corn is tasseling
My popcorn is tasseling! Also the pointy tips of ears are showing! I knew they would pop out any day now.
fall planting
Half of my lettuce did not sprout, so I have replanted it. Instead of just replanting the lettuce, I planted another whole tray of seedlings. How could one have too many?
tomato soil test day 7
Looks to me like the “sub soil”, the soil underneath my beds may be the problem. I did a soil test on this prior to plating and knew it was lacking in nutrients: pH 5.9, P very low(1.6), K low (63), Ca very low (500), Mg low (46), Sulfur good (14.2). Maybe its not a toxic chemical in the soil or a virus, but could be the lack of nutrients? I fertilized once this season with granulated GardenTone, but think I will try a few treatments with a liquid compost…
tomato soil test day 5
This is the test result at day 5. Seedlings are sprouting in three of the four soils: tomato bed, compost and greens bed. I’ll give it more time before I make any conclusions.
fall planting
I’m about a month late, but I wanted to see if I can get some fall crops. I have lots of space where my peas, garlic and onions were. And my potatoes will be coming out soon. I planted: Lettuce, Skyphos Lettuce, Prizehead Lettuce, Oakleaf Lettuce, Valentine Red Mix (Botanical Interests) Lettuce, Italienisher Lettuce, Victoria Butterhead Lettuce, Green Romaine Lettuce, Red Romaine Brussels’s Sprouts Win-Win Choi Beets, Merlin Beets, Blankoma Spinach, Bloomsdale Long Standing Escarole, Tres Fine Escarole, Batavian Arugula Fall Greens Mix (Sand Hill Preservation) With a harvest time…
did my soil cause the curled-up tomato leaves?
In addition to my fall planting, I also set up a test of my garden soils to try to figure out if a problem in the soil caused my curled-up tomato plants. I’d like to know for next year. I have lots of Siberian Red tomato seeds, so I planted these in four soil samples: 1. Tomato bed (this produced plants with curled leaved) 2. Sub-soil (lawn) 3. Purchased compost (same compost that went into the tomato bed) 4. Green’s bed (loam and compost from sources different than tomato bed)…
pickles
I processed a dozen of my cucumbers (45 harvested in the past couple days!). I made deli half sour pickles using this recipe: Half sour pickles deli style. A little modification, I substituted coriander seed for black pepper since my husband is allergic to pepper. They’ll be ready to start eating in 3 days.
popcorn
My popcorn is looking good. Green and thick. My neighbor commented that she had never seen corn planted so closely. I suppose I plant everything a bit close. I think in a small bed it works because there is space at the edges. This corn is about 9 inches apart in the rows (8 or 9 plants in a 6 ft wide bed) and rows are 12 inches apart. No sign of tassels or ears yet. When I do get ears, I will spray their silks with spinosad (Captain Jack’s…
read “my” chapter in Groundbreaking Food Gardens
Rustik Magazine has published an excerpt of Niki Jabbour’s new book Groundbreaking Food Gardens on their website. The except is about MY old garden – my shady urban garden! I can reminisce about all the fun I had there. Here’s the link: “Turning a shady backyard into an urban food garden“.
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!
