it’s time to start planting!

 
 
The first event on my planting calendar is winter sowing. Many flowers need a cold period and winter sowing in plastic milk bottles is an easy way to start these seeds. I used Skippy’s Flower and Herb Calendar App to make my sowing calendar. I have a large new bed at the front of my vegetable garden that I want to fill with flowers for my bees (and me) this year. So, I’m looking forward to starting lots of flower and herb seeds. Today I planted seeds in four bottles:…
 
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chickens staying warm

 
 
Big Bertha, my heavily feathered white Brahma, doesn’t lay as many eggs as the rest, but she’s really nice to snuggle up with on a cold night. All my chickens are fine after the frigid night. -12.9F!
 
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frigid temperatures

 
 
At sunset: 18 F (-7.8 C) 8 pm: 0.6 F (-17 C) 10 pm: -2.5 F (-19.2 C) midnight: -5.6 F (-20.9) 3:30 am: -10.7 F (-23.7) 7 am: -12.8 (-24.9 C) 10 am: 9.1 F (-12.7 C) Minimum: -12.9 F (-24.9 C) I’m a bit west of Boston, but the previous Boston record low for this date is/was -3F/-19C (1967). I’m amazed at how fast the temperatures are falling tonight.
 
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bee hives wrapped for cold

 
 
I wasn’t planning to wrap my bee hives. At my bee club people usually just add insulation to the top, which I did back in November. But this is way colder than we’re used to! Predictions for tonight are 5 to 15 below 0 F (-20 to -26 C) with a gusty wind to 35 mph. So I wrapped both hives in a tarp. At least this will cut down any drafts getting in the openings. As I was wrapping them, I noticed a big pile dead bees next to…
 
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seed swap announcement

 
 
Seed Swap Hosted by the Belmont Victory Gardens At the Town of Belmont MA Public Library on Sunday, March 6, 2016, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM Get ready for spring planting! Seed swap is open to all gardeners – whether you are a member of a community garden, grow vegetables or flowers in your yard, or would like to try sowing seeds for the first time. Bring fresh vegetable or flower seeds to share and go home with new varieties to try. Heirlooms are great but purchased hybrid seeds are…
 
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AmeliaGardens blog

 
 
Amelia is an avid vegetable gardener located in Cambridge MA and she’s got a great blog: AmeliaGardens. She’s taking and teaching vegetable gardening classes now and I’m reading up and trying to learn as much as I can from her. Also, she’s a programmer and built all of Skippy’s Calendar apps. (Thanks Amelia!) Here’s a post she wrote about the apps: Skippy’s Vegetable Planting Apps.
 
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view of the Belmont Victory Gardens from the air

 
 
These are clips of my community garden, the Belmont Victory Gardens, that I took from a vimeo by David Sprogis: Rock Meadow. Rock Meadow is a 70 acre piece of conservation land in Belmont that includes the Victory Gardens. It’s a really beautiful vimeo of the area taken from the air. My garden plot is right in the center of the lower photo.
 
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game day chili with Jacob’s Cattle beans

 
 
I heard that Americans go through some huge amount of nachos and chili on Super Bowl game day. We’re doing our part. I bought some really nice Jacob’s Cattle beans at a winter farmer’s market a couple weeks ago. I’m following a recipe I made a few years ago: Jacob’s Cattle Bean Chili. (I’m using the last of my homegrown canned garden tomatoes.) We’ll pile the chili onto chips with guacamole, cheese, salsa fresco and sour cream, then open the beer and turn on the game. The Jacob’s Cattle beans…
 
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snow

 
 
We had about 8 inches of heavy wet snow yesterday that stuck to tree branches. It looked beautiful, but there were many power outages and sadly, a couple people died not too far south from here from being hit by falling branches. It’s our first real snow of the season. What a storm. The photo above is my backyard. Taken at 7 am, the sun is low in the east, shining across the pond onto snow-covered trees. The roof of my garden shed is visible at the right and my…
 
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my vegetable garden – “panorama” photo

 
 
I took this photo today by running along the edge of my garden and trying to hold the camera steady on its “panorama” setting. A crazy perspective – I really don’t have a curved garden. But I think this will be helpful as I draw up a plan for this year’s garden. I’m working on that now. I have extra space outside the raised beds to fill up. I’m imagining it overflowing with flowers and vegetables this year.
 
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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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