March 25, 2012

There have already been several busy gardening weekends this year, but this weekend gave us a short break between Spring and Summer planting.  We're just waiting for our plants to grow up. The Spring garden of spinach, lettuce, peas, and raddishes is just a few weeks away from harvest.  Meanwhile, the Summer garden, which is normally indoors under lights this time of year, has really enjoyed its early start outside under the warmth of sunshine and gentle mist of rain.  Tomato seedlings are setting out their first true leaves and could be transplanted any time now.  After nearly a month without frost, there seems to be little danger of another killing freeze, but it won't hurt the plants to wait until April. 

Red clover flower.

We transplanted broccoli out to the garden last weekend, and it has taken off, filling up the milk jug covers with noticeable vigor.  Larger transplants (the kind that often come from garden centers) tend to be root-bound and take a week or two after transplanting to begin new growth.  Experience shows smaller plants are best for transplanting without shock.

50 strawberry plants beginning growth.

It's time to plow under our green manure cover crop of red clover in anticipation of sweet corn planting next month.  But the weekend tended to be rainy, so we're waiting for a dry day this week.  We are harvesting swiss chard and beet greens from the garden along with some random carrots that got left after adding our winter crop to stew.

Perennial culinary herbs are at their best now - parsley, rosemary, tarragon, oregano, chives, and thyme.  The 50 strawberry plants that we set out last week have already sprouted and are loving this weather.  Finally, tulips that we planted around the mail box last October are making a show.

Mailbox tulips planted last October.

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!