Sam built a fire in the woodstove this frosty morning. It was 66 degrees in the house and the forecast is for clouds and rain, so little solar gain expected.
First fire of season
Category: seasons
Community Garden – fall milestone
Last harvest of tomatoes
Heat loving plants
July harvest
We are harvesting:
- Garlic
- Fingerlings
- Fava beans
- Peas
- Blueberries
It all takes some work. The garlic needs to be cured, the fingerlings dug and soil sifted, the fava beans shelled, blanched, released from their waxy coat, and frozen. The peas shelled.
I pick over the blueberries to clean them a bit then freeze them in a single layer on a tray. When frozen, we transfer them to a freezer bag. We pick blueberries every morning. This morning, hit a record of forty ounces.
Making room in the garden for a fall planting, which should be done – now!
Mid July
The garden is full of delights. And as always, mysteries.
This morning, a heavy dew or maybe a descended fog spangled everything. It burned off as the sun got hot.
I took some photos. I tried to photograph dew but it never comes out as beautiful as it is,
Pleasures
A quiet morning in the garden while the world suffers the realities of systemic injustice, brutality, disease, and death.
Peas and favas are up
I always get so excited to see the seeds sprout and start to grow. It’s a thrill that never gets old.
We are also being entertained by two pesky baby red squirrels who live in the front garden where the tansy is thuggishly taking over.
Good Friday snow fall
A somber day marked by overnight snowfall, power outages, struggle to grocery shop during a pandemic, and a series of beautiful snow squalls.
I had to unearth my broccoli seedlings from burial under row cover flattened by pounds upon pounds of wet heavy snow.
I took too many photos of snow. I can’t resist. More photos on my iPad, will post them later.
Peas etc.
A big day in gardening at our house. It’s always exciting when we get the peas in the ground. This year they have their own private trellis instead of climbing up the outside of the chicken run. The chickens were not kind to the pea vines last year. We’re planting very early for Maine, but it’s been such a mild winter and the soil was in good shape for planting.
We planted Red Kitten spinach down one side and Winter Lettuce down the other to fill in the bed as the peas climb.
There is also continuing activity in making up soil blocks and caring for seedlings. Tomatoes, tomatillo, ground cherry, broccoli, leeks, shallots, Cippollini onions, cabbage, cauliflower, celery. Started three types of pepper today: King of the North, Jimmy Nardello, and Red Rocket (hot – more on that below).
On the other side of the gardening lifecycle, I decided to process the dried Red Rocket peppers that have been hanging in the kitchen since last fall. First goal was to get some seeds to plant, then I decided to carry on and use the spice grinder to make some home ground cayenne pepper. This enterprise had us coughing most of the afternoon as cayenne particles dispersed everywhere. Sort of like the coronavirus.
