Monday, November 15, 2010

storing dahlias and glads

This was the first time I've ever grown either flower. I especially loved the gladiolus!
My zone is right on the gamble line for over wintering these guys so I figured I'd better dig them up. I took a few old ziploc bags and cut holes in them.
The dahlias came up easy and I couldn't believe how much bigger the corms (or are they rhizomes?) got. Some pieces broke off individually but they were pretty huge so I think they'll be fine to plant next year.
The gladiolus were 8" deep so they wouldn't need staking, so they required a bit more digging. I was so surprised how many little "baby" corms were attached to each large one. They were sprinkling all over the place. I was able to find the little shriveled old corm and pull it off the bottom of each large new one. It looked like a really dried up fig. I was thrilled that three or four of the 12 glads multiplied into two large corms instead of just one new one. I love the glads so much that I was really hoping they would multiply.
I'm going to let them dry out a bit on the porch and then I'll store them in a warmer spot in our garage until Spring.

first garden work in months

My first trimester sickness is gone, and with it went my stamina and motivation. But today I dragged myself back to the garden. It felt great. I cleaned out dead squash vines, basil, peppers, and old beets. I dug up all my dahlia and gladiolus corms. And I turned over my potato bed. I forgot that I left a ton of fingerlings in the dirt! And although something ate the tops off all my sweet potato plants, I found one baby white sweet.

I cleared a nice space to plant some hardneck garlic from my friend, Shawn. There are still a couple Swiss chard plants happily growing and some carrots left, too. I still have to contend with the tomato bed. There are a bunch of cages twined together and tangled with 32 dead tomato plants. It's a mess.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Dahlias

There hasn't been a killing frost yet so these dinner plate dahlias are still blooming.
Soon I'll get out there and dig them up for winter, as well as the gladiolus. I'm interested to see what the glads look like because I'm still a little confused about them. I've heard they will multiply but if I'm removing the old corm and keeping the new one, don't I end up with the same number I started with?

Monday, August 16, 2010

2010 tomato variety

I've been watching a woodchuck go in and out of my garden this season.
I've also watched him gradually get fat. I blame him for my low tomato
yield. Many are left half eaten on the ground and many look almost
ripe one day and gone the next.

Anyhow, here is the first 'spectrum of 2010' harvest. From left to
right: San Marzano, Cherokee Purple, Hillbilly, and Box Car Willie. I
haven't done a taste test yet but I know that I will be growing
Cherokees again. They are producing much more than the other two globe
types and I think their flavor is perfect - super low acid, not too
sweet, and the just the right ratio of gel to flesh.

the bunnies

Mother bunnies only feed their babies 2-3 times a day - around dusk
and around dawn. They stay away all day as not to attract predators.
They actually give very little maternal care (since they're probably
out getting pregnant again).
So lastnight, at the instruction of the Internet, I placed a
crisscross of twigs over the bunny nest. If they were disturbed by
today then mom had been there to feed. But apparently she only squats
over the nest to nurse so the crisscross test isn't terribly acurate.

Aside from being sensitive to motherless baby critters, I am
especially sensitive to motherless baby critters that could be left
for dead in the middle of my lawn. So I called RI's wildlife rehab
center to ask some questions and the woman on the phone directed me to
go out to the nest and pick up one of the bunnies (yay!) as she asked
me some questions about it's appearance. I couldn't identify a "milk
line" on it's tummy to indicate it had been fed recently so they asked
me to bring them in. I put a tshirt and a hot water bottle in a box
and went back out to collect the little guys. There were five in total
and they squeaked so loudly when I disturbed them! The last little guy
in the bottom of the nest didn't look so good. His body looked crooked
and he was pretty limp. I didn't like holding him.

At the rehab center in Saunderstown, the vet determined that they were
not quite a week old since their eyes were still shut and that they
were pretty healthy. The limp guy had a spinal problem (inbreeding?)
and he had to stay but I was instructed to bring the other four home
and keep them warm in the house the rest of the day since the mom
wouldn't miss them. Tonight around dinner time I'll put them back in
the nest. I'll put a thick ring of baking flour around the nest and in
the morning I'll see if there are any mommy paw prints. If not, the
vet gave me a phone number for a couple nearby that rehabilitates wild
animals in their home. In the meantime they are sleeping away in their
little bunny box in the kitchen. Beverly is obviously thrilled and out
of her mind with excitement. She pet one this morning but we're trying
to just let them sleep and traumatize them as little as possible.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

yard treasures

Today Jim mowed the lawn and discovered a nest of baby bunnies!!
Thankfully they are fine so we left a couple of garden carrots for the
mom and covered the nest back up with grass. I'll check on it tomorrow
to make sure the mom hasn't abandonded them.
Then we noticed that our peach tree was actually covered in beautiful
peaches this year. We ate two and they were delicious. The rest are
not quite ripe yet.
Between rodents and drought, I've been pretty discouraged with my
veggie gardens this season but I have a renewed excitement for nature
today!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

I *heart* Braconids

The first poor photograph is from this morning, showing the hornworm
covered in braconid wasp eggs. He is curiously in the same exact spot
as yesterday and has done no damage, which made me wonder if he was
dead already. Which brings us to the second poor photograph - a dark
and deflated hornworm hanging from another tomato branch. A little
more internet searching explained that the wasp lays its eggs inside
the worm and the larva eats its way out (apparently leaving behind a
deflated worm corpse). So the egg carrier in the first shot must be
already dead and just acting as a host now. How sci-fi.
I'm hoping that the wasps will now take over in keeping my 32 tomato
plants worm-damage free.

Also it seems these guys are tobacco hornworms, not tomato hornworms.
Tobaccos have a read horn and tomatoes have a green one. Their white
markings differ slightly, too. But they behave pretty much the same.

Monday, July 19, 2010

parasitic wasp

This is the first hornworm I've ever had with wasp eggs on it. My
master gardener class said that the little white eggs should hatch
within 24 hours, kill this worm, and look for others. So I'll leave it.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

dinner party

My brother (an incredible cook) and my niece (an incredible cutie)
came over and we made a huge garden dinner. My fridge was overflowing
with zucchini and green beans so we combined it with this harvest of
beets, potatoes, carrots and a nice little load of my very first
tomatoes of 2010.

Shallots

I planted three experimental shallots this spring. They did great! I
will definately be planting many more next year. The tops started
dying down last week so yesterday I dug up the tiny clump that didn't
look so promising. Well here it is, not bad! I let it dry overnight in
a shady spot on the front porch. Tonight we ate them all in a big
salad of Cherokee Purples, Chiogga beets, parsley and lemon juice -
all from the garden. It was very delicious!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Cherokee Purples

A couple more days and it looks like these may be my first tomatoes of
2010. That is of course as long as I get to them before those
monstrous tomato worms. I pulled two more of them today, just inches
from these Cherokees. I know that there is only one generation of
hornworms this far north but I wonder if they all come at once or if
they come in succession.
Also, it looks like my San Marzanos have blossom end rot, which I
don't undertand because I watered them pretty regularly and none of
the other varieties have it. Odd.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Garden Udate

It finally rained lastnight! I went out to cut one of my beautiful
gladiolus and of course came in with some zucchini. The Cherokee
Purples are begining to change color and the tomato horn worms are
right on schedule. While outside I disposed of 4 of them, each one
making me shudder with the creeps. I also discovered that squirrels
had eaten into the ears of half of my corn!

Which brings me to some of my gardening disappoinments so far this
year. The mystery sunflower pest has found the 'elve's blend'
sunflowers in the back and all but wiped them out. Aside from coddling
my broccoli with row covers, loopers snuck in and wiped them out for
the second year in a row. Dear future self, let someone else grow
broccoli. Another pest has cleaned the leaves right off my basil. And
finally, a lot of my carrots are weird. Half have been awesome but the
other half have a lot of bifurication and get stumpy. I know they're
not hitting rocks because this bed is so fluffly and rock free. Some
bug likes eating all the fronds off their greens, maybe that's related?

Next year, no corn, no broccoli, more glads, and find some sort of
spray for basil and sunflowers.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

dinner tonight





Tonight's harvest: beets, carrots, potatoes and swiss chard. And a bonus picture of the almost 4 foot corn plants.

don't thin the beets!



I planted a pack of "Gourmet Blend" beets from Botanical Interest that includes traditional red beets, chiogga beets, and yellow beets (which have been very slow to mature). I saw a post on Skippy's Garden about not thinning beets, but instead just letting them push each other apart as they grow to make necessary room. I was skeptical because if it in fact works, then why is beet thinning even suggested? Anyway, it apparently works and I will never waste a baby beet again.

2010's tragic crop - Sunflowers



So I suppose I have high hopes for everything I grow, but I was becoming especially attached to the idea of towering rows of sunflowers this year. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'm going to get it. This picture was taken 3 days ago when they looked like they still might be able to pull through. They're pretty much dead stalks now. I had found a few bugs eating them but I didn't recognize them nor did I have my camera around. The little bastards didn't even look like bugs. They looked like tiny gray pebbles. Whatever they are, I hate them.

Zucchini & Summer Squash





We should be eating these by the 4th of July. The zucchini variety is Raven and the summer squash is Gentry. Both seeds were from Fedco and had super germination.

Tomatoes





The top photo is a Box Car Willie and the bottom is Cherokee Purple. The other two varieties in the garden are Hillbilly and San Marzano, but their fruits are not very significant yet.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

last night's harvest

4 beets (2 red, 2 chiogga)
2 big mokum carrots
2 spring onions

The garden looks like mid July! The beets have all matured over night.
I'll try to post more pictures soon. There are 3 inch long zucchinis
and summer squash, and the tomatoes are on steroids.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

spinach and tomatoes

The spinach started bolting so I uprooted everything and harvested a
huge bowl of perfect leaves. We had a lot of spinach salad with dinner
tonight. I turned a little manure where the spinach had been and
planted 6 basil seedlings and one orange bell pepper. That leaves me
with 1 empty spot! That's valuable real estate.

My tomatoes, as well as everything else, has grown tremendously the
past few rainy days. Apparantly I didn't stake them in time though
because the wind bent over the 6 or 8 plants on the eastern most side.
They are all San Marzanos and they suffered some stalk-crack being
bent over. I put cages around them and I'm hoping they'll mend
themselves without me having to splint them.
As a side note, I can't believe how early the Cherokee Purples are
fruiting! Several plants have golf ball sized fruit already.

Monday, June 14, 2010

New Potatoes

I picked a dozen very early potaoes on saturday with some rosemary and
contributed them to a big summer family dinner.
In the future I'll try to remember that what Kennebecs lack in
potatoey sex appeal they make up for in super early maturity as well
as loads of baby spuds still growing under there.

Friday, June 11, 2010

sweet potato slips are here

My slips came yesterday from Sand Hill! I ordered a mix of early
yielding varieties for cool climates. They sent me 6 'Copper Jewel'
which have the beautiful purplish maple-like leaves. They are
described as having orange flesh and skin. I also recieved 6 'Ivis
White Cream' which will have white skin and white flesh. They all
looked very beautiful and healthy. They were just shy of drying out so
I planted 4 of each yesterday. I will likely plant the remaining 4 in
my uncle's plot.

I also finally got my hands on some All Blue seed potatoes. I bought 8
and will have to make room in the raised potato bed next to the
sweets. The timing is perfect because I have about 6 or 8 Kennebecs
that are huge with flowers on them. It's the perfect excuse to uproot
them all for new potatoes while clearing spots for the blue seed.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

sitting in the garden

Here's a pretty shot of the raised beds.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

phototropic seedlings

This is a Russian Mammoth seedling that's only days old and already
following the sun. Cool.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

garden fence 2010

So after much research (on both animal behavior and material costs) we
made our decision. Last year we used 6 foot wooden posts and 6 foot
mesh that is sold as "deer fencing". The post broke easy and the mesh
was easily torn by accidental encounters with the weed-wacker. Our
goal was something affordable that may actually last a winter or two.
This is what we decided on: fence supports are 6 foot steel T-posts
driven 1 foot into the ground. They run about $7 a piece but of course
my uncle had a pile of them and generously donated what we needed. For
the fence we used 100ft of "welded wire" that is 4 feet tall. It was
only $67 for a 100ft roll. We decide that this is tall enough to keep
out cats and bunnies and although deer could absolutely get in if they
wanted to, I'm betting on the fact that it may not be worth it for
them to risk getting into my precarious raised beds for the small
amount of food. There are a lot of huge vegetable fields around us
with no protection that they'll hopefully prefer.

We secured the fence to the posts with bailing wire. For the entrance
we left a 3 ft gap and secured up another loose panel of fencing at
the "hinge" side. For the side that swings open we wrapped the panel
end around a thin piece of wooden support and attach that to the main
fence with an old leash lock to shut it.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Spinach harvest

Tonight I picked my first big bowl of spinach. We had it with pasta.
The spinach has been doing really well this year. It hasn't bolted in
the heat, and whatever little bugs were chowing on the bok choy
haven't touched it.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

first potato of 2010

The compulsive early digging has begun. A little Red Pontiac planted
April 1st. That's 56 days to spudsville. I boiled it up and we ate it
with butter and salt. Happy!

*this picture's misleading since the potato came from my front garden.
But my new awesome fence is visible here.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

weekend work

This was a busy weekend but I managed to get some things done on my
mini-farm. I set out all my zucchini and summer squash in the raised
bed garden - 6 of each. In the front garden I made mounds and planted
my 2 Howden pumpkin plants, 1 Crimson Sweet watermelon, 1 Charentais
melon, and 5 Waltham butternuts. Obviously, I'm hoping for a lot of
butternut squash! I also stuck some Alaska nasturtium seeds between
the mounds.

Finally, I put my peppers in their large pots that they'll live in on
the porch, as well as my biggest cotton plant. Tomorrow I'm hoping to
get my manure turned into the tomato bed so I can set them out, too.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Tomato flowers!

Hopefully the nights are warm from now on because these babies need to
go out! The Cherokee Purples and Box Car Willie's have flowers and the
pumkins are about to!

I harvested all of the bok choy to make room for the zucchini. Some
insect pest was eating lots of holes in it and then it started bolting
in this heat. I probably won't grow it again. It was incredibly
delicious but we don't eat that much bok choy.

I also planted half of the sunflower seeds. A dozen Russian Mamoth, a
dozen Goldy Honey Bear, and a half dozen Elve's Blend.

My husband and I both hate weed-wacking around the beds so I decided
to put straw down hoping it would keep out the weeds.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

first harvest - radishes!

Yesterday I picked a couple dozen 'easter egg radishes'. They
probably could have stayed in the ground another week but I needed the
space to plant some green beans. My daughter helped me lovingly pick
them all, saving the big guys and washing them off in the sink. They
were all different colors and really beautiful. Too bad we both hate
radishes! I only grow them because they're always the first thing
ready and it's instant gratification. Luckily my mom likes them or
they would have all gone to waste.

I also got my hands on some sweet corn seeds and decided I should
plant a few since they're Beverly's absolute favorite. I germinated
them indoors and then set out the promising ones. They're all coming
up nicely! I planted about 14 butter and sugar variety in the back
beds that I've put pole beans at the base of. Then I put about 6 of a
bicolor variety called Quickie in the front patch.

Indoors the tomato plants and squashes are getting huge and
spending most of their time on the deck (along with my cotton, melon,
and peppers). The nights are supposed to get down in the 40s this
weekend so I'll have to wait a bit more to set them out.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

the growing grid

Just what I wanted but absolutely don't need - another bed! Jim just
built it from some scrap wood which dictated its 1' x 8' size. I think
it looks awesome. I planted a dozen gladiolus bulbs and will probably
continue with flowers this year. Maybe next year it will be little
Bev's garden.

I spent a good hour pruning our beastly wineberry bushes as well as
sticking a few experimental shallots in the ground.

Our most exciting project this weekend is that Jim has starting
building me a little veggie cart for the end of the driveway!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

80 degrees!

It's a hot one today and the plants are as anxious as I am. It seems
like everything is blooming overnight. With all of our flooding last
week and then the Easter weekend, I'm a little behind on my indoor
planting. I had hoped to start my zucchini and yellow squash by now.
But I think I will have to buy a set of grow lights for my lower shelf
first because the tomatoes are getting so big so fast! The butternut
squash seedlings are going strong and the pumpkins are just poking
their heads up. Here are a couple of shots of the happy seedlings
sunbathing on the porch today.

As for outdoors, I've finished planting the potatoes and onions in the
raised beds - that makes a total of 75 onions and about 54 potatoes! I
also have a ton of daffodils to plant. On Easter my uncle went to our
old farm and dug up a few clumps for me. I separated the bulbs
yesterday. There are about 115!! I've already given away about 35. I
suppose I should be a good New Englander and plant them along our
stonewall.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

potatoes & onions

I just planted 23 seed potatoes and 24 onion sets. They're all in the
bed in the foreground. I dug three trenches for the potatoes, set them
in and covered them lightly. I'll continue to fill in the trench as
they grow. This is my first time trying the trench method. It's more
labor than the "square-foot" method in my raised beds but I'm hoping
it will be easier to fill them in, rather than carting wheelbarrows
over to mound up around the plant.

I planted 11 Yukon golds and 12 red Pontiac. I'm new to Pontiacs but
they should be a good keeper. This is also my first time planting
onions. Hope I did it right. They are Stuttgarter variety. I set them
about 4 inches apart and left the little point exposed. It seemed kind
of shallow but I think it's supposed to peak out. I planted 12 on
each end, capping the potato trenches.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

let's talk about cotton

I'm growing cotton because Sand Hill offers it as an ornamental and I
thought that was incredible. I chose Egyptian Green. Here's a
description from the catalogue - "115 days. Beautiful flowers on 3 to
4 foot tall plants followed by bolls that produce pale green cotton".

There's very little info on the web that doesn't deal with major
commercial cotton growing so I've been growing these the old fashioned
way (without the comforting touchstone of Internet examples). I'll try
the library.

Anyway, when I poured the seeds out into my hand and got those fuzzy
green pellets I was really startled and instantly in love. However,
they are a real mystery to germinate. I sowed four seeds right
alongside my tomatoes and have given them the exact same treatment.
Only two germinated by the time I was transplanting everything up.
Sand Hill usually has awesome germination rates. I figured the other
two rotted (maybe as a southern crop they like it dry?) or more likely
they are slow to germinate. So I stuck two more seeds in a damp paper
towel to sprout. That was weeks ago and nothing's happened.

The seedling in the photo is the champ. He was first to poke out of
the dirt. Get a load of the cotyledons on this one! Hubba hubba. It
looks like a satellite! I'm assuming that the little green shoot in
the middle is a true leaf. The other seedling is close behind him but
still holding on to the seed.

I'm planning to keep them potted on my back porch that gets tons of
sunlight. I've also read that cotton plants can be brought in as a
houseplant for the winter months. I really hope I get at least one
strong plant. I love watching the different stages when I have no idea
what to expect!