Record breaking weather (again)

So it hit 67 today - December 3rd! Can you even believe it? It has been way too long since I updated this - bad blogger I am. The gardens have all been cleared out and cleaned up and I planted my green manure in my garden and Tom and I covered the Victory Garden with newspapers and cardboard in the hopes of keeping down some of the obnoxious weeds that grew feet in seconds all summer long. Although it was 67 today we have had a few frosts overnight so I thought I would dig up some of the parsnips.

and as you can see I still suck at growing root crops. The seeds were put down in mid July and should have been ready by mid October clearly these are not edible. Hairy, forked and REALLY pliable. I guess there is always next year.
Oh and because of this unseasonably warm weather we have been having my giant hyacinths and daffodils are now sprouting. I am hoping that they come back again in the spring when they are supposed to! They are a good 2 inches up already. I don't think mulching will help at this point. I also found some more asparagus spears growing yesterday. Those suckers grew from Spring till now. Fingers crossed that I get such a big harvest next year too!

A Disappointing Harvest

So the weather this Spring and Summer left a lot to be desired. It was AWFUL! Rainy Spring and cool Summer doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room for the crops I was attempting to grow. Let's see...in a nutshell:
Corn: was eaten by city critters. I'm placing my bets on raccoons. Not that the ears were bigger than 4: anyway. With all the rain in we had it drowned out the seedlings.
Delicata Squash - 1 squash per plant does not a harvest make.
Spaghetti Squash - none bigger than the size of a small bowling ball. And here I thought they were supposed to be oblong!
Onions - lost some to I have no idea what and the ones I did harvest were small, small small. But useful for a single size serving w/o having to store it.
Carrots - lets just say root crops aren't my thing!
Potatoes - they got so darn big they fell over and died prematurely so the harvest was small as well.
Lettuce - the seeds were devoured by the birds
Asparagus Bean - not nearly as plentiful as last year. But maybe it was because the seeds were a year old.
Zucchini - usually I can't get my neighbors to take anymore from me because I have such a huge crop. This year maybe 3-4 per plant - and I planted 6 plants!
The success stories are few:
Kentucky Blue Wonder Pole Beans - 12 seeds must have produced at least 5-6 pounds, if not more of beans. My neighbors are officially sick of beans! And I still have new flowers coming every day.
Sweet 100 and Bonnie Grape Tomatoes: WOW!!! That's all I have to say about those.
2009 wasn't the best of years but there is always 2010!!!!!

And on to the winter crops

Hard to believe in 90 degree weather that I am planning my winter crops, but apparently this is the time of year to do so. A few weeks ago I planted parsnips in my yard in an area that will need to be dug up in spring anyway, so I figured 'why not?'. I also planted some over in the V-yard (victory garden) - 4 or 5 rows, I can't really remember now. I have them protected w/ the oh so famous chicken wire in the hopes that the birds and squirrels don't harvest the seeds.
Today I transplanted the ripbor kale into both my yard and the V-yard. I am hoping that I placed mine high enough up on the hill that the dogs won't trample it - you never can tell with the three amigos! I direct seeded some more kale along with some spinach over in the V-yard. The spinach only takes 40 days (give or take) and I have plenty more seeds, I just ran out of room. I am hoping to find some more space somewhere to plant more.
I added a bit more of the salad bowl here and valamaine lettuce over in the V-yard. Both are hardy in the summer heat. And with the weather we have been getting lately it is hard to tell if it will be hot and dry like a typical August or rainy and cool like it has been the majority of this growing season.
I think that this is the first and last growing season for the V-yard. The bank came by earlier this week and they are putting the house up for auction (again). I am not worried about any of the winter crops that have been planted. The inside of the house needs so much work that if the house is bought the outside will be the least of their worries.
Although the place is an eye sore. I am hoping it goes unsold. With all the trial and error that Tom and I have gone through this year with that garden, I think that next years will be stellar. Let's just hope no one buys it!

Sorry State of Affairs

I love gardening and I love the taste of fresh, homegrown cucumbers. It is pure summer! But not this year. Just look at my sad, sorry, cucumber plants.
I planted 8 plants and have pulled out three because of all this disease. I check every single leaf and can't find the dreaded cucumber beetle, or any other pesky pest either. I didn't have enough space to plant all of the seedlings so I gave some to Tom and his plants look great, so I know it isn't the plant itself. Here's an up close and personal look at the damage:
And even more sorry pics - these two are of my black-eyed susans.


So much for disease free native plants, huh?

Me and Root Crops Don't Mix

Yeah, I obviously have been doing something dreadfully wrong when it comes to root crops! I dug up my carrots a few weeks ago – they should have been done mid-June. There were only 2-3 that actually looked like carrots. The others were so forked it was ridiculous. They looked like something out of a bad science experiment. Now the radishes in the Victory Garden are all misshaped too! I dug and dug and dug some more to make sure the ground was good and ready to plant the radishes and carrots, but still nothing. I do believe my soil is just too darn heavy. Next year I am making a root crop section and adding tons o’ sand.
As far as the potatoes they are growing like wild fire and toppling over they are so big. I have hilled them about 1 -1 ½ feet and still they topple. I know have them caged like friggin’ tomatoes! Who would have thunk it?
My asparagus continues to grow. What is that all about? It is almost August and I have 6 new spears coming up and that is not including the 5-6 that have already gotten o be about 8-9” high along with the original spears that are now all going to the ‘ferny’ stage.
The weather continues to be a challenge. If it isn’t raining buckets it is so damn humid and sticky. All this moisture is killing my zucchinis. They are starting to get moldy. My beans are being attacked by God only knows what and my cucumbers are the saddest looking things I have seen in a while. I have only picked about 10 cherry tomatoes and ONE yellow pear tomato. That is so not right. The only thing that is growing well right now is the parsley, which I planted to make gremolata for the beans that are not growing. S –I-G-H.

And the rain continues

Well this little guy is getting quite the workout lately. June's weather was awful and July is continuing on the same way. The 4th of July weekend was nice but the past two days consisted of rain, thunder, lightening and more rain.
Because of all this rain my corn, at least I think, has washed away. I can't tell if I am growing corn or crab grass. If it is crab grass it is growing in a very uniform row, just like where the corn should be.
I read in my bible (aka Trowel and Error) that you can hang red Christmas ornaments on your tomatoes when the first green ones appear. Allegedly the critters will peck at the ornaments and realize that they don't like them so when the tomatoes actually turn they will have been deterred from the whole plant. So here is my Christmas in July. Here's hoping it works.

First day of summer

The weather lately has been atrocious! It has been overcast and rainy for weeks with only a day or two of sunshine and the forecast for the next 4-5 days is more of the same. My rain barrels are overflowing but my poor tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers are crying for some warm weather and sunshine. The average temp for June was only about 62! So neither my garden nor the Victory Garden are flourishing right now but I have already ordered some seeds for Fall. This time around I am going to try Kale and Parsnips. From all my Googling it says to plant after the 4th of July, which isn't too far off. I'm going to throw in some leftover lettuce, radish, spinach and carrots too. I figure I have the seeds so I shouldn't let them go to waste.
My dwarf snow peas are still growing like crazy. They finally bloomed and ow they won't stop. I finally pulled up the trellised peas. They didn't do so hot, but when I think about it I only planted a few seeds whereas with the dwarfs I planted about 20 or so. Maybe I'll try the trellis peas later this season again to see how they do.

Victory Garden is COMPLETE!

So after MUCh hard work Tom and I finally got the Victory Garden set, We have peppers. tomatoes, corn, edamame, beans potatoes and onions growing right now. This is a far cry from this . We did so much digging, tilling and weeding and it is no where near close to completion. The weeds over there grow in seconds.
I planted the corn just last weekend and they are already coming up. Considering that corn is a whole new vegetable for me I wasn't sure what to do. But again, if something wants to grow it will. The beans are looking really good and the edamame is just starting to come up. I am concerned about the Delicate squash. The stems looks a bit ragged but there is still new growth coming from the top so I guess I will just wait and see. The potatoes are growing like wild fire. I already started to mound them - especially the Yukon Gold. I think some of the 'seeds' may have moved underground, or decided to grow hoever they like, because some of them are too close for comfort right now. Well I guess I will only get 15 pounds instead of 20!

Spring Garden Update

So here is a picture of the peas that I am waiting patiently to harvest. These are Dwarf Gray Sugar and according to the package take 65 days till maturity. Behind them, supposedly growing on the trellis are Snowbird and Sugar Snap 58 and 68 days respectively. Well, I planted ALL of these on March 28th. June 1st will be 58 days and those Snowbirds aren't doing too much right now. I think I have maybe 10 blooms?!? I used pea inoculant on them, watered when necessary and in my humble opinion gave them a darn good place to grow. The tomato plants I bought a few weeks ago were growing fabulously in the green house. So fabulously that they started to bloom and the roots were growing out of the cocoa pots. I couldn't wait any longer for the peas so I just interplanted them in between the trellis and the bamboo hoops. According to my Organic Gardening Companion Planting Guide peas like tomatoes so fingers crossed that everyone gets along till the end!
Last weekend all the remaining seeds went into the Victory Garden across the street - corn, edamame, and beans, along with some, actually A LOT of tomato plants - early girl, big boy, and sweet 100 and a few pepper plants for added measure. We still have a good amount of space left over so Tom and I were talking tonite about putting in carrots, radishes and lettuce. The Valmaine I ordered is vert heat tolerant so I figure, why not! We were also talking about parsnips but from everything I read they don't do well in really rich soil and with all the compost we put down that soil is RICH. I guess parsnips will go on the list for next year. I am heading over there tomorrow to check on everything to make sure the critters haven't gotten through the chicken wire and will get some 'before the show' types of pictures to share.

First Harvest of the Season

Not the best picture and surely not the best looking radishes but this is my first time growing them and the first I dug up this year. Obviously some should have been left in longer but how much longer? These are Easter Egg radishes and the package says 28-30 days - well that would have been about a week and a half ago. I mean really - for cool weather crops they are being awfully finicky about the weather!
And the aphids all over the rose bushes? Well I think I killed some green lacewings too. How sad. All the pictures I have seen I thought those suckers were like 2 inches long and then some. Apparently they are only 5/8 of n inch. Damn - I hope they don't take it personally and come back to fight the aphids and other pests floating around here. I guess I should always do a Google search on insects before plucking them off my flowers and vegetables.

Holy Aphids!

Doing my 'tour of duty' through the yard today I noticed a gajillion aphids all over the roses - already! Those little bugs can do so much damage on so many things. Ugh!!! So I Pepper Zapped them with a mix
1/2 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1 teaspoon of Tabasco
1/8 teaspoon liquid soap
All poured into a spray bottle and if all goes well - hasta la vista aphids!
The Victory Garden is coming along. The onions, potatoes and Delicata squash are all in and yesterday I planted the spaghetti squash. Of the 4 dozen plus onion sets I planted only two were 'inspected' by some critter and everything else is covered with chicken wire in the hopes that they can survive.
My radishes are coming along - though not as quickly as I had hoped. Same for the peas. I think within the next few days I can get the first harvest of radishes and hopefully I can do so without disturbing the carrots growing in the same bed. The peas are taking off but so far no buds or flowers which means no peas but they still have a few weeks left. If they don't come to harvest in the next two or three weeks I am just going to pull them out because I need the space for my tomatoes and zucchini.
I planted Kentucky Blue and Asparagus Beans over the last few days as well. I took a chance and planted the Edamame seeds too and am hoping I have better luck this year than next.
The back yard is looking great - after planting 3" pots of perennials last year I wasn't so sure things would work out. This year everything is growing like gang busters. The Columbine is CRAZY and about to bloom so I can't wait to get some pictures of them too.

Spring Garden Check In

So this is the full on view of my spring garden. The first bed with the row covers is my asparagus bed. Six of the ten plants already have spears growing. I wasn't so sure I planted them correctly but I guess when something wants to grow it just will.
And this here is where all my peas are growing. I also have spinach, lettuce, carrots and radishes in there and hope that they are growing!


I cannot really figure out how people have cool weather AND warm weather gardens. I wasn't thinking when I planted all of this in late March early April. I assumed everything would be done before I needed to plant my tomatoes, cukes, zukes, and beans. Not the case. I am overlapping by many weeks! I think I need to re-graph the layout and move everything around in order to make this work.
Tom and I did till the Victory Garden on Monday so that is all set and ready for seeds. I have my yukon gold and red cloud potatoes from Territorial Seeds ready and I just got the Mars onion sets yesterday so all of the above will be planted tomorrow. I also took the soil temp today and it register at 60 so technically the corn and bean seeds could go too but there is still a couple of weeks before the last frost around here - contrary to the record breaking 93 degree day we had on Tuesday!

Pathetic Forsythias

Are these not the most pathetic looking forsythias you have ever seen?

I have no idea what to do with them. They haven't bloomed for years. I only get the random flower here and there. I would love to just dig 'em up and get rid of them but having done this in the past i know that it takes a lot of effort, time and patience. And then what would I replace them with anyway?
And these here are the ice stick tulips that I ordered from Brecks. Pretty, but they don't really look like the picture, right?

They just opened two days ago so it isn't like they are old and spent. And then this morning they were closed up and tight again. Pretty strange.

What to do with potato seeds?

Now that is the question! I got my yukon gold and red cloud delivered today and don't really understand how to use them. The directions say that you can cut the larger 'seeds' (and by seeds I mean something that looks remarkably like a potato) into smaller 'seeds' as long as three eyes are on each piece. Now to me an eye is one of those unsightly growths that occur when you keep a potato to long. Am I wrong? The yukon golds look ok in size but the red clouds are pretty big. What the heck is an eye? I don't see any of those said growths on any of them! I guess I'll just plant 'em and hope for the best.
In the meantime, the friggin' squirrels have gotten to almost all of my strawberry plants already. And that includes the one planted in the terra cotta strawberry planter and whiskey barrels. I would be mad if they were dug up and stolen, BUT NO these friggin' critters are just digging up the bare roots and leaving them to dry out and die! I am getting really pissed. They stole my spinach seedlings too! I am not for cruelty to animals but this is just pushing me over the edge. Have a Heart my ass! These suckers are going!

Spring Vegetable Garden

What a busy, busy day! After 6 hours outside I accomplished planting 25 of the 50 strawberry plants, set up the spring garden to hold three types of peas (sugar snaps and snows), and some spinach (the carrots and radishes will go out next weekend) removed all the thatch from the front yard, set up and loaded my compost bin, and cleaned up some of the worst areas of the yard. Not to mention refilling the hole my dog keeps digging under an evergreen bush. That was done three times. Drives me crazy no matter what I do he will not stay out of there - but I guess it is better unseen under the bush than some place else. I was hoping to get more done but that thatching took longer than I expected and worked more muscles than I thought. What a workout! It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow so all indoor work I guess....

More blooms and a bin!

I finally got around to getting a compost bin (I know, I know, as an organic gardener I should have had one years ago but just never got around to it). Thanks to New England Plastics and a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection the city of Medford is offering discounted bins to residents. So who am I to turn down a deal?!? The bin isn't exactly what I expected but it does hold/produce 24 cubic feet of compost so I guess all works out in the end. It was a DIY situation to get it together and the directions were pretty clear but they really should have stated right at the beginning that you need four hands or two people to assemble the sucker. Tom (you know my neighbor) helped me out putting it together and now I just need to stake it into the ground and load 'er up! And now since the city is cracking down on only taking yard waste on designated yard waste days (they used to take leaves and such in open barrels all the time) I have tons of brown matter to add and the way I go through fruits and veggies I produce enough green matter to make the perfect mix. And of course a picture will soon follow : )


As for the bloomers going on now in the yard this is a picture of my mini iris - Katherine Hodgkins. They are only 2" high but boy does the leftover greens grow high! These too have multiplied but only by two or three at each planting site. I am not a huge iris fan but I really like these ones. Unfortunately the blooms only last a week or so and then - poof - gone. But the early spring bloomers a quick to follow so all is not lost.

Asparagus has arrived!

And here is the first photo of my ten lovely Jersey Supremes:

Hard to believe that these suckers are going to become 20 year+ vegetable plants! My 50 strawberry plants showed up today too. I thought I ordered plants, but alas they are bare root too. Not even sure where I will put them all, but I am a sucker for a BOGO (buy one get one free) deal so fifty it is!
I did build the raised bed over the weekend and I thought it came out great, however the screws were not so happy in their new found home and promptly popped out of one side when all the compost and manure were added : ( Did I ever mention I suck at wood working?!?!
I just checked on the lettuce seeds that I planted indoors over the weekend to make sure they hadn't dried out and shockingly enough I already have one itsy bitsy seedling poking out! Of course like the overzealous gardner that I am I forgot to mark which peat pots are what so I have no idea if it is the Valamian (romaine) or Salad Bowl (loose leaf) - a surprise later on I guess.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a good 50+ degree day here so I am going to tackle that community garden.

So much work to be done!

These two pictures show you what type of work I have in store for me. This is the yard of the abandoned house across the street that my neighbor and I have decided to make into a semi-community garden.
Most of the knee-high weeds were taken out prior to this picture and a very small amount of the leaves. There is so much more to do! We need to clear the whole area, till the soil, order compost (no one can make THATmuch, section it off, find and place walking paths - ugh - so much to do and so little time! The last frost will be here before I know it (typically May 5th around these parts). Oh and the size of the grubs I found in what little area I was in was amazing! Curled up they were the size of quarters - the local wild bird population will love me one I set those suckers loose!
On a separate note I built my raised bed for my asparagus yesterday. I realized that I am not the best with screws, drivers, drills and L-brackets. It looked ok to me but that friggin' thing fell apart today when I was adding in my compost and manure! Forget the screws - I am going straight to the old fashioned hammer and nail.
I also planted some spinach seeds in my window boxes as well as two different types of lettuce seeds indoors. It is only March and this New England weather can turn in a second. I thought about putting my boots away, or at least away from the back door, but figured I will wait till the last frost just to be safe : )

The first 'official' sign of Spring

And there it is - my first crocus for 2009! Apparently the squirrels didn't get as many as I thought - though they did snack on quite a bit! I am hoping that some of the ones that survived are purple. Those are my favorite!

How do geraniums bloom in the dark?

Now that is the question!?! Every year I dig out the geraniums, shake out the excess dirt and hang them upside down in my basement. For the past 5 years all has seemed normal. In the spring I take them outside and cut the dead branches until I reach live, green growth, put them back in their pots and watch them bloom all summer. What is going on with these geraniums?

You can see the new green shoots, some new leaves and of course blooms! They have not seen more than 1 hour of daylight since October, have had no water and they aren't growing in anything. Crazy I say!
Oh and speaking of crazy yesterday while out walking Max I saw a forsythia bush already in bloom! We had a foot of snow on Monday, yesterday it was 60 degrees - it's no wonder the plant world is in a state of confusion. Typically I put down my corn glutton when the forsythias bloom but that is hard to do when you still have several inches of melting snow covering the lawn.
I did notice this morning that the tulips are now coming up along with the daffodils/jonquils. There are a few crocuses peeping up too. I planted over 40 bulbs last fall but forgot to squirrel proof them with chicken wire so I lost the majority of them but thankfully the naturalize pretty quickly so all is not lost.
It is expected to be another 50+ degree day so hopefully the rest of the snow will melt and I can get back to the butterfly bush and hack it to the ground!

In Like a Lion!

So much for Spring coming! I bid a heartfelt RIP to my daffodils (or jonquils). We got pummeled overnight with over a foot of snow. The picture shows the view into my backyard from the porch. This is the lull in the storm. It is expected to snow again around 3pm. The snow had just melted out of my yard too! I was able to get to my garden yesterday to get exact measurements for the raised bed but I guess that won't be going in anytime soon!
Not sure what is going to happen to the sedum, dragon flowers and columbine that were experiencing new growth too. All because of this crazy weather! This photo was taken a few weeks ago at 7:30pm! Unheard of conditions in February in New England!

Spring is coming!

I just noticed yesterday that my daffodils (or maybe jonquils - I can never tell the two apart) are peeking out already! I personally think it is too early but who am I to argue with Mother Nature? I am surprised to see them coming up already when the crocuses haven't even started. Last year I had tons of foliage and very few flowers - not sure why because every other year they have looked great. Keeping my fingers crossed that this year they actually do something! If I still only get a flower or two I will have to remember to dig them up in the fall and divide them.
Today I need to investigate how to hang a 'catch all' under my bird feeders - the hulled shells are a disgusting mess - not to mention the sunflower seeds hinder other things from growing. The no mess bird seed is always an option but I can never find it in a 20+ pound bag. I think I may start filling the suet feeders with yarn, string, dog hair, etc so my little friends can start building their nests. If my Spring bulbs are coming up that means the migrating birds will soon be here too.

60+ in February!

This is global warming at its finest - check out this picture - 60+ degrees and it is only February 11! My thermometer sits in the shade of my porch all day so it was even warmer than what it shows!

Thankfully there is still close to knee deep snow on the ground so my early spring bulbs won't be coming up yet. Not really sure what the rest of the week holds for temperature, but this is definitely just a tease. No way is winter on it's way out of New England. As you can see from where my garden is supposed to be - we have a L-O-N-G way to go.

I have a lot of work to do in my garden space - last year I expanded up the hill and learned the hard way that I really should have built several raised beds so that the water didn't completely drown out the cukes at the bottom. So, raised beds are on the list as well as expanding another 6 feet at the other end of the existing garden. The first 6 feet is designated to asparagus and then the remaining 12 feet to all the rest.

Way Overdue

I can't believe that my last posting was in July! My 2009 resolution is to be more diligent to this positing to record the highs and lows of my experiences!
This year my garden is starting from seed. Yup - seed. I ordered all my seeds through Territorial Seeds and Henry Fields and this year I am expanding the garden (again) and growing some new things. For the cool weather garden I am going with lettuce, carrots, radishes and sugar and snap peas. And then when the weather heats up out come the cukes, zukes, tomatoes, edamame, beans and spaghetti squash. I guess I should be truthful - the cukes, zukes and tomatoes will be purchased as plants - I can't take on everything at once!
I also have been working with my newly converted organic neighbor, Tom, on starting a community garden. There is a house across the street and next to Tom that has been abandoned for 3 years and everyone is sick of looking at the overrun yard and weeds. We are going to work together to make an established bed of about 15 x 20 and there I will attempt from seed - corn and delicata squash and I also ordered two types of potatoes - yukon gold and red - along with some red onion sets. I have enough bean seeds so those will probably move over across the street too. I am going with the Native American Three Sisters method - squash, corn and beans. Hopefully it all comes to fruition.
We have a lot to do if the snow every melts. Since the yard has been empty for so long there are TONS of at least thigh high weeds and "grass" that needs to be taken care of before we even think about dumping down loads of compost.
Storm after storm has dumped a lot of snow around here so once I can manage to get into that backyard I will snap a before picture.