Four Days

Four days out of town:Cucumbers, Swiss Chard and tomatoes.

I had harvested really thoroughly the night before I left and took four cucumbers up to Maine where they went into a salad.

The cucumber is producing fruit like crazy. Those six cucumbers weigh in at 4 pounds. When I came to harvest this morning, the cucumber cage was toppled over and I had to stake it to fortify. Same happened to my Brandywine cage. Looking forward to the next few weeks of fresh garden produce.

The potatoes are getting ready to be harvested, and the pole beans (that I planted late) are flowering. The bush beans are close to being done, the cucumber is still producing heavily and my three tomato plants are heavy with (for the most part still green) tomatoes. The leeks are looking great and the kale is coming up. The golden beets I sowed sadly did not germinate as did the last carrot crop.

The pinkish-white dahlias are the only ones flowering so far – I have two of those. The two red ones are taking their time.

I need to weed and clean the plot and will sow fall greens in the next couple of weeks.

 

Stock-Taking

This morning, after I watered my garden and locked the garden gate, I ran into a neighbor who asked me what I was growing in my plot. He also has a community plot nearby and mainly grows tomatoes and flowers. Time to take stock. Currently growing in my garden are: garlic, potatoes, leeks, carrots, beets, tomatoes, basil, cucumber, eggplant, butternut squash (I saw a tiny plant poking its first leaves out this morning, yeah!), Brussels sprouts, hot peppers, Swiss Chard, lettuce, kale (tiny seedlings are appearing), mixed greens (freshly sowed and just sprouting), radishes (just sprouting), pole beans, bush beans, peas, parsley, sage. Also dahlias, nasturtiums and borage. And mint and lemon balm, which keep creeping up in some spots. This morning I harvested garlic scapes, two big heads of lettuce and a lot of peas. I am done harvesting the first round of radishes and the rhubarb. When I looked at my plot while watering, not all that much seemed to be going on in my plot, but going through that list of plants makes me think otherwise.

Garden Day

Today, I spent 3,5 hours in the garden weeding and planting (bush beans, pole beans and carrots). I had neglected a large section of my plot that had not been planted yet (basically the entire right side of the plot starting at the pea trellis all the way to the fence) and it was overgrown with all kinds of weeds of the worst kind, including bindweed and yellow nutsedge. I have so much nutsedge in my plot, it is almost tragic. All of it was still small and growing and had not flowered or gone to seed. I used to use the compost from our community garden bins in past years and must have introduced the invasive weed this way. I got it all out (for now) and I feel very accomplished. The plot looks nice and clean. I also laid a new brick/paver path down the middle. Now I need to get more hay or straw to mulch the garden as the salt marsh hay cover is getting thin in some spots. No sign of the squash or cucumbers yet. I hope my direct sowing method worked. The nasturtiums I planted the same day are coming up, they are still tiny, I did not see them two days ago. I also hilled my potatoes today and they are now at ground-level. I took out the kale I direct-sowed a while ago. The plants were scrawny and chewed up. I will try to get some transplants. I also harvested some radishes and rhubarb.

Seedlings

I have been volunteering at the greenhouse at City Natives on Tuesday mornings. I had done that years ago and started again this spring. What a magical place to be, especially during our cold and wet spring here in Boston. Those tomato seedlings in the picture above smell so lovely – the smell of summer! I love helping to take care of the seedlings in the greenhouse and hoop house and the vegetable beds outside. Especially, since I did not start seedlings myself this year and my garden is just waking up after a very long winter. So good to get gardening again!

City Natives is an educational urban farm, run by The Trustees of Reservations. The farm runs classes on-site and throughout the city, teaching urban gardeners anything from garden planning over pest control to foraging and bee-keeping. Most of the seedlings will be sold at two plant sales, at City Natives on May 12 and on May 19 in the South End.

Eating from the garden in the middle of winter

It is the end of January and a few days ago, I finished the last of the hot peppers I grew in a container on our porch. I had harvested them in November and stored them in the refrigerator. I was surprised how well they kept. I was sad to see them go, but I got a fuzzy feeling cutting them up and adding them to a tasty beef chili. Nothing better than cooking with home-grown veggies from the garden. In the middle of winter no less. I also still have home-grown carrots in the fridge and of course lots of garlic in the pantry. I think the garlic will last me all through the season.

Late October

Today I spent a couple of hours getting the plot ready for winter. I ripped out spent plants, pulled weeds and turned the soil. During the process, I found a number of potatoes I had left in the ground, a welcome basis for today’s dinner of roasted potatoes and carrots and pork tenderloin with mushrooms.

The rain kept me from cleaning up more than I had planned to, but I still got to pick some flowers for a little bouquet. Planting more flowers this season was definitely a good idea. I loved having fresh flowers every week this summer and fall.

I also harvested carrots (which we had for appetizers, dipped in hummus), kale, Chard and parsley. I still have carrots, radishes, leeks, Chard, kale, leeks, onions, dandelion greens, herbs and flowers growing in the garden. It has been an extremely warm fall and one of my plot neighbors has some strawberries growing in his plot. Crazy.

Dahlias, Jerusalem artichokes, parsley and foliage

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

October Harvest

Today, I harvested my last beets and my first leeks plus kale and the last handful of green tomatoes before I pulled the plants. I also harvested some forgotten potatoes before the rain forced me inside. Still going strong in the garden: carrots, radishes, leeks, Chard, chicory, kale, onions, parsley and flowers. Dahlia, parsley flowers and foliage

Save

Save

Save

Save

Reds and Greens

The garden plot has started to deliver: radishes, rhubarb and tons of green garlic and scallions. All in pretty shades of red to purple and green. The scallions I harvested today will go in a vegetarian Pad Thai. I love the recipe for Your Pad Thai or Mine by Didi Emmons from her book Vegetarian Planet. 

The radishes, I like to just slice up, sprinkle with salt and pile them on a buttered slice of baguette. Or I use them in a spring salad I make from romaine, sliced cucumber, diced avocado and sliced radishes with a creamy cilantro lime dressing.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

May

It has been a cool and wet May here in Boston and my vegetables are loving it. This morning, in the drizzling rain, I put in pole beans and bok choi and also direct-sowed basil – an experiment. In the past, I have always started basil from seed indoors and then transplanted.

In my garden I have currently growing: rhubarb, scallions (already harvested those two twice this season), strawberries, radishes (almost ready to harvest), carrots, parsley, leeks, beets, kale, chicory, Swiss Chard, bok choi, Brussels sprouts, garlic, peas, arugula, potatoes, pole beans, basil, spring greens and flowers. For flowers, the tulips have faded, but I also planted dahlias, nasturtiums, sunflowers and zinnias. And the borage keeps coming up everywhere of course, as does the mint and the lemon balm.