first bed is full

Today I filled my first bed in the new garden (actually the second from the edge, but the first one filled). I had half filled it last week and planted peas, and today completed bringing in topsoil and compost from a local farm. I planted broccoli (9 plants - a mix of early and late varieties), Asian greens, endive (escarole frissee and a broad leaved escarole) and 2 varieties of butterhead lettuce (Skyphos and Prizehead). It was a chilly day (45*F for a high) and rain is predicted all night tonight. I hope the seedlings like their new home.

getting ready to plant!

Isn't spring wonderful!

I just now clicked on my label link below for "sideyard aerial photos" and was reminded what a tough winter it was. Only one month ago we had a foot of snow, Feb we were covered with nearly 3 feet, Jan and Dec were cold and dark, and October we had Hurricane Sandy.... All I can say is:

Isn't spring wonderful!

the giving garden

Ava, the teacher at The Garden Road School, asked me to post this link for her kids. She wrote

The Garden Road School in Peekskill, NY is building a school garden! So far the children have learned about earthworms, soil structure, compost, and so much more. I've been working on it since September without a budget, but now I've designed a Kickstarter grant to raise some funds. The way Kickstarter works is through social networking, so everyone gives a little bit to raise a large sum of money.

Here's their link. The Giving Garden at KickStarter  Its a really cute video!

today's garden work

I thought I was going to just " plant potatoes" in my community plot today, but lots of other things needed to be done. The potatoes can go in later in the week (I hope).

This is what I did:

- cleaned salt marsh hay mulch off asparagus bed and then top dressed with an inch of compost
- cleared salt hay mulch off of rhubarb and added an inch of compost
- cleared old growth from perennial flowers
- disposed of old garden materials in dumpster we have on site this month
- cleared the new potato beds and started bringing in some compost

I didn't finish bringing enough compost to plant the potato beds. With rain coming tomorrow, I'll probably wait a few days to plant...

farewell the non-organic AdSense

OK, looks likes it's time to shut down AdSense on my side bar. I opened up my blog tonight and saw an advertisement advocating the use of Round-up to kill weeds before laying down mulch. That's not even semi organic or half sustainable.

Its a lazy gardening approach that could result in poison run off into wetlands, accumulation in soils, and, frankly, costs more than just mulching properly. I mean, its really easy to lay newspaper or cardboard as a barrier under mulch if you want to eliminate weeds. Today I laid a thick layer of salt marsh hay in my garden paths - this will stop most weeds. I'll probably need to pull a few weeds now and then (on a bright sunny morning with the birds singing...maybe I'll find some dill or borage "weeds" that I'll transplant, weeding is half the fun of gardening...)

It's too bad to shut down AdSense as I liked the panels of garden-related (thought sometimes distantly related, or not related) topics on the ad bar. They added some extra color and variety to the format I thought. ...Hormel cheese dip, potting soil and landscaping services.... And the content changes regularly with almost no work for me. But, they aren't organic. Oh well. Goodbye AdSense. It will take me some time to remove and replace.

new garden gate

fruit trees

I bought 2 apple trees today: Liberty and Honey Crisp dwarfs.

putting up garden fencing

A cold dreary April day. My husband and I put up fencing around the 3 raised beds that I'll be planting spring crops in soon.

For many of the posts, we ran into rock about 4 inches down. Seems maybe there's a layer of rocky fill down there.

Suzie and Skippy patiently watched and were soaked by the cold rain by the time we finished. They dug a good hole under the rhododendron for fun and played in the fresh mud. Now, its evening, and they are clean. They got ushered straight into a warm shower and had nice baths.

weekend gardening plans

Fence

Our plan for the weekend is to get a fence up around my new garden. (Hopefully we can do this in between the rain drops!) For now, we'll put a simple metal fence around half of the beds. I think we'll go with a 5 or 6 ft fence. We have lots of deer, so the main purpose of the fence is to keep them out. We also have raccoons and rabbits that I'd rather not share my vegetables with.

At the community garden I manage, we talk a lot about fencing. Our recommendation there is 4 or 5 foot metal fencing, with wood or metal posts. We like the 1 inch grid, stainless fence with a 12 inch layer of chicken wire or poultry cloth at the bottom, 6 inches dug in and 6 inches above ground. The tall fence protects against human theft, the dug in wire protects against woodchucks and rabbits. We dislike any type of plastic fencing as its not a sustainable option. Plastic is damaged by mowers and gets scattered in the local environment. While a little bit here and there seems innocuous now, plastic is forever. If we let it accumulate, it won't be pretty later. Our main criterion for fencing recommendation is that they are safe for gardeners using the paths. Secondary concerns are esthetic and environmental issues.

With my new home fence, I'll avoid plastic. Metal is more functional and long lasting. Over the long term, it degrades into an innocuous form and is a more sustainable choice.

Soil

We have a fantastic community farm near us and I've discovered they are a source for not only CSA meats, eggs and vegetables, but also for organic aged manure compost. Our plan to fill the new raised beds is to bring in local loam to fill beds within a couple inches of the top, then top off with local compost. I'll vary the amount of compost according to what I plan to plant: 1 inch of compost for root beds, 2 inches in beds for greens, at least 3-4 inches in beds for tomatoes, peppers, squashes, cucumbers and corn. I ordered a loam delivery for midweek, but we'll start bringing in compost this weekend.

Fruit trees

I have specific varieties of fruit trees I'd like to grow: Honey Crisp and Golden Grimes apples, Contender peach and a pie cherry. It will be fun to see what we can find in local nurseries this weekend.

Planting

I have seed potatoes to go in this weekend. Yukon Gold, Kennebec Red, Burbank Russet, and Adironac Blues. Also, I'd like to transplant seedlings of lettuce and other greens. Its time to start seeds indoors for pumpkins and winter squashes.

my seed potatoes are here

I ordered two varieties of potatoes this year. Instead of the 4 or 5 I usually order. I am trying to cut back.... They look really nice. Burbank Russet and German Butterball from Fedco Moose Tubers.

Some years I have planted them right away. Other years I wait and let them sprout a bit. I am wondering what is the "correct" thing to do.

Another thing I'm wondering about is different planting methods. I have always planted in trenches then back filled as the spuds sprout. I end up with potatoes growing in a flat bed. Fields I see have potatoes growing from the tops of hills. I'll have to look this one up.

pea planting

Today I planted my peas! The first seeds to go into my new garden.

I brought three wheelbarrows full of loam down to one of my new raised beds. I added two 40 lb bags of composted cow manure, turned it, then raked the surface smooth. I planted two packages of 5 foot tall French snow pea seeds. For each, I cleared a 2 inch deep trench about 5-6 inches wide. Since I haven't planted peas in this soil before, I sprinkled on pea/bean innoculant, scattered the pea seeds, then covered the area. I added some 6 foot tall branches for supports. Our irrigation water isn't on yet, so the seeds will sprout when they get enough moisture.

We are in the process of applying to the Town Conservation Commission for a permit for this vegetable garden site since it's near wetlands: a pond and a seasonal brook. It doesn't seem that there is any problem getting the permit as the garden is all sustainable organic and we are planning work to avoid runoff and mitigate local wildlife habitat issues. But since we do not yet have "go ahead" approval, I am filling and planting one bed at a time. For this first planting, I used a minimum of soil - only 3-4 inches in an 8 inch raised bed. I think approval takes 3 weeks from submission, which will go in next week (hopefully). The submission will include all of the modifications that we plan for the house and yard. One of the modifications to the hose is the addition of a vegetable storage/root cellar that I look forward to filling up with home-grown vegetables.

spinach harvest

I felt nervous going out and picking some spinach from my cold frame. What a day!

no yard work today - everyone please stay safe

I was planning to work in my yard today, but we have been told by the police to stay inside here in Belmont. There is a man hunt on now for one of the Marathon bombers. It is centered about 2 miles away from us in Watertown.

What a sad and scary situation. Hopefully I can do yard work later in the day. More importantly, we are praying no one else will be injured. We want everyone to be safe.

planting squash and cukes

Just planted a tray with squash and cucumber seeds.
(in order of my favorites:)
Squash: Waltham butternut, Buttercup Burgess strain, Jarrahdale pumpkin, New England Pie pumpkin, Hubbard blue ballet, and Acorn Honey Bear

Cucumbers: Diva, Tokiwa, Sooyow nishiki, Straight 8, Sumter pickling

books for beginning gardeners?

Does anyone have a good book to recommend for a beginning gardener? I got a nice email from Julie who is planning to start a garden and is looking for a good resource.

Hey Kathy, I'm fairly new to gardening and I'm feeling a little confused about where to start learning about it. I plan to start a garden this spring in my parents backyard and I'm trying to educate myself on the basics of this subject as fast as possible. Don't want to totally mess it up :) Could you recommend any sources to study? If you could only use one book on gardening what would that be for you? ps. I'm planning on raising edible foods in my garden

backyard flowers

spring planting in Mom and Dad's garden

Today, my parents and I did the first work of the season on their vegetable garden. Here are before and after photos.

BEFORE

AFTER

Only a couple hours work. We raked, then weeded and marked out paths. My Mom had her pad and pen and wrote down what we planted where. Dad and I planted seeds and seedlings. We did our best to leave enough room for the warmer weather crops, like beans and tomatoes, and to plan for crop rotation. Dad put row cover over the newly transplanted lettuce seedlings to protect them a bit from drying out. Last, we watered all the new transplants from a gallon jug - rain is expected in a couple days.

Now we will wait and see what grows.

update

I've been preoccupied the past few weeks with a couple things and have neglected my blog: Firstly, our community garden's annual Spring Work Day was last weekend. As the coordinator for the Gardens, this took a lot of my time for planning. Second, I took a week of vacation in the beautiful Bermuda sunshine to recharge after a long New England winter. Both the Work Day and Bermuda were wonderful and I hope to post descriptions and photos of each, as well as get back to regular posts.

It's the best time of year now, it seems to me. So much anticipation. In my mind and in little seed pots, I have gardens taking shape. I have empty canvases of dirt to fill. Tiny pea and beet sprouts are coming up in my community plot. And I finally have dirt under my nails and there is SUN.

fruit trees sprayed with dormant oil

Today I sprayed my apple (dwarf Fugi) and two pear trees (a Keiffer and a Bartlett) with a dormant oil spray. I also gave one of my grapes (a Cabernet Sauvignon) a spray too. The buds are nicely swollen and I am pleased to see that there are a few flowers buds ready to pop on the pears this year - finally. (I have been pruning them wrong and removing the buds for 2 years.) It was a warm sunny day - up to about 50*F, and bugs just starting to get active. I think this is the perfect timing for the oil spray. I diluted it to 4 Tbs in a 1 qt spray bottle, then soaked all the branches well.

first spring harvest - a bowlful of greens

I picked a bowlful of greens from my cold frame today. They made a wonderful salad, and I am happy that this is the start of a new season of garden fresh food.

My cold frame contents suffered a lot mid winter from very low temperatures. About half the plants were damaged (mostly bok choy and lettuce) and died. Survivors perked up as light and temperatures increased. Now it's quite full. After taking this picture, I pulled the bolted bok choy. I think probably bok choy is not a good crop for my cold frame. (Trial and error is often the best way to learn...)

By seeing my heavily reinforced cold frame, I am reminded how much snow was piled up on it this winter. Hardship has built quite a bit of character into my frame! It has also made me very appreciative of spring.

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant."

seedlings hardening off

I'm preparing these seedlings for transplanting soon. They've been coddled by staying inside under artificial lights. "Hardening off" will gradually get them used to wind, bright sunlight and temperatures variations. Our temperatures are really nice now - staying above 40*F at night - so the seedlings are staying out day and night for a few days.

leveling my new raised beds

My raised beds are on a bit of a slope. To level them, my husband secured a 2x4 horizontally to the bottom of each bed at the downhill side. He used three 2x4 stakes on each and left these sticking out a few inches at the bottom. One some beds where the slope was steeper, we left the stakes at the soil surface and filled in below with a layer of brick. For most, the stakes were dug in leaving the horizontal 2x4 resting at soil surface. One or two were on a flatter ground and he dug the whole horizontal board in a bit. We used brick to fill in at the sides. Now all of the beds are pretty much level. Next step - add dirt!

germination test of old corn seeds

I'm doing a germination test of my old corn seeds. They were "Packed for 2009" - 6 years old. Any bets on whether they'll sprout?

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 urban Belmont. Stronger and better fed.... and able to carry off large chickens for lunch....

Usually, I let me hens run free an hour or so in the afternoon sun. After this conversation with the construction guys, I only let them out briefly today when I could watch them carefully. The problem was, it was such a nice day and the girls really wanted to run for a while. After 20 min, I started trying to get them back into their coop and it took me a good 20 min. They did NOT want to go.

So, the eggs in the picture above are what the hens lay in about 5 days now. Since all 3 hens are laying, finally, I usually get 6 brown eggs per week from Penny (Black Australorp), 5 blue/green eggs per week from Ginger (Auracana), and 3 giant pink eggs a week from Bertha (Light Brahma). Bertha has just started to lay. So that's 14 egg a week. Plenty for us, and we're giving some away to anyone who leaves a car with open windows on the driveway ;-) Tomorrow I'm planning to make mushroom quiche, and then, Friday for guests, I'll make some deviled eggs of all different sizes.