Heavy Frost Tonight- All those plants!!

Yes, it was a busy day- the day before our first night of hard frost.
I started with cutting down the tomato plants and bringing in all the green tomatoes. I had a good full bucket's worth.
I took off all of the green peppers that were late starts but hung on their stems after all.
I collected over 1 lb of green beans still hanging on their vines. I am so sorry that I started the bushes late because many plants still have flowers.
 I had a small handful of eggplants I salvaged.
I took the rest of my fall planted radishes.
I harvested all of our beets and carrots, though they would have been fine to leave out as well as for the radishes.
I took in the rest of our dry shelling beans.
 I collected lingering blossoms of Rosa rugosa blooms to dry.
 I cut (almost) every basil plant and brought them in to dry. I have two huge mounds of basil plants. One covers the kitchen counter. The other fills a bushel basket in the garage.
I harvested the remaining butternut squash, zucchini, patty pan and pumpkin squashes.
I cut flowers of Dahlia and Status to bring inside.
I brought in all of my plants on the deck which include purple basil, holy basil, lemon basil, lemon balm, rosemary and hot peppers to name a few. How well they do inside is any one's guess. I think there is much shock that occurs with bringing plants in as there is with leaving them out in the cold.

What will survive this hard frost? I suspected the kale, brussel sprouts, leeks and cabbage would. I suspected my couple broccoli plants would and so would the "winter lettuce".
I also collected more wild grapes. It was a long overdue task. I am so sorry it took so long to get to them. The weakening plants helped me pull the vines. Though, I only got one bucket full after quite a time of trying to reach them. They are wild and wild they do grow; up into the trees with their bunchiest grape clusters high into the tree branches so that no one could ever reach them unless the trees were cut down.

The clouds began to clear after their morning lingering with a light rain, and the wind picked up. I was certain it was going to be a starry night- our first hard frost.
As the sun began to set the chill started to set in. I went to bed with the temperature being 37F. By morning it was 25F! A thick carpet of frosted grass glistened in the morning sunrise. It crunched as I stepped out onto the lawn. What lay did lay.

 Later I took a look around outside to see what stood up to our first frost. The parsley on the deck was untouched. So, were the perennial herbs. The blossoms of Echinacea were perfect. Hyssop, Winter Savory and the Marshmallows also looked just fine. In the garden, as I suspected, the cole crops were untouched and so were the leeks. My little patch of celery seemed to have liked that refreshing chill. Who would know?

I cut down our corn stalks and bunched them up into six bundles and tied them to the deck posts. I added a few fiery red, orange and yellow straw flowers that I had saved from a prior year. Then, I brought out the pumpkins from the garage and helped decorate my now barren deck-scape.

Today the rain returned. It's windy with trees letting go of their summer tired leaves of yellow and pale brown. There are a few maples that add to the more striking reds and oranges one sees in the horizon about us. We lost our only sugar maple in the ice storm of 2008.  This was a hot summer with little moisture. I am sure the leaves are a bit pale for lack of moisture to make their beautiful sugars of color. Color or not, it is time for the leaves to fall. It is time. How summer went so fast!

It's About Thyme!

 

The garden started back in the fenced area this past spring and by early summer it became part of the landscaping! I have always wanted edible landscaping. Now I'm not so sure. In the picture are climbing Scarlet Runner beans in the background, with cherry tomatoes, basil, nasturtiums and a butternut squash vine in the fore ground. Around the corner is a field of sorts of butternut squash. The vines run all around the base of the deck. Lovely though it may be, all of this will need to be dug up and it will once again be barren. Any other suggestions? The harvest of these wonderful vegetables is very satisfying. However, I may revert to shrubs and trees next year for landscaping.

 

 

This year we tried to grow a little patch of corn. I think we had the smallest patch that could still produce. It was sooo delicious.

Above is a picture of what part of the garden looks like now in September. In the front are purple cabbages. Behind them are drying beans, carrots, beets and turnips and behind those are 2 rows of tomatoes.

This picture you see leeks and to the left kale and behind the leeks are our raspberry bushes.
I am proud of the leeks. I had to baby them from the time they were only one inch high.
I did grow lettuces which grew beautifully until the hot rainless days of July, when I couldn't germinate new batches no matter what I tried. I did try a Mesclun mix mid August and those germinated well due to our turn in weather with occasional rains and cooler nights.
What truly did not do well to my disappointment and I know why, were my peppers, eggplants and cucumbers. They went out too late because they were started too late. And, they are the favorites of the summer. Very disappointing. Darn!
Also, the onions needed more water and I haven't mastered how to grow garlic yet. We got both, but they aren't something I want to show off!

Anyway, I put up 40 quarts of tomatoes so far and froze about 14 lbs of green beans. There are about 5 lbs of raspberry in the freezer. Not much but we've been eating them. We saved a couple of bags of corn that I put in the freezer. Like I said, we ate and ate the fresh cobs. There was nothing like it.

We gathered wild grapes from the tangley vines around the property and made grape juice and jelly. This was a good squash year so I've been grating the missed zucchinis that had turned into clubs for zucchini bread. We harvested over 30lbs of zucchini and numbers of patty pan and yellow squash. I don't know the poundage of butternut yet. One of the largest weighed over 8lbs!

This was the year of my herb apprenticeship and much time has been spent focused on this. It, also, distracted me away from attending to the vegetables as closely as previous years. So what happened? I grew quite a bit of  sweet basil. I have made several batches of pesto and have frozen several bags of leaves. This is new for me. That is to freeze the individual leaves. What else?

On the deck I have pots of curly leaf parsley and Italian flat leaf parsley, Purple Basil, Lemon Basil, Holy Basil, Lemon Balm, 3 large pots of Rosemary, 5 pots of Sunflowers, a bucket with a mix of Nasturtium, Parley, Purple Basil and Holy Basil, a planter of climbing Morning Glorys, a planter of Calundula and purple basil, a large pot of Lemon Verbena and a pot of miniature roses on the picnic table.
I have wild harvested and dried Yarrow, Wild Cherry bark, Burdock root, Dandelion root, and Witch hazel. I started from seed St. Johns Wort, Marshmallow, Nettle, Yarrow, Borage and Echinacea with some success. Uhh, I don't remember, off hand what others did not germinate well.

It's apple sauce making time and a large pot is on the stove as I write.

I am so sorry that I didn't keep up with writing about the garden or digging in the garden. What a strange summer for me. I worked at a garden nursery center and ended up taking care of a whole different set of plants. "The shoemaker's children have no shoes". Here I enjoyed the outdoors in a very stress-free job and it prevented me from being able to keep up with what I needed to do here.

Talk about needing Thyme!

June- the brillient month of light, soft colors, growth, and promise.

June heralds the month of promise. Our first seeds and plants have been settled into the soil. The days are cresting to be their longest. I, recently, as of 2 days ago, broke one of my toes, and now I must hobble painfully along despite all that needs to still be done to usher in the growing season. Ugh. But, life goes on. Right? I must mention that every day I take one fresh Comfrey leaf and bruise it to release it's juices, then place it on a piece of tape that I then wrap around my broken toe after I have covered my toe with a "burn salve" that has Comfrey with its other ingredients.
This is day 5 and I am already feeling a bit better. Instead of 6 weeks of healing, I am wondering if I can get away with 2 weeks!

The weather has been perfect and the flowers and greens have done well so far this year. Yes, and so have the bugs. My early cabbages have been severely pruned by something eating their leaves. I don't know what. They also like my eggplants that I have been trying to hide up on our deck away from the wilds of the garden. It hasn't worked. Tonight they were brought inside to avoid one of our unusual deluge-like rainfalls that is predicted to come before tomorrow.  I also took off the deck a number of fiber-pots of seedlings. These tropical-like heavy rainfalls are not normal but are becoming a normal experience- not OK.

The garlic I planted last fall are getting big and doing so well. They have their large green stems reaching upward. I can tell their bulbs are swelling.  The garden is doing as well as it can with the time that I have been able to put into it. Rows one and two have tomatoes. Rows 3 and 4 have beans and root crops. Potato leaves are emerging from my potato bed, the herbs are happy and my leeks have their own double row bed to themselves this year. Next are the Raspberries that are reaching up out of their slumbers. The strawberries are ripening and one or two are ready. I know because at my first site to check, one strawberry was sampled by likely a chipmunk!
Onion sets are emerging after a late start. I planted my peppers this past week. Our peas finally have flowers. Yes!

Today we harvested our first very beautiful buttercrunch salad leaf head. I had to. The warmth and rain has encouraged every leafy plant to flourish.
The Tower Hill Garden plant sale this weekend added more work onto my routine garden tasks. I found fabulously healthy and unique plants to add to our landscape. Broken Arrow Nursery had a beautiful alpine spirea and a Frothergilla (a member of the Witch Hazel Family) with stunningly smokey blue leaves. I picked up a handful of heathers and heaths.  I wait all year to find the Heather Society to purchase from them. I couldn't resist. The Heathers and Heaths are perfect for my stone and sandy garden in front of the house. The heathers are strong and sturdy and tolerate drought and considerable exposure.

Herbs are everywhere. I have started parsley,dill and sweet basil from seed to be able to plant small plants into the garden and a few on the deck. I am maintaining my 3 pots of Rosemary on the deck which fill large patio pots. I also have Chervil and Winter Savory. Marjoram is rampant in the garden. I also have Salad Burnett and Chives in the garden.

I have discovered that I have wild Motherwort in which I have harvested and started tinctures and to dry fresh leaves. I have harvested Red Clover blossoms to dry and I am using my Dandelion Apple Cider vinegar for salads. Peppermint is my favorite tea. I have made a fresh Peppermint infusion by simply grabbing a few sprigs of peppermint and placing them in a quart of water. It's better than plain! A favorite "tonic" for spring has been to infuse Peppermint, Lemon Verbena, Lemon Balm and Nettles with an occasional toss of Red Clover blossoms.

Mulch has been spread from wood chips that have composted from the ice storm of 2008 over roses and new shrubs and herbs. Our mulch is home-grown. All of our wood, that had to be  cleared from that ice storm, went through a huge chipper via a bunch of foresters that I needed to hire who chipped all our fallen trees around the house.  I requested to keep the wood and to dump the chips at a corner-like location on the property. Since 2008, the chips sat and they sat. I never thought to use them, at all, initially. So many trees were destroyed and so much cleaning up had to be done. But, those wood chips sat and they composted and rotted. They were spread out in an area where a few trees had to come down. Those chips were their memorial. They were never to move, but they covered a large area over the lawn and it seemed odd to keep the area bare of a tree, plant or shrub except for a spread of wood chips. Maybe it was time to do something? When I scraped the chips with a rake, a deep rich and dark mulch of decomposed wood chips and soil emerged. Worms intertwined amongst the raking and I found more rich organic matter than I could have every imagined, surface with each scrape. OH MY GOODNESS! "This is totally priceless"!, I thought. I shoveled garden cart-fulls, after my discovery and trudged them up to the gardens. It was well worth the effort knowing how much it costs to order a mulch delivery from a garden/nursery center. A small pleasure but with a rich reward.  How many mulch piles have you gone through that are also loaded and enriched with worms and humus?

This is only the first week of June!
There is more to come!

May- a very busy month in the garden

Tomatoes have been transplanted into 4" pots during the first weeks of May. Now they are in 5 to 6 inch pots and I have posted them to sell - 20 plants. As of this writing, I've sold them all.   Peppers are in 4 inch pots, posted and I have sold them all. I let go of sweet, mildly hot and very hot peppers.  The perennials have been either transplanted into pots or have been directly transplanted outside.
Under the cold frame glass, lettuce, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts have matured and now are planted out into the garden. Another set of lettuces have been planted this week. The cold frame lettuces are about ready to be picked. The goal is to plant lettuce seeds every 3-4 weeks. The seeds are in and with a hot day like today, I wanted to be sure to water them before I called it a day.
I've been digging the weeds out of the raspberry bed for this past month. It is a very huge chore. Now it's done and they are growing well. I have two rows of about 25 ft. We planted 3 new high bush blueberry plants near the rain garden. These have blueberries and so do my existing plants which are quietly growing at the south end of our hillside garden. Our strawberries are showing that they have fruit. Within the next week or two I will have to cover them with netting before they begin to ripen.
The peas, now, are approaching about knee high (for short knees) for this end of May. Wow!

The end of May, for the North East is drastically different than the first of May. Memorial weekend is  the outdoor-planting weekend. Annual flowers are bought and planted into garden urns, window boxes and garden planters. Vegetables started from greenhouses are scooped up and plunked into readied raised garden beds for "instant" harvest. I am sorry that I haven't given the blow-by-blow of how all this unfolds. I, too, have been very busy trying to keep up. (I, also, work in a garden nursery center). May is also the next to last month for planting shrubs, trees and perennials. We were very busy with these very important home accents. I would love to see what folks are doing with all the lovely plants they purchase and the dreams that they have planted. What is your priority when it comes to home 'accents' and plantings? Is your vegetable garden the priority?

Do I have my window boxes filled with colorful Geraniums? Do I have my tomatoes planted with my peppers from the greenhouse? Do I have my carrots, beets, squashes and cucumbers planted by now? Do I have my herbs planted? Do I have my... ? Without time to spare, well-intended gardeners rush out to the neighborhood nurseries for plants. I am grateful for this and it's ok to purchase someone else.s seedlings. I managed to grow and sell, tomatoes, peppers, and a few herbs from my home-based efforts. Ok, I am just a new-bee. But, do I have my own garden "done"? No. I've been too busy. Busy taking care of the other wonderful folks out there trying to get there gardens going. It's ok. It will all come together. Don't rush. Make sure that what you plant is cared for and can be cared for so that you get what you set out to get from your initial efforts.

What's next?  I confess, I am behind. I have many seeds to plant directly into the garden. Too many to mention. My plants from seed that I have started, I mentioned, I have now planted; Oregon Spring Tomato, Bobcat Tomato, Rutgars Tomato, Beaver Dam Pepper, Matchbox Pepper, Sweet Pepper- all organic. I have planted my potato seed, shallot and onion sets, though I have more sets to find places- darn! Dill, Basil, Cilantro, Chervil are all beautiful and wonderfully loved herbs. They have been all put on into the garden. I have put out my medicinal herbs that I had started indoors: Chamomile, Calundula, Milk Thistle, Lovage, and Marshmallow. Blue Vervain, Motherwort, Echinaca, are close to follow. Back to vegetables, I also have cabbage,broccoli, brussel sprout,celery, leeks, parley and kale plants that I have planted.
I have been harvesting my overwintered spinach and kale. I have been harvesting chives. They are all sooo beautiful.  I have been harvesting our peppermint for peppermint tea. I had harvested Dandelion flowers and leaves and packed them into organic apple cider earlier this spring which I am now using for salads.  I have been harvesting red clover blossoms that I intend to dry and keep for teas. I have harvested burdock root that I have grated and dried for soups. 

May is almost past. Yet, it is the beginning of the gardening season in New England, as we know it. This year the season came very early and some folks jumped on it almost too early for comfort. I took the traditional dates and stuck to those. No harm either way. More to come. I have leeks, radishes, lettuces, the Cole crops, to report on. We planted an eightish by 16 ish block of corn this year for the first time. The horseradish is coming back. I am so pleased. My cabbages got a bug that loved to eat its leaves. I bought cabbages to replace these. Not great but ok. Tomatoes,  peppers are planted. (I think I already mentioned this. I must be pretty pleased.) Herbs mentioned above are outdoors, the strawberries are making fruit, as well as the blueberries. The apples have very tiny green apples. We sprayed them again with a Neem oil/soap mix this weekend.  Ahhhh.... there's more... anybody want to come and help out???

April in the garden with a +3 week advance in season. Yikes!

April showers usually bring May flowers. There were no showers this April until yesterday, but there were above normal temperatures that has hastened flowering trees to bloom now that normally bloom in May.
The ground being "ready to work" brought out eager gardners to work their soil, to mend their lawns, to build their garden beds and to plant new or divide prenniels and early-arriving vegetables.  According to anyone's New England planting tradition, this is all too early.

Potting mix consists of traditional potting soil, peat moss and added organic fertilizer. Mixed up by hand and watered, I have used this to start seedlings and as potting mix to transplant seed flats. So far so good. I water my seedlings with a seedweed water. The seedweed powder is diluted and added to a gallon of water in proportion to directions. I water seedlings with this nutritive mix every time they need water.

I transplanted a few of my fiber pots of Cilantro into individual pots this week. I have 28 plants now. They will be ready for sale in a couple of weeks. I also have Sweet Basil, Sacred Basil, Ruby Basil, Chervil and Italian Parsley that also are in individual pots or will go into pots within the next two weeks. A few I will save but I hope to sell the rest.

Tomatoes and peppers are up in their fiber pots in groups of 6. I plan to separate them into individual pots and keep them growning. I will save a few for my garden and sell the rest.

I have a collection of medicinal herbs that I have been able to start. Some are more difficult to get going. I have had no 'luck' with Hyssop or Lady's Mantle, for example. I have Milk Thistle, Marshmallow, Echinacea, Blue Vervain, Nettle,Yarrow, Calundula, and Motherwort- to name a few.

Herbal findings about the property are many. There is, of course, the lowly but prized Dandelion. There is a bit of chickweed. Then, there was this one huge Burdock plant in the bed beneath the deck that I thought to harvest.

I found stinging nettle for the first time and eyebright. I am so surprised. There are wild Hawthorn trees that follow part way along the stone wall. In the unmoved areas there is clover but I am not sure if it's white or red clover. We'll have to see.

Mid-March and the first day of "spring" that feels like summer.

The snow is gone. It melted soon after it fell. The temperatures warmed back to their unusual levels. Birds continued to break out in song. The last two mornings began in fog much like a morning in April or May. The crocuses burst into flower this past week. The daffodils are showing their points of green earlier than I can remember. Odder than any of the above, the Johnny Jump-Ups reseeded themselves last fall, settled into the ground, shot out some leaves, and mustered a collection of flowers before our winter set in, and then they survived ALL winter through.Those same little plants with their fall flowers picked themselves up and are blooming now!! Their flowers never died! They seemed like they only went to sleep for a bit.

Saturday I planted 33, 6-pack fiber boxes with seeds from 28 species. They were mostly herbs but also included Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Kale, Celery and 3 varieties of lettuce. Culinary herbs included Parsley, Dill, Cilantro, Sweet Basil, Chervil, Winter Savory and Sacred Basil. Medicinal herbs includes Borage, Hyssop, Motherwort, Lovage, Blue Vervain, White Yarrow, Stinging Nettle, Astragalus, Marshmallow, Lady's Mantle, Milk Thistle and Echinacea. Wish me luck.

After all of that, I learn that people have already planted their peas by boasting online about their accomplishments. Ok, yes, it is worth telling. But, good grief! Of course I would have to learn that someone has gotten their peas in before I have been able to. What else could bother me as much? I don't want to say I quit. I feel like saying; "get a life"! No, no, no, I can't say that. I don't have one either. Look where I am at this moment. No bother, really. I haven't gotten there yet. I will. I plan to stake up 3 rows of peas that will come to about 50 ft. for starters. I'll get there.

In my garden a patch of spinach has overwintered. That's a first. They are beautiful and a surprise.

 A number of Kale plants are coming back and their little leaves are worth picking for salads. The green slender stems of newly growing garlic are up, too, like the Daffodils. I have a whole bed of garlic this year. I can't wait to see how they do. It's my first. I also planted kitchen garlic around the newly made pond and they are coming up as well. I am so so pleased and excited.

The unusual warm weather is, well, creepy. Plants and trees don't bud out in March or April but they are this time. My little Lilac tree broke bud and so did the willows and roses. What will happen if there is a frost? Will all the leaves from these premature budding trees die? What if they keep going? One New York Times article alluded to the possibility that plants that need to be pollinated will be out of sink with the pollinators that usually visit them. This will inevitably cause species to remain unpollinated. No pollination means no new generation of plants and species may die out as a consequence. That's creepy.

What will remain? My guess is that the "invasive" plants will remain. You know the creeping, choking, thorny vines that reach and climb indiscriminately up and over everything, slowly strangling every living thing that cannot move out of its way.  Ohhhh, this is a very sad note. The stuff for science fiction.

Back to more digging. There is so much more to do!

The first week of March; freezing rain over crusted snow.

This is a view of the fenced garden, one recently pruned apple tree and the roses that mark the path up to the house. At the time of this picture freezing rain was falling. Fog was hovering over the lower tree tops further down the hill. All seemed silent and waiting except for one Cardinal that I heard chirping away from a branch. Though he was obscured by the mist and grey, his chirp was brighter than my thoughts. "Sprinnng, sprinng, sprinnng". The notes ended upward every time.

No, no one has really been complaining about this mild winter. The arrival of calf deep snow seemed like a relief by assuring us that winter still exists. As much as we enjoyed the mild temperatures, I believe many of us were getting worried. Ahhh, ice and snow at last!

March will be a busy month whether winter lingers or fades as quickly as it arrived 2 days ago.

Week 1, I hope to start leek and celery seeds under lights.
Week 2, I'll start broccoli cabbage and lettuce under lights.
.... etc.
I can update on real time as I go.


The Herbal Class: "Far more than just green matter, herbs have an inherent ability to channel life energy and to connect with the places in us that need healing" (From Rosemary Gladstar's Lesson 1) I agree, though it has taken a life time to understand it.

I failed to mention that I have started a 10 month long herbal apprenticeship. My first class was the last week of February. My homework will require the month of March to complete it. Our first area of health that we are studying is the nervous system. For some, it may sound like the driest area of study with the prime of its function occurring up on the top of our body where it is encased in a globe of bone. I was pleased to see that this area is the first.
This course is an introduction. I can research as much as I want to about each herb that I am introduced to. Some of the herbs I have used or I am familiar with their uses. I have grown only Chamomile in the garden.
Below is a list of  important "Nervines, sedatives, demulcents and stimulants":

Skullcap
Hops
Valerian
Chamomile
Lobelia
Wood Betony
Catnip
St. John's Wort
California Poppy
Oats
Lemon Balm
Feverfew
Ginseng
Gota Kola
Ginko

"In treating nervous system disorders, one has the opportunity to see holistic medicine in action. Not only does one treat the physical body when working with this system but the psychological and spiritual realms as well; we are able to witness the interaction between body, mind and spirit in healing."

Our entire system responds to a healthy nervous system and therefore also to an imbalanced one.
Rosemary lists imbalances that are indicate the nervous system needs special care and treatment:
Restlessness
Low Energy
Hyper Energy
Mental Fatigue
Headache
Neuralgia
Sciatica
Neuritis
MS
PMS
Insomnia
Inability to cope
Irritability
Depression
Herpes
Menstrual Pain
Tics, spasms
Skin Disorders
Epilepsy
Neurological Disorders

February is a short month when it feels warmer than normal

February is our shortest month. This year it has an extra day but it doesn't matter. Warm temperatures that have been unseasonably warm have moved many garden lovers to think about taking care of their lawns and garden beds sooner than what is usually understood as a normal time i.e. March or April. "Stop"!!, they write. "It is too soon to fertilize a lawn, for goodness sakes". "Just because you can see it, doesn't mean that it is time to dump fertilizers on it", advise the gardener syndicates.  OK. That makes me feel better. But, no we have greater worries here in New England. Just when my seed order arrived, it wasn't a day later when an article came out in the Boston Globe newspaper discussing the gardener's worries for the gardener's year ahead. What? Are we in need of finding something to complain about now because our winter was too mild? Without a winter to gripe about, I guess we need to look toward the next season to find fault in it.  Yes, the article predicted a spring and summer of drought, increased bug infestation and innumerable weeds because of our mild winter. Yes! There had to be trouble ahead.  I knew it. The winter was too mild and it did not satisfy our gut need to complain and compromise. So, now we have something to worry about and complain about indeed; a draughty growing season with too much warmth so infestation of all kinds will plague our gardens.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a worrier. The above news broke me up and I wonder now what will become of all that I have planned and hoped for. Who knows.
Next month, I will be starting my seeds indoors under lights.


The tasks of February did not change despite that it was mild and inviting of the next season.
1. My garden was planned and I placed my seed order. This took a doubly huge amount of time. I wish I could draw my garden plan but it wouldn't count for anything because it changes as the season evolves.  I'll keep you posted.

 My seed order arrived last week, and I checked it over. That also was a part of the huge effort for the growing year to come. Preparing the seed order also took hours and hours. Nantes Carrots were back ordered. But, that was it. I was amazed.  I ordered herb and vegetable seeds. I also put in my potato and onion set order as well as my garden supply orders. I ordered a new set of grow lights. This was a big buy but I sensed that with the increase need to grow herbs and greens, I would need the extra lights. (I was the only one happy with this purchase, btw.) I ordered wire hoops and cloth mesh to build a cloche if needed. I want to try this. It could function to protect the squashes from the huge vine borer infestation of last year. I didn't want to grow any cucurbits this year because of it. It was beyond just awful. I may try planting the squashes in other parts of the property if I have to and that may have nothing to do with the garden. And, who cares. I would be more than happy to see pumpkin vines taking over tree stumps at the edge of the property by the stone wall, if they could avoid a bunch of vine borers and mildew inside of the garden walls.

2. I pruned the apple trees closest to the house. Jeremy got the biggest and most remote branches. Darn, there really is an advantage to being an extra 6 inches taller. I sawed, lopped and cut 3 trees over the month. It took many many hours to clean them of their mummified fruit and cut off their water sprouts of the last few years. They aren't happy old trees. I can only hope that this care is helpful rather than of harm. It took a lot of effort. Their branches lay around their bases. Soon we will chip the wood and that will nourish the soil around them.

3. February is Orchid month. I didn't know this having never grown Orchids. I was given one last year with its pretty blooms all made out. Then they fell off and I figured that it was done and so was I for caring of it. But, no! Buds began to appear in January and walla! I have blooms again. Patience, a bit of water and sunlight with almost no movement or disturbance brought them back. My sense is that it didn't like to be moved... a different issue. Anyway, it's here again with 3 pretty blooms.

January: All I want is a "Big-Ass Garden"!

Yeah, right! That's what we all say this time of year while we pour over dozens of seed catalogues.
But, I don't get many seed catalogues. I don't need many seed catalogues. I can make a "Big-Ass Garden" from just one seed catalogue! I almost can't help myself.  Each entry in those catalogues is entertaining and informative. I only need one. The anecdotes of history interspersed among the one paragraph descriptions breed fondness for any unknown vegetable and keeps my imagination stoked.... "Climbing beans often grown as ornamental for their brilliant scarlet blossoms that attract hummingbirds....Beautifully mottled purple and black seeds. Heirloom variety grown as early as 1750 by colonists and in 1791 by Thomas Jefferson." How can anyone resist not buying these seeds ? I couldn't. I haven't. I have grown Scarlet Runner Beans every year and haven't been disappointed. They grow and look exactly how the little paragraph describes them to be. They need poles and ropes to climb, as their brilliant scarlet red/orange flowers show their faces here and there along their climbing vines in the sunshine. Over the summer their blossoms turn into these long green pods that surprise me every year when they turn brown and I break them open to find these starkly contrasting huge purple and black mottled beans inside. They are striking. What ecstasy.

Wait. How many of us are out there that can be entertained so much by a seed catalogue? My imagination is great but I have since learned to curb the purchases from the places that those little paragraphs send me. However, I still cave. I can cave even while reading and ogling over FEDCOs black and white newsprint catalogue which, truthfully, reminds me of my .... oh darn... earlier years of ... well... an era... when black and white newsprint was it. Just simply, it.




The truth is, I don't need glossy pages or slick online two dimensional flat screen pages to get it or imagine it or savor it or live it. Newsprint works. It's warm to the touch and doesn't glare back at me. I can fold the pages and easily conceive of its content. The catalogue becomes three dimensional as I caress its pages and look forward and backward over its content. It is three dimensional. (Doesn't that sound futuristic?) Holding inky paper and turning the pages with your fingers is really OK, too, by the way. So, I prefer FEDCO's black and white newsprint catalogue. I also prefer to grow as many as my vegetables organically and from local sources. Do they go together?

My garden planning methods , I've been told, are also dated. I use grid paper. That is paper with blocks  printed on them. I use a pencil and have to sharpen it with a pencil sharpener, and turn it upside down to use its eraser to change my plan. Does this sound familiar or weird? Anyway, I am planning my garden using my favorite catalogue for seeds and grid paper with a wooden pencil for my plan. Maybe I prefer to do it this way because it puts me in the mood. It is methodical and slow causing me to contemplate my decisions. Planning a garden isn't one of those rush jobs, I've learned. It doesn't work that way. Rushing will certainly yield more disappoint than something that you can eat.

Never-the-less, my garden grows every year. Not with vegetables but in size. I think that I need to make more beds to accommodate my plans for the same vegetables from last year that we know we will consume again this year. I can't imagine how I managed the year before. So I dig up more ground and try to add on before the season starts.  That's how we got to have a 55 x 75 ft garden. This year is no different except for one new fact. We put up a new fence and that has defined the area. Not all of it is dug and explains why there is more digging to do to accommodate the simple needs that our family demands.

Now what are the basics that our family needs and loves to eat? I asked this at the dinner table one night and the answer that I got was "Pineapples and bananas"! "Wait a minute you guys"! "I still haven't figured out how to grow lettuce in January"!

Never mind those comments above. I am on it with the planning part, and I'm planning to grow the "the basics" e.g. beans, peas, tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, carrots, kale, squash, pumpkins, peppers, eggplants, parsley, basil, onions, leeks, potatoes, shallots, garlic, ...........................................
I think it will still make for a "Big-Ass Garden"!