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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!...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Despite the recent wintery weather, it’s in the 60s today and we’re actually just a month out from the start of spring planting! By mid-March, it’s possible to get crops like onions, potatoes, and even peas, kale, and carrots into the ground. Still, early spring planting is always a complete gamble depending on the weather. I’ve had weather in March fluctuate between the 80s and heavy snow, so it’s always a guess when planning an early start to the season as to whether that will actually take place! Regardless of what the weather throws our way next month, Valentine’s Day always marks a mental turning point for me. It means that we’re through the...
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...
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...
As the weather continues to cool off, things are slow in the garden, which made it easy for us to take a week away to visit family after Thanksgiving. Overall, we’ve had an pretty mild fall, but this week winter is getting real! The day after we got back from our trip, lows were forecast to drop into the 20s for the first time and that looks to be the trend for the coming week. As a result, it was officially time to do the full fall clean up in the garden. Yesterday, I harvested off everything that was left with the exception of the carrots. After doing some research, I decided...