today’s garden work

 
 
On our first hot and muggy summer-like day: – Eggplants transplanted: Kamo, Tiger and Classic – Tomato supports set up, bar and string set up this year (is there a better name for this method?) – First rhubarb harvest of the season – Weeding – Harvested a big bunch of dill weed that had volunteered in the squash bed prior to preparing the bed – Prepared squash bed by bringing in a wheelbarrow full of compost and digging it in – Transplanted winter squash and summer squash – Transplanted sunflowers…
 

yesterday’s broccoli harvest

 
 
This is from seed I started last August. It grows in my cold frame until late October, then hangs out during the winter – not enough sun to grow. In early March it takes off again. Then gives us a very early harvest. However, this year I learned what not to do. I should have transplanted it out of the cold frame in April. The frame gets too hot too fast for broccoli and most of the plants buttoned. They made tiny little button heads and I was so mad…
 

rainy May garden

 
 
This is my shady garden. I know it will have even less sun this year as those trees keep on growing. The open cold frame gets the best light (5 hours of sun: 10am – 3pm). I’ll plant tomatoes, peppers and eggplants in it soon. I have a pile of compost inside ready to spread and dig under. Yesterday I cleared the last of the winter broccoli and lettuce out of the frame, so its ready to go when the rain clears. The seedlings are soaking up the rain and…
 

today’s garden work

 
 
In my side yard garden: – chicken wire baffles put over newly planted pole bean seeds to protect from squirrels – winter broccoli harvested from cold frame – cold frame prepared for summer plantings – cucumber seedlings transplanted to tepee – spinach, lettuce, parsley and basil seedlings transplanted (I am so late with the spinach and parsley!)
 

time for spring babies!

 
 
I have seen so many baby birds and animals around this year! Cardinals fledged in my yard today, and the robins are feeding a nestful of chicks. Baby bunnies are in the gardens. I even had a baby river otter run smack into my leg yesterday, with mother otter close behind. (First time I’ve even seen an otter.) So cute!!
 

gardening with my sister on a rainy May day

 
 
Its been a very cool spring. And now, very wet. Don’t remember when I’ve waited so long to set out tomatoes. Anyway, yesterday my sister and I planted tomato seedlings in my community plot. These are a set of six different varieties of late blight resistant tomatoes: Defiant, Ferline, Mountain Magic, Old Brookes, Prudens Purple and Plum Regal. We had 500 of these seedlings, that are reported to have different degrees of late blight resistance, grown for our community garden by a local grower. We are looking forward to seeing…
 

working on my community garden plot

 
 
I would have taken “before” photos of my plot, but I was overwhelmed looking at it this morning. I knew how late I was getting it in shape and how much should be done. After accomplishing a day’s work, I’m now enjoying the “after” photos. It was a drizzly day. I weeded, transplanted rogue strawberry plants, moved salt marsh hay from beds to paths, set up a tomato pole, screened compost and turned it in under a couple beds, top-dressed my asparagus bed, transplanted onion seedlings and dahlias tubers. I…
 

Juha’s challenge

 
 
Juha is a new gardener who lives in Finland. A couple weeks ago we helped him by recommending gardening books for a beginner. Not being so familiar with gardening books myself, I gave him this advice, … messing it up is a way of learning, as long as you don’t get disappointed. And there are many ways to grow every food crop. You may find a new one that works best for you by just getting into the dirt and trying. Most important is soil preparation, water and sunlight. Make…
 

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


Flickr

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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