April 2, 2012

Vegetable seedlings the week before transplanting.

Until this year, I have never set my transplants out in March.  The weekend was just right - mostly overcast - and we've had four weeks of frost-free weather.  A dozen tomatoes, eight peppers,  nine dill and nine parsley all went into the ground on Saturday.  The tomatoes are protected with milk jug covers - mostly to keep voracious insects away until they grow a little larger.  Thankfully, none of the big hail storms hit us.

Winter beets, lettuce,
and chard.

Planting holes are being prepared for cucumbers, melons, and zucchini.  We will have another try at pumpkins this year, but since we don't want them to ripen until September, it's best to wait until May to plant.  Temperatures are warm enough to plant sweet corn:  our green manure crop of clover reached knee-hight last week; it was time to incorporate it into the soil to enjoy its rich nitrogen benefits.  Tilling it under was just as cumbersome as I remember it was last year, but a double pass in cross-directions took care of the job in about an hour.  Soil will continue to warm over the next three weeks until we're ready to plant.

Apple blossoms.

We added lemon verbena and sage to our perennial herb border, and we decided to add a fig tree to our orchard.  Apple trees are in full bloom now; little marble peaches and pea-sized cherries are set.  Spinach will be ready to pick this week.  The garden is really shaping up for a productive and healthful year!

Meyer lemon tree with blossoms perfumes the deck.

October 17, 2011

Mixed greens and beets thrive in these autumn days.

Fair weather made for a beautiful weekend at the Pumpkin Festival on October 8.  Cloudy skies moved in for much of the past week, however, dropping a slow, soaking rain that was just perfect for sprouting the red clover seed scattered the week before.  While we want that section to turn green, we do not want all the weed seedlings coming up with our fall/winter/spring garden; a quick run-over with the tiller set at shallow depth on a sunny day did most of them in.  Among our lettuce, beets, and other cool weather crops some selective hand weeding cleared the area.

'Northern Lights' swiss chard

It looks like we will be enjoying a nice crop of ‘Northern Lights’ swiss chard by first frost.  Chard is a variety of beet that does not grow an edible root but that makes an exceptionally large top:  leaves are often cooked like spinach, and stalks steamed like asparagus.  Chard is grown where conditions do not favor spinach.  We have enough spinach from last April in the freezer to last until March, so we’re just trying something different.

Cabbage plants have grown large and are making heads; brussels sprouts are adding height—sprouts are now the size of small peas in the nook of each leaf stem.

Cabbage heads are starting to form.

October is time to plant spring bulbs; last year we added hyacinth, muscari, crocus, and more than 200 daffodils to naturalize around the property.  This year we bought 100 Darwin hybrid tulips for the bed around our mailbox.  A past home owner installed weed barrier and filled the area with decorative stone.  All of that had to come out, and we excavated an 8-inch pit, which was no easy task:  if we ever do this again we will invest in a pick-axe!  Good soil mixed with milled sphagnum peat moss and bone meal was returned, and the bulbs topped with loose topsoil and pine bark mulch.  Tulips need several weeks of freezing temperatures to bloom, but our location at 934 ft. elevation is always cooler than town; we’ve already seen rooftop frost.

Our world is taking on a golden hue as deciduous trees move from early to mid-season color.  Pretty soon we’ll be getting out the leaf rake!