chickens out for a walk
The chickens are very happy with our summer weather and being able to go out and forage in the yard everyday, sometimes all day long. I let them out when I’m working in the yard. They’ve been really healthy and are laying well now – just over a dozen eggs a week from the three of them. Earlier, they had a problem with soft shells, especially Bertha, my big white Brahma chicken. She would sometimes lay paper thin eggs, sometimes leathery shells that fell apart in the coop. So I…
garden work today
Nothing like a beautiful Memorial Day weekend for starting a new garden! My husband and I brought at least a dozen carts full if dirt and compost to my new raised garden beds. We hauled it down the hill form our driveway. All 8 of my new beds now have at least some soil in them. One we filled, and so I planted it – dahlias tubers at the back and then 6 rows of popcorn seeds. The seed package said how to protect from racoons. Oh my. I hadn’t…
tomato planting time!
What a great day! Perfect planting weather. At my community garden today we distributed tomato seedlings that we raised at local greenhouse. Four varieties of late blight resistant tomatoes. About 350 plants distributed to 55 gardeners. Legend, Moutain Merit, Defiant and Jasper. Nice big seedlings. It was a good day to be a gardener! Or a tomato seedling….
planting mom and dad’s garden
I brought my parents 5 or 6 trays of seedlings I raised. We planted them in their old garden and in a newly dug up addition. In their old garden, we planted basil (Nufar), peppers (sweet, Bell, Joe Parker NuMex, Amelia Cayene and Thai hot), eggplants, tomatoes (early planted Siberian Red, Orange Blossom and Pink Beauty) and parsley. In the new addition we planted winter squashes (acorn, Waltham butternut and buttercup) and summer squashes (Yellow Crook and quik pik, and zucchini Elite and Romanescu) and cucumbers (Diva and Straight 8).…
mystery tree
I’m trying to figure out the identity of this tree. Its in the backyard of our new home. In the summer it had BIG leaves, maybe 8 inches long as I remember. In the fall, fruit (or nuts) with four wings. Now it is showing off with masses of pink bell-like blossoms. The bumble bees and hummingbirds flit in and out. Its a big tree, 40 or 50 feet tall. Once I get a good look at the mature leaves, I hope I can follow through with the tree identification…
working on our new mini-orchard
Last weekend, we cleared the slope where our mini-orchard will go. Lots of roots needed to be dug out and removed. I used stakes and string to find the best spots to locate the trees. So far, we have 3 apples. All semi-dwarf. Varieties: Honey Crisp, Liberty and Jonathan. Also a pie cherry, variety: Montmorency. Each tree needs about 18 feet diameter of space. Next, we will dig compost into the planting holes and plant the trees. The trees will like as much compost as they can get. We’ll put…
potato bed ready for planting
Finally, I have a potato bed ready to plant. I’ve gone over to my community plot several times to work on it, but each time I go there is some other task that needs to be done. Like removing salt marsh hay mulch from my garlic and onions and layering it in my garden paths, emptying my compost bin and sifting the new compost, pruning my pear trees and raspberry canes, top-dressing my asparagus with compost and pruning lots of winter kill from my lilac bush (it sure was a…
peas are sprouting
I checked on my peas today. Just dug a bit in the soil and found a seed. It had a really long root and just starting to send out a stem. I’ll have pea sprouts in no time I bet.
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!
