Roger Swain’s vegetable variety list

 
 
Here’s a list of vegetable varieties Roger Swain recommended in my master gardener class: Onion: Stuttgart Peas: Oregon Giant snow pea (3.5 ft tall) “the finest pea out there” Lettuce: Black Seeded Simpson (has the best taste) Cabbage: Murdock (big!), for storage: Danish Ball Head Turnips: Hakurei Kohlrabi: Kossak (big) Potatoes: Green Mountain Carrots: Dragon (purple), Nantes (orange) Eggplant: Hansel and Gretel (small cluster forming fruits, Hansel is deep purple, Gretel is white) Pepper: Habanada (a heatless habanero) Corn: Mandan Bride (a Flint corn for grinding – don’t grow sweet…
 
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today’s garden work

 
 
Charley really wanted to participate in all of my garden chores today. He made the work a bit of a challenge. He stole anything he could and then I had to chase him – he’s fast! He walked all through the garden beds (my plan is to teach him next year to stay off.) And he put anything he could find into his mouth. – Plant 6 packages of tulip bulbs around my patio, adding bulb booster to each hole. – Cut back my long row of perennials to the…
 
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Master Gardener class with Roger Swain

 
 
I keep writing about this. What a treat the class was!! It was so great to hear Mr Swain talk from 9 am to 3 pm all about vegetables. I have 12 pages of notes. I wish I had a tenth of his knowledge. And a tenth of his ability to entertain a class. Super. Anyway, here is a list of some of the highlights in his presentation: – Local food production: 20% local food production is a good goal for New England. Currently it’s about 5-7%. NE has the…
 
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the basics of growing a vegetable garden

 
 
I have a giant notebook compiled from my Master Gardener class. Of course, the vegetable section was one of my favorites. I was interested to see how our manual breaks down the major components of growing a vegetable garden. 1) Planning and 2) Maintaining growth momentum. Planning includes site selection, soil, type of garden (raised beds, etc), how you will irrigate. It also includes planning what to grow, how much, and what to plant where. It includes deciding whether to grow from seed or use transplants, where to obtain these,…
 
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my larder

 
 
It’s the end of another gardening season. My larder is as full as it’s going to get this year. I have vegetables stored in different locations: my freezer, refrigerator, and new food storage pantry. My new food pantry is separate small room just off our garage. Similar to a root cellar, we built it here since we have no basement. My husband build pine shelving to line the walls. With a cement floor it stays about 50 degree F like a root cellar, though we put a temp regulator in…
 
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I’m a certified Master Gardener!

 
 
I’m certified!! I’ve passed the 50 hours of classwork and 60 hours of supervised gardening, help line, etc, and two exams to earn certification as a Master Gardener. It was a challenging course given by the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association (MMGA). I recommend it highly to anyone in central Mass. Also, most states offer their own MG courses. Every week we had full day lectures given by top experts in the field. They really did bring in the best. Topics included soils, composting, botany, insects, garden design, perennials, berry plants,…
 
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today’s garden work

 
 
It seems I should be finishing up with my garden for the season, but I’m hurrying to get my winter crops set. This is what I did in the garden today. – Clean out tomato debris from my winter bed (this bed has hardware cloth dug in 8 inches around the base to deter voles and also has brackets to support the PVC hoops) – Spread compost and manure on winter bed (3 bags Black Earth compost and 2 bags composted manure) and dig it in (I dig it in…
 
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the last of my garden tomatoes

 
 
All my green tomatoes have now ripened in their baskets in my kitchen. They are sadly 🙁 the last garden tomatoes and green peppers for our salads. Tomato season has come to an end. I have to say, however, that it’s been a really super tomato year. I made sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, salsa, etc. I froze and canned about 100 pounds of tomatoes, producing 50 pounds now in my pantry and freezer. And, who knows how many tomatoes we ate fresh … sliced on salad with mozzarella and basil ……
 
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will President Trump keep the White House vegetable garden?

 
 
Michelle Obama is hoping that the White House vegetable garden will be preserved and used by all future presidents. She’s added a stone plaque with the inscription, “WHITE HOUSE KITCHEN GARDEN established in 2009 by First Lady Michelle Obama with the hope of growing a healthier nation for our children.” Also, she’s “pressing the president to pass an executive order to maintain the garden after they leave the White House,” a source told The Post. The garden has grown from 1,100 square feet to 2,800 square feet under her leadership.…
 
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the Persephone begins

 
 
Today marks the beginning of the Persephone in my area. This is the date when Persephone, the vegetation goddess, returns to Hades and causes the earth to become barren and wintry. I guess she stays toasty, but not us. While she’s gone, our plants don’t have enough sunlight to grow. With some cold protection, our plants will hang out and wait for her return when they can grow again. So the Persephone is the time when there’s less than 10 hours of sunlight each day. Most plants need more than…
 
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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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