December 29, 2016

few catalogs, lots of plans

I’ve only gotten 4 or 5 seed catalogs this year. Not sure why I like to see them accumulate in a stack this time of year. I suppose memories. I used to read them cover to cover. Curled up on the couch after dinner while a football game was on the TV. I used to read all about each plant, how to grow it and harvest it, what to expect. Then I’d circle it and mail in my order. These years I collect the catalogs but they stay in their…

December 26, 2016

another view of my Christmas Day garden

I’m imagining a garden with summer colors. More color and light to remember summer by.

December 25, 2016

my backyard garden on Christmas Day

Merry Christmas, all. From Kathy, Suzie and Charley.

December 22, 2016

my community garden plot today

Charley and I took a quick walk to see how my community garden plot was doing this afternoon. The winter rye cover crop looks good. The salt marsh hay covers my garlic beds. I like the thick branches of my pear trees in the foreground, espaliered along the fence. I’m working on planning what will go into these beds next year.

December 17, 2016

winter tunnel in cold snap

My winter tunnel kept my plants fine in our cold snap down to low single digits over the past few days. Like last year, the tunnel has two layers, and inner fabric layer and an outer plastic layer. The inner layer is help down by rocks, the outer one by long boards. The bed is heavily planted with all different types of greens, but they are small and covered with two inches of salt marsh hay. I don’t expect these will be ready to harvest until early spring. (I planted…

December 16, 2016

AmaRosa potatoes

Last night I fried up some of the potatoes I grew this year. One was a relatively newly released potato called AmaRosa. It looked interesting to me because its skin as well as its flesh are red. AmaRosa is described as a mid season fingerling-shaped tuber with red skin and red flesh that is ideal for microwaving, frying or baking. Also, chips made from AmaRosa retain their rosy color and resist fading. Photos and information at PVMI (link here), show it as very deep red. I bought them from Fedco/Moose…

December 14, 2016

the economics of hobby beekeeping

Remember the book “The $64 tomato”? Well, I did some calculating to figure out how much a jar of honey was costing me to produce. The bottom line – it’s an expensive bottle of honey. I figure a pound of honey costs me $27.63 to produce. A little better than that expensive tomato, but still a pretty costly jar of honey. Now, I’m a second year bee keeper, so I had a lot of set up costs and they won’t be recurring. My set up cost $918. Recurring costs are…

December 14, 2016

winterized garden

Here’s a photo of my garden taken 4 day ago. It looks about the same today but with a thin dusting of snow and some ice in places. The winter tunnel covers are up, perennials by the fence and some garlic near the tunnel are mulched with leaves or hay. The pots are turned on their sides, tools and hoses are in the shed. Most beds are empty, some have winter rye seed planted. The seed went in too late to sprout yet, but it will once it warms a…

December 13, 2016

winterizing my beehives

I’d like to do the best I can to keep my bees alive this winter so I’ve been reading and asking at my local bee club. As they say, ask two beekeepers the same question and you’ll get three answers. On top of that, bees have a mind of their own and you can treat two hives the same way and they’ll still be totally different. So, here’s what I’ve done for my hives. – I modified my mouse guard so the bees can get in and out better. I…

December 11, 2016

yesterday’s harvest

weeks and counting until my last spring frost