It’s scape time!

June 6, 2017 In the Kitchen, Other recipes, Weekly Updates

It continues to be a funky spring. After a few blazing hot days a couple weeks ago, we’ve settled into a pretty steady stream of cool, cloudy, drizzly weather. With lows tonight forecast to go below 50 degrees, it feels more like my June in Michigan rather than our typical hot, sunny Junes in Philadelphia. However, this winter was warm enough that even with a cool spring, things are still ahead of schedule. This includes the garlic, which started producing scapes over a week ago. Garlic comes in two general varieties- hard-neck and soft-neck. You’ll notice the difference as soon as you break a head of garlic open. Hard-neck is composed of...

May 2017 Photo Shoot

May 27, 2017 Monthly Photo Shoots, Weekly Updates

The strange weather continues as we finish up an unusually cool week that immediately followed several 90+ degree days at the end of last week. Still, everything in the garden seems to be happily growing bigger and bigger with this mix of sun and rain. The first garlic scapes are emerging from the garlic plants (more on this next week) and I’m harvesting more kale than even I know what to do with!...

Looking forward

May 19, 2017 Weekly Updates

For anyone waiting with baited breath (as we were), everything has gone well so far with inspections on the farm-to-be. The soil tests came back showing everything well within normal ranges. We still have to wait for the current owner to get the well tested, but as the home has been lived in consistently, that will hopefully not present any problems. If everything continues to move forward as expected, we plan to be making our move to West Virginia by early July. One of the sad parts of making this big step forward is that we have to sell our current home and therefore our current wonderful garden. Our real estate agent recommended we...

Working around cucumber beetles

May 10, 2017 Diseases, Pests, Tips & Tools

Remember those pesky little cucumber beetles I talked about a few times last year? Shown in the picture above (taken last year), they cause double damage by creating scar marks on crops in the cucurbit family like squash and cucumber and transmitting a disease called bacterial wilt that can kill the entire plant. They tend to get to work early, making their first appearance in the late spring even though they prey on heat-loving summer crops, which means that they can definitely do some damage to young cucumber and squash plants when they first get planted outside. As we near the first frost dates around our region and it gets to...

Growing like crazy

April 21, 2017 Weekly Updates

My weather prediction has come true sooner than I expected. Although we’re continuing to get some very hot, sunny days, we’ve actually had a decent string of cool, rainy days- just what spring plants love the best. With this combo of sunshine and rain, it seems like everything in the garden has grown about a foot in the last week. The garlic, which already got a head start over the warm winter, is looking at least a month ahead of schedule and the kale and cabbage have grown big enough that I’m no longer concerned about slugs and cutworms making much of a dent in them. The carrots, spring mix, and...

The insect mystery

April 13, 2017 Pests, Tips & Tools, Weekly Updates

It’s only mid-April, but the weather is definitely feeling like summer. On Tuesday, our home thermometer registered 90 degrees outside! I won’t deny that weather like this is a welcome relief after winter, but it’s always kind of a bummer at this point of the season when the plants love cooler, wetter conditions. It’s tempting to think that this is it and summer is here to stay, but I’m betting we’ve still got some cool, rainy weather in store for us before April and May are done. Despite the dry weather, I’m suspecting that there may be slugs going to work in the garden. Last week I mentioned how the kale was getting chomped...

At last!

April 3, 2017 Weekly Updates

We’re just back from a trip to California that really put us in the spring spirit. After seeing gardens filled with full-sized lettuce and chard, all I wanted to do was start planting! I had thought our trip was perfectly planned. We’d be able to get early spring crops like onions, spring mix, and kale into the ground before leaving and come back to an already growing garden. But winter storm “Stella” really threw a wrench in the plan and instead of leaving an already-planted garden, we left a snow-covered one and had to wait for our return to get the season going. Still, we’ve been making the most of the lovely...

No spring yet…

March 19, 2017 Weekly Updates

Well, I proclaimed March 15 the start of planting season, but March 15 has come and gone and there is nothing new in the garden. Instead, we’re still melting out from an unusually heavy late winter dumping of snow. With most of the garden beds still under several inches of icy snow, putting in spring seeds and seedlings just isn’t an option. Even after everything melts, it will still take a while for the ground to dry up enough to prepare it for planting without causing clumping and other damage to soil structure. It seems like this is always the way with mild winters- I watch the moderate temperatures all winter...

Winter’s work

January 26, 2017 Weekly Updates

While we have had a few series of bone-chilling days, for the most part this winter has been milder than mild. As I mentioned, I left both carrots and spinach in the ground. Normally, it’s to be expected that the greens of both these plants will die off over the winter. With the spinach, the goal is for it to remain dormant through the cold winter days and then re-grow its tasty leaves as temperatures begin to warm in the spring. However, with temperatures regularly hitting the 50s over the last month, instead of waiting for spring I was able to get a sizable harvest of fresh spinach just yesterday. This is...

Season’s end

December 17, 2016 Weekly Updates

As we sit inside looking at the garden wintering under its bed of leaves and icy snow, now is a perfect time to reflect on and sum up the season behind us. This past year, we grew 27 different types of crops and even more different varieties within our 900 square-foot plot. We harvested over 650 pounds of produce and donated 10% of what we grew. Along with eating everything fresh, we were also able to preserve an entire pantry full of food for the winter, which we are thoroughly enjoying now! With winter upon us, we’re already looking forward to the season ahead. We are excited for the garlic, onions, potatoes, and spring roots and...

Two Feet in the Dirt

homestead

Working around cucumber beetles