forced forsythia
I have always wanted to be able to force forsythia. Our new house has lots of it around to cut. It bloomed within a couple days of bringing it inside. I suppose it won;t be long til its in bloom outside.
chickens and eggs
We are doing some renovations upstairs of our new house where there’s a good view of my chicken coop. The construction crew tells me they’ve seem a big red tailed hawk fly down and perch on my chicken coop a couple of times. Of all places! Can’t he perch on some bird feeder or a random small tree?!! He might as well put in his order for a chicken lunch! The red tails out here are BIG! I’ve been impressed. They must be better fed than the ones in more…
seedlings inside under lights
I have lots of little seedlings growing. Beets, broccoli, marigolds, lettuce, escarole, endive, eggplants, peppers, tomatoes…. Some I’m on time planting, some ahead of schedule and some behind schedule.
soggy crocus
Everything is cold and soggy, if not icy this spring. These are some sheltered crocus in my yard – trying their best to bloom. Our local plant grower is having hard time with the cold weather. She’s pulled plants out of the greenhouse and into her heated garage. I heard at Home Depot that all growers in the area are at least 2 weeks behind because of the cold weather. Well, I’m pulling for the little crocuses. It would be cheery to see some color around here about now.
the raised bed movie!
Here’s another movie of my garden: Time lapse video of raised bed construction. Funny to see us running around and making 8 raised beds in 2 minutes….
eight new raised bed frames
Yesterday my husband and I made eight raised beds for my new garden! Kind of a dreary late March day, but I am so happy seeing the beds all lined up! We made six 4×12 foot beds and two 6×15 foot beds. To make the six 4×12 beds: – We started with fifteen 2x8x12’s, untreated pine. – We brought a compound miter saw down to the garden area. (It was raining off an on so we used a canopy to keep it dry. – To make the 4′ edges, four…
scoping out sizes of new raised beds
My husband and son carried the wood that will edge my new raised beds down to the site of my new garden. We then laid out a few pieces to see how the beds will look. My plan has six 4×12 foot beds and two 6×15 foot beds.
time lapse video: making Skippy’s new garden
I am making a time lapse video of my new vegetable garden. So far, the video only shows us bringing the boards for the raised beds down to the garden area. The boards are 2×8 untreated pine. We also set out a few boards where the edges of the beds will be, just to see how they look. Time Lapse Video: Making Skippy’s New Garden I’ll extend the video as we create the garden and as the plants grow this year. Tomorrow we plan to make the raised bed frames.
6 yr old onion seeds didn’t sprout…
How long do seeds last? I’ve given up on my 6 year old onion seeds. 🙁 They didn’t sprout this year. Time to throw out the package. I think also last year they also didn’t sprout. It may have been the previous year (4 years old) that was the last time they came up. And that year, they took an extra week to come up. Onions seeds are one of the more short-lived types. Its often recommended you only use them the season they are packaged for. Other short-lived seeds…
roses for my new arbor
I’d like to grow climbing roses up an arbor over my garden gate. Pale pink ones. Its fun to think about variety. I think my favorite is Eden (also known as Pierre de Ronsard). A modern French rose with an old fashioned look. “The flowers are huge and cup-shaped and very heavy. The buds are light green and develop into creamy white almost cabbage looking and later cup-shaped flowers with a delightful blush pink center. As the flower ages they turn almost white.” ‘Eden’ rose Other nice roses are ‘New…
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!
