canning tomatoes

 
 
I bought 25 lbs of local tomatoes at the Farmer’s Market, added a few of mine and canned 11 quart jars. Recipe: – Peel tomatoes after scorching in boiling water 1 minute. Slit and remove seeds. Slice in food processor with 1/4 inch blade. – Clean quart canning jars in dishwasher. Boil lids and rings in water on the stove. – Pack tomatoes in jars to 1/2 inch of the top. (I added a small chili pepper to half of the jars.) Clean rims. Apply lids and rings. After tightening…
 
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fall seedlings

 
 
Over the weekend, I found some fall seedlings at a local nursery (Mahoney’s in Winchester MA) and bought a bunch for me and my parents. Six-packs of spinach, escarole frisee, and red leaf lettuce. Also a couple plants each of Brussel’s sprouts and parsley. And one pretty sage plant with big round leaves for my mom. They are all happily in the ground now.
 
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a toad house for my birthday!!

 
 
I was really lucky to get some garden gifts for my birthday this past week – a toad house, a little sign and a rain gauge. I put the toad house in a shady spot under the parsnips at my community plot. I hope Oracle Toad will appreciate his new home. I spent an hour or so working in my plot today. I mostly removed mildewed and wilting squash leaves and vines. This gave me good space for fall seedlings. But it also removed shelter where Toad was hiding. I…
 
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garden toad

 
 
This toad is one of my best garden helpers (along with Skippy and my gnomes). The toad is at my community plot. I imagine he hopped into my garden when he was tiny. He is now way too big to get out through my chicken wire edges. I have seen him in the garden for 4 years now! He’s (or she’s?) probably about 5 inches long. A big one! He/she mostly hangs out under the potatoes or parsnips. Any ideas for a name? (I’ve been calling him “Toad”.)
 
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carolina wren

 
 
A Carolina wren checked out the old robin nest next to my garden.
 
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late blight hit my tomatoes

 
 
Today I found definite late blight lesions on my tomatoes. Several of them. Even on fruit. Sad. I removed all of the lesions and bagged them in plastic. I will leave the bag out in the sun for a few days to heat kill the pathogen, then I’ll dispose of it in my home trash. I also removed all of the larger tomatoes that seemed close to ripening. I’ll rinse them and let them ripen at home. I’ve been spraying with copper fungicide, so today after removing infected leaves, I…
 
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onions in storage

 
 
Onions were pulled, washed, dried a couple days in the sun, then trimmed and bagged in mesh I saved from supermarket onions. Hanging now in basement. It will only take me a couple months to go through these, so they don’t need to keep very long. Next year I will try for a bigger crop – not necessarily more onions, but bigger ones. That means giving them their own space with no other plants competing for their sunlight. And maybe start the seeds a little earlier. I sowed Feb 25,…
 
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what to plant now

 
 
Its time for fall planting. I have a tray of seedings ready to transplant to my garden this week. They will go in the rows left open by fading summer squashes, finished broccoli and cauliflower, spring beets, cabbage and carrots, and potatoes that are already dug. My fall seedlings were planted about 3 weeks ago. They are red and savoy cabbage, bok choy, escarole, endive frisee, 4 or 5 types of lettuce, a few varieties of beets. This week I will also try sowing some fall peas. They never work,…
 
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aerial garden view

 
 
The gardens are full and green. Click on photo, then mouse over to see what’s growing where.
 
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summer squash bread

 
 
I have a fridge full of summer squashes. Zucchini, yellow and a green patty pan this year. Our Friday night dessert is a warm out-of-the-oven summer squash bread. To use extra squashes (tonight I added an extra cup of grated squash to the recipe), I added some spelt flour (whole wheat would be the same) to my favorite summer squash bread recipe. And a bit of molasses, too. Serve with your local rum, ahh.
 
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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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