rhubarb crisp

I picked a big handful of rhubarb today - first of the season. It made a delicious rhubarb crisp for desert.

(I used this recipe and modified by using 1.5 lbs rhubarb with the full amount of topping in the recipe. I also broiled it on low for 3 minutes after it was finished baking. I didn't hear any complaints....)

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 and pumpkins
- Bought chicken wire to cover my strawberries
- Distributed Agribon row cover and Sluggo to community gardeners

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 I pulled them out and composted them. These three heads grew on plants at the edges and gave marginally nice heads. I steamed one of them up for dinner last night and it was tasty.

The broccoli variety I have been growing is called Diplomat. As I was doing some unrelated task it occurred to me why someone would use this name for a broccoli: the big head - of course! Very funny. (except when it buttons.....)

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 waiting to be transplanted.

The far left and right beds get the least sun (maybe only 3 hours of midday sun, 11am - 2pm), plus they're shaded by the rose and day lilies next to they. In the far left bed I planted basil. Some peas are struggling along, but I'm thinking they won't amount to much. I'll plant shell beans in the far right bed soon.

The three middle beds get about 4 hours of sun midday (11am - 3pm). Herbs do well along the front. I've planted pole beans there and cucumbers on teepees. Some lettuce is growing well and ready for harvest soon. I'll plant lots of edamame soybeans soon - yum!

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!!

beets in the evening sun

Seeds planted in the garden while there was still snow - March 25.

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 how they do.

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 thought of this. Yes, we have a pair that we see now and then. I guess we'll find out how long it takes of them to find my corn! Then I'll look into electric fences....

today's harvest - bok choi and salad greens

today's harvest

Today: Planted in the garden next to my house seeds for two double rows of soybeans (Envy and Butterbean) with soy bean inoculant. Also two double rows of bush beans (Tavera and Royal Burgandy) and two poles of Chinese pole bean. In my community plot, I weeded and spread salt marsh hay in the paths.

today's harvest

cukes, eggplants, and watermelon transplants

Today I transplanted cucumbers, eggplants and watermelons. I put them in the cold frame with covers removed - the warmest place I have. In the morning I prepared the soil - weeded, raked a pile of new compost flat, dug it in a little, and then raked the soil flat. It was so hot that I waited til evening to transplant the seedlings. It was dark when I finished planting and watering.

The cold frame is next to the robin nest - overfull with 4 big birdlets. I keep thinking they will fledge tomorrow. They don't fit in the nest anymore. Today they perched on the nest edges and flapped and preened. To sleep they stack on top of each other. They only know the world of their nest, their siblings and their parents bringing them worms.

I also prepared the beds for planting some bean seeds soon.

a busy week in the garden!

Wow! What a super week. I haven't posted because I've been busy gardening. Last weekend I tended my backyard. Monday I helped my parents in their garden - its all planted now and looks beautiful. Tuesday, I spent a long drizzly afternoon in my community plot. I brought in compost and planted lots of little seedlings. Like my parents, the beds are full now. The only garden still waiting for me is my side yard where the very warm weather plants (beans, watermelon, eggplants, cukes, etc) will go in. I think its probably the earliest I've ever gotten my gardens planted. The weather has been perfect this spring! I have lots of photos and will add them soon.

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). We reserved a bed for a second area of tomatoes.

The new addition was lawn a few weeks ago. Last week, we bounded the edges with deer fence, and I dug three beds, each about 3x5 ft. To dig, we first laid an inch or two of compost on top of the grass and then I manually turned it all (sod and compost) under. My dad later broke up the clumps of sod a bit and topped it with landscape fabric. He said to me today, "Have you done this before?" I said, "No."

Today, I used scissors to cut holes in the landscape fabric for planting. I planted squashes and cucumbers and for each, I first dug a hole and then added a good handful or three of potting soil, then tamped in the seedling.

Actually we tried a version of this addition last year and it did not work for squashes. Don't know why, though I think partly it was because it was unfenced and the deer ate it. It's an experiment. Theoretically it should be beautiful with big plants and a rich harvest. We'll see.

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 at Arborday. But if you know this tree, let me know!

mom and dad's garden

On Monday, my parents and I worked a full day in their vegetable garden. We planted tomato, pepper, lettuce, sunflower, basil, cilantro, squashes, marigold, cosmos, daisy and cucumber seedlings. Dad staked his recently planted snow peas.

Some type of bug was eating the broccoli, cauliflower and bok choy that we planted a couple weeks ago. My guess it was the green caterpillar of the white cabbage butterfly. I replaced some of the seedlings, searched for green caterpillars (I found one) and then covered the patch with hoops and row cover.

We planted 4 types of pumpkins and winter squashes: Butternut, Buttercup, New England Pie pumpkin, Cinderella pumpkin (Rouge Vif d’Etampes) and a couple giant pumpkin seedlings. The giant pumpkins are at the edge of the compost pile and the other pumpkins an squashes just outside the garden fence. Last year, the squash vines took over the garden and even pulled down parts of the fence. This year they will have room to roam.

Last year I planted much too many cucumbers in Mom and Dad's garden. I thought they wouldn't want ANY this year, but, no, they want tons again. I planted 8 varieties: Diva, North Carolina pickling, Sumter pickling, Boston pickling, Straight Eight, Sweet Success, Tokiwa and Sooyow Nishiki. About 20 seedlings - and then Mom added a few more seeds for good measure. They grow up the 5 ft deer fence around the edge of garden, so they don't really take up any space. When my nephew comes to visit, he runs to the garden to pick cukes and eat them immediately. Then he gets a big grin on his face.

Dad wrote down all the varieties and where they were planted for his records and then we called it a day. As we were marveling about the full garden, Mom remembered the beans - we forgot to leave room to plant beans! Arrgh. Well, as Mom emailed to me later in the week, they found a place to squeeze in 2 rows.

asparagus harvest

I picked lots of asparagus today. It grows so fast! One day the stalks are a few inches tall - the next, a foot tall! I am picking all of the stalks now as my bed is pretty well established. I'll pick all of the stalks for another week or so, then let them grow into fronds.

I used to steam or saute my asparagus, then this past Easter, I came across a super recipe. Here it is: Emeril suggests roasting it. Yes! its super! Today, I layered on lots of garlic, some olive oil, some herbed sea salt and a bit of Parmesan cheese. I roasted at 400*F for 12 min. It was AMAZING!!! DELICIOUS. Awesome. Tender and sweet. Yummy, yummy, yummy.

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 up deer fence around each tree. And all those rocks we pulled out of the soil will go into a semi circle just at the lower slope of each tree.

pear blossoms for mother's day

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 didn't get to everything: lettuce and cabbage seedlings need to go in and more compost is needed, but its a good start.

During my work, I saw two male rose-breasted gross beaks flitting around, and a couple male Baltimore orioles. Bight flashes of color over the garden plots. I suppose they were vying for prime territories before the females arrive.

Skippy rested on the salt hay in the garden paths while I worked. At dusk, he got a nice walk to the swimming hole. Now its time for a good nights' rest.

seedlings

These are photos of my seedlings growing this past week. They have been inside til today when I moved them out to my cold frame. I hope the weather will be warm enough to plant them soon.