Self Seeded Salad

Self seeded lettuce

The harvest has begun, but with the help of Mother Nature. Last night we had our first garden fresh salad, mostly with these self-seeded lettuces in the vegetable garden.

Spinach

The spinach in the Herb Bed needs thinning (and weeding) and I added the thinnings to the salad.

Red Sails lettuce

The Red Sails lettuce directly seeded in the new Front Garden is also ready to be thinned. All of a sudden it is really taking off. I love being able to pick my salad right before dinner!

Busy Weekend

I am writing this on Sunday, just before I set off for adventures in Norwalk, Connecticut and New York City – lots of gardens everywhere – so my Monday Record is a little early.

Epimedium rubrum

I am afraid some of my more ephemeral blooms will not longer be lovely on Bloom Day, so here is Epimedium rubrum. I keep promising myself I will divide it, but no action so far.

Dicentra exima?

I thought this was a cut leaf bleeding heart, that is almost always in bloom, but it is white and I’m not sure about those blossoms. Any ideas?  I’m sorry the photo isn’t more clear.

Forget me nots

Last spring I saw forget-me-nots everywhere I went. Everyone had them except me.  I bought a couple of pots of forget-me-nots at the Bridge of Flowers Plant Sale (coming up May 22) and now I have forget-me-nots everywhere. They are just beginning to bloom.

Jasmine

When I wasn’t looking my sad, brown jasmine came back to life. It usually does, but it is always a surprise. It has been spending the winter in our Sitting Room which is bright but cool. I do water it, but it browns up anyway.  Surprised by all the new green, unnoticed until today, I took it out on the Welcoming Platform for a good washing and soaking.  I brushed off most of the dead leaves.

That was the easiest chore for the weekend. Lots of weeding, watering,  pruning roses,watering and admiring the lettuces, broccoli and spinach in the new Front Garden that came through all the cold weather – and today they came through temperatures in the 80’s!  I also planted two more roses: Celsiana, an alba on the Rose Walk and Therese Bugnet, a rugosa, on the Rose Bank. Everything has needed watering.   The other roses are slowly leafing out. Some look a little sad even though our winter was mild, but we’ll see how things develop.

Monday Record April 4

The main task for these past few beautiful days has been setting up the new garden in front of the house which gets protection from the wind,  and sun early in the season. I thought I could plant hardy vegetables here and start my harvest early.  Once again I used the lasagna method of starting a new garden.  First I put down old chick house cleanings in lieu of finished compost.  We did not get chicks last year and although we gave a major cleaning of the area, moving the chick bedding to the compost pile, the hens occasionally got in there and so there was a bit more bedding and manure.

I watered that material and then laid down cardboard over the area including what would be the path. On top of the cardboard I put down soil mixed with finished compost.

I got a couple of stationwagon loads of public wood chips, a benefit of the big ice storm in December 2008.  I put the chips on top of cardboard behind the planting bed, against the house, and then on the cardboard path.

On the other side of the path I spread unfinished compost from the pile I started last spring.  When I get more cardboard I will finish this planting bed.

I haven’t planted in the new bed yet, but I did plant a little block of spinach in the Herb Garden, again in front of the house where it is easy to keep watered. Down in the Potager I planted a 7 foot double row of sugar snap peas, a 6 foot row of Renee’s Saltwater Taffy Swirls sweet peas, and Renee’s larkspur.

I also got several little flats of seeds going in the house, zinnias, broccoli, cilantro, cosmos, stocks, and lettuce. One tray of seeds is on a heating mat which slightly speeds up germination.  Both trays sit on a southern windowsill. I can see spring looking more and more as though she is almost ready to stay.

Barren Strawberry and daffodil shoots

An evening stroll through the garden showed that daffodil shoots are coming up everywhere. Eventually I hope the native barren strawberry (Waldsteinia) will form a groundcover mat with the daffodils coming up through. I will get a few more barren strawberry plants from Nasami Farm when it opens in a couple of weeks. We are in the process of eliminating lawn in this area between the road and the peonies and hydrangeas.

Now that the gardening season has begun the Monday Record will be a regular feature. I keep a garden journal, but  the Monday Record has been a fun and helpful way for me to me to be able to check the weekly progression of chores and results.

Country Gardens

The  city is left behind. I’m home and the first trip out to visit friends we see a porcupine in front of the house eating an apple falled from our old apple tree.

Bok choi

We had a delicious lunch of homemade tomato juice (with a few additions) carrot and parsnip soup, little chicken salad sandwiches and tiny fruit tarts. One of the best things about having a wonderful lunch at this house is having a tour of the vegetable garden before we leave. I took away a bag of bok choi, and 

Tuscan kale and wild kale.

I admired the last of the artichoke foliage. Can you believe there is a gardener skilled enough to grow artichokes on a high Massachusetts hill?  A bag was filled with leeks too. This will be Heavenly Soup and Bread Week at our house. Thank you Mary Kay and Earl.

Then it was back home. The porcupine was back too, but I don’t think he found the weeds and roses as tasty as the apples.

A Busy Season

This Columbus Day weekend the dawns were beautiful, if only briefly, but it was a nice change after a cold, dreary, damp week. This is the view from our bedroom window.

The long weekend means a short but intense Bake Sale Season. There were bake sales everywhere. Henry took my apple pie down to the Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club Pie Sale, and dodged 6th graders in the parking lot at Avery’s. They weren’t quite ready to sell, but when he got to the Heath Library sales were brisk.  I baked cookies and brownies and bread yesterday and spent Saturday morning here. I’m happy to say that we made a lot of eaters happy, as well as our librarian who can now buy some extra books.  Young Hazel had baked for the sale early in the  morning, but she got her reward – once she made up her mind.

Once home from the Bake Sale Henry and I had a lot to do outside, especially since last week was so cold and wet. We felt the season rushing past, in the fields and in the garden. I had beds to dig and weed, squash and lettuce to harvest in the vegetable garden.  I made  a good start, but there is more to do. My big priority was planting the garlic that I bought at  The Garlic and Arts Festival. Garlic is almost the last thing to be planted during the last planting season of the year. First I dug and weeded the  3 x 6 foot bed where 4 tomato plants grew – and had to be removed because of Late Blight. This bed is at the end of the raspberry patch, just on the other side of my post-modern orange snowfence.

Liming the soil

The soil in this spot is pretty good, but I thought it really needed some lime. Garlic will grow almost anywhere – in the sun – but a pH between 6.2 and 6.8 is idea.  I think my soil is nowhere near 6.8. I promise I will get a soil test.

I incorporated the lime and was ready to plant, following the directions on the Seeds of Solidarity package. I split my five garlic bulbs and arranged the 37 cloves in three rows about 6 inches apart in every direction. I planted them in alphabetical order beginning with the row nearest the fence, Belarus, German White, Music (2 bulbs) and Purple Glazer. I pushed each clove 2 to 3 inches into the soil.  Just like planting seeds, except that I’m doing this in October.

Having made such a nice neat garlic bed, all mulched with straw, I felt I should finish making this area neater.  I had already gotten new cardboard, so I made a quick trip to the public wood chip pile in the old station wagon.

Two nights of  heavy frost killed the sweet peas, dahlias and the cosmos, but not the broccoli, parsley or Brussels sprouts, you’ll notice.  I cleaned the flowers out of the garden, laid  out cardboard over the sections of the path around the new garlic bed and covered it with 4 wheelbarrow loads of woodchips.  We don’t have a truck, or a way to the garden with a vehicle, so this is a terrific way to get exercise. Hah!

And a way to get tired.  Henry returned from the fields and it was time to make supper, Pasta!  Then to the easy chair, and the fire to sit down and finish reading the Sunday paper. The temperature is dropping again, and there is even the possibility of snow tonight.  Surely not!

Disaster!

Late blight has infected my tomatoes.  Yesterday afternoon I went out to pick more beans and noticed that the single dead tomato branch was now several dead branches on all six of my tomato plants. It is difficult to see in  the photo against the straw mulch, but the reality was very clear.

If there was any doubt, one look at the tomatoes made it imperative to take instant and radical action. I pulled up all the plants and all loose tomatoes- which three days ago were big, beautiful and healthy looking – and put them into big black trash bags. Tomorrow they will go to the dump and thence the incinerator.

So far the potatoes in my ‘potato barrel’ seem OK, but I’m watching closely, as are the tomato plants in the Herb Bed in front of the house.

The question is how to make  sure spores are not in the soil to infect plants next year.  The first attack is to make sure that no part of the tomato plant or fallen tomatoes remain.  More research is needed.

Mid-Summer Planting

            “How’s your garden this year?”

            This is the question on everyone’s lips this summer, and in my case the answer is “Not good.”

            I began with the usual good intentions, and even more energy and enthusiasm as I decided to start my own vegetable seedlings and enlarge the garden. My plan was to grow more of my own vegetables than ever, and thus save lots of money on grocery bills.

            However, we all know about the best laid plans.  The long cold wet spring was good for the roses and other plants in the flower garden. Not good for the vegetables, whether I started them myself, or bought starts at the garden center.

            The garden hasn’t been a total bust. We’ve enjoyed many meals and snacks of sugar snap peas, big salads of lettuces, spinach and radishes. The cabbage and onions look great. The herb garden is a delicious wonder; Renee’s Garden Gigante parsley is giant indeed.

            The successes pretty much end there. The chard never germinated at all. The tomato plants are big and healthy, but few fruits have been set. The pole beans have climbed their poles, finally, and are just beginning to flower. All the squash and cucumber plants are sulking, even those planted in my best soil. Heat is what is needed.

            So, with the hope that hot summer days are still in the offing I’m hoping for a second chance. I harvested and froze my piddling broccoli crop, cleaned out one lettuce bed and re-dug both beds. It was time to take succession planting seriously.

            Succession planting can increase the productivity of any garden space. This year it has given me hope that I can still enjoy more home grown veggies.

            I dug up the beds, removed broccoli stems and weeds and broke up clods of soil.  At least that job is easier in mid-summer than spring when the weeds have such phenomenal strength.  Both of these beds are in the original vegetable garden and the soil is pretty good, but it is my practice to fertilize whenever I plant.

            I sprinkled in a little greensand (for potassium) and rock phosphate.  I’m down to the dregs, of my compost pile so I just spread a little on the planting rows, and then covered my seeds with a layer of compost before a layer of fine soil.

            I only used the seeds I had left over which meant carrots, beets, lettuce, more sugar snaps, and radishes. One radish is the beautiful Misato Rose sometimes called the ‘watermelon’radish.  All of these should mature in 60 days or less. That brings us to September 20.

            Because my garden is on a south slope and has a dependable breeze to sweep early frosts down to my neighbor, I usually can count on a long frost free period in the fall. I am certainly counting on that kind of long season this year.

            Last September was wet and cool. There were light frosts here on September 19, but no damage to the garden. Then no frost til October 7 and the squash gasped their last. The killing frost didn’t arrive til October 24 and while I think that is unusual I am hoping for a long warm fall this year.  If not I’ve lost nothing but a couple of hours of digging and a few left over seeds.

            Many crops that can be planted in the early spring are also suitable for planting in mid-summer. These are crops that don’t mind cool weather.  Think of lettuces, spinach, and the many other greens, some of which can mature in less than 30 days. Kale matures in less than 60 days and is better for a little frost.  Carrots and beets can also be planted for a second crop.

            Ideally, some crops like broccoli and cauliflower can be started indoors by the beginning of July, and then moved into the garden (after hardening off just as you do in the spring) when a lettuce or spinach bed is done.

            I do know that keeping the new planting beds moist is essential for success. Newly planted seeds and seedlings need moisture. This need is even more apparent in summer when the sun can dry out the soil rapidly. And we are hoping for some sun!

            Fortunately, many farmers are bringing in a good harvest and bringing that harvest to the Farmer’s Markets. We don’t have to do without fresh local veggies. Or fruit. We have already enjoyed local corn on the cob, and fresh local cherries. 

            I am also fortunate that perennial crops like blueberries and raspberries don’t depend so much on hot summer weather. I have begun picking raspberries, and the first blueberry has ripened. Time to get the nets up.  I continue to be amazed that raspberries don’t need netting. A bird’s palate is a mysterious thing.

            A final word for those who are enjoying a good summer harvest. Please remember all those who find it difficult to afford fresh produce. The Franklin County Hunger Task Force is participating in the national Plant a Row program and has put up a website, www.plantarowwmass.com, that gives the names of all the local food pantries and meal sites accepting donations of fresh produce. Most of us are aware of the growing needs in our own neighborhoods and communities. This need is spread across the county. No amount of produce is too small, but the benefit is great. ###

 July 25, 2009

Wedding and Work

Mr. and Mrs. Jay Larson and party

First I have to say the very most important event of the past week was the wedding of my cousin Jay  and his beloved Juliet in a beautiful garden in Manchester by the Sea. It was a glorious day and celebration was in  the air. Our hotel was hosting three wedding receptions and packed to the rafters with SEVEN groups of wedding guests.

Juliet is a Nanny in the classic mode. The wedding guest list was filled with her charges and their families, past and present which made for an amazing extended family of not only blood relatives, but the families who have exchanged love and respect with Juliet over a period of years.

The beautiful white garden in which they exchanged their vows, and celebrated into the night was owned by the family of former charges, and designed by the mother, Robin Kramer, who is now a garden designer. Juliet and Jay could begin their married life in no more perfect setting than this welcoming garden.

While we were off celebrating, son Chris and son-in-law Gerry once again set to and spent the weekend continuing to paint our house.  The weather did not cooperate and they did not finish, but the potted plants already appreciate being set off by a fresh white wall, instead of one peeling and gray.

Most of my work in the garden centered around the work in progress – the daylily bank.  Diane and her son made a start on digging and desodding during the rafting weekend.  I continued digging and fertilizing, and began the fun part, planting daylilies. Several came from Lorraine Brennan’s daylily sale including: Crimson Pirate, Lemon Yellow, Barbara Mitchell, and Hall’s Pink. My husband gave me Ice Capades, Ann Warner, Happy Returns and Rosy Returns. I dug up Hyperion and a red daylily that Elsa Bakalar gave me many years ago from other spots my own garden. I don’t think I will fill the bank this fall, but it shouldn’t take much more work in the spring.

The purpose of the bank is to eliminate the need for grass mowing.  Somehow I had not expected the pleasure I would have in seeing the blooming bank from my place at the dinner table three times a day. A reminder to always consider what  garden views will please from the window.

Also notice the shining white of our house!

High bush blueberries

I guess I was busy enough, and the freezer was full enough of the low bush blueberries the grandsons picked, that I stopped noticing our own high bush blueberries.  The time has come to notice and to start picking. I had my own blueberries on my breakfast cereal.

Sugar Snap Peas

Amazingly, the second planting of sugar snap peas is still bearing, and still sweet.  We had them in our salads all last week, and will again this week.

We have also been eating these pole beans, green and yellow, from Renee’s Garden for a week and the time has come to pick and get some in the freezer.