tons of ripe tomatoes waiting for us, a few large zucchini, and green beans plants that just keep on making more beans. My four pumpkin vines were nearly successful at taking over the garden. The hungry green cabbage caterpillars stripped off all the leaves on about half of my young broccoli plants. After a bit of garden work, all is back in order now. I picked a few bowls full of tomatoes,…
 
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vacation

 
 
We’ve been up in the mountains on vacation. My photos of waterfalls and wildflowers are at Skippy’s Backyard. I wonder what I will find in the garden after being away?
 
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birthday dinner

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Last evening we had a little party to celebrate my birthday. I have been admiring my big bowl full of freshly harvest garden vegetables all day. An unusually good harvest for me. Truly a bountiful year! A selection of these was roasted to perfection on the grill. We especially enjoyed the whole grill chiles. Small bites – nice and hot! To finish, rich chocolate cake decorated with oregano flowers.
 
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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

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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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