happy honey bee
The honey bees are out and about. This pollen covered bee was working in a field of dandelions near my house yesterday.
house sparrow
The sparrows have baby chicks now in the house by my vegetable gardens. I can hear their faint chirps when the parents come with food. Here’s mom with a green worm.
garden centers bird nests
I like to buy my plants from small local garden centers. I’ve been enjoying looking for vegetable and flower plants for my gardens – especially interesting heirloom tomatoes. I also like looking for birds’ nests at the garden centers. Three times now, I have found one hidden in the plants somewhere. The photo above is a nest of robin eggs I photographed this morning. garden birds (Hortus Aves)
tomato plants
I’m starting to collect tomato plants. I usually plant 18 tomato plants. The varities I have are: Chadwick’s Cherry (heirloom), Rutgers, Moskvich (heirloom), and New Girl. I’ve never grown any of these before. I was just looking at my records from last year and noticed that last year it rained almost non-stop from May 8 to May 20. I didn’t plant my tomatoes until May 23rd! I hope to do better this year. The weather doesn’t look too bad for the near future. Hopefully the tomatoes will go in early…
planting squash seeds
Skippy and I planted squash seeds today. Its a really sunny warm day (80 F) and I’m guessing the soil is above 60 F now. I turned over the soil to mix in all the compost I added to the squash bed. Looks like great soil. I put the cucumber trellis at the back of the bed and made three hills for three different types of summer squash at the front of the bed. I planted seeds for two types of cucumbers (Diva and Striped Armenian) and three summer squashes…
more daffodils
I keep finding new kinds of daffodils in my backyard. The one with two shades of yellow is really nice.
making space for tomatoes
Sunday we moved a big yew bush out of my new tomato area. We replanted it in a nice shady spot behind the house where I have struggled to grow plants for many years. This hardy bush will probably do well there after it recovers from transplanting. Only the giant rhodo left to move.
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!
