In the garden – Page 21 – Nine by Eighteen

First Night Frost

SabineNovember 9, 2017Leave a Reply

Last night, we had the first night frost of the season and there will be a few cold nights ahead. I put all our houseplants indoors yesterday, but still need to clean up my plot. The nasturtium and dahlias look limp but all the veggies survived. The dahlia tubers will be dug up today and I will also harvest any tender greens from the plot and put the garden hoses away. The water in our community garden is now shut off. It is also time to clean out the plants in my containers on the porch and bring inside my herbs that I plan to overwinter: rosemary, sage, thyme.

Lightly frosted carrot leaves

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Late October

SabineOctober 29, 2017Leave a Reply

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

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Late August Mini Garden Bouquet

SabineAugust 20, 2017Leave a Reply

Today’s mini garden bouquet: dahlia, Thai basil and asparagus

I usually have one Thai basil plant in the garden plot. I love the fragrance of it. It will be used to garnish a Pad Thai I plan to make in a couple of days. I also harvested a few more cucumbers, kale and parsley.

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May

SabineMay 25, 2017Leave a Reply

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.

April Snow

SabineApril 4, 2016Leave a Reply

Winter is back in Boston. It has been snowing yesterday and we got a few more inches today. The forecast calls for very low temperatures for the next couple of days, down to the twenties over night. I am not sure my peas will make it, so I will plant new ones once this cold spell is over. My garlic should be okay, right?

Soil

SabineMarch 23, 2016Leave a Reply

Every garden is only as successful as its soil. Healthy, rich soil is the foundation of a productive garden. Today, I prepared part of my garden plot for spring planting. The city provides its community gardens with free compost in the spring, but the compost it typically delivered in April, which is still a few weeks away. That compost comes from leaf collections in the fall and spring and therefore is almost entirely “brown matter”, so it lacks organic components, which I dug in today in the form of, yes, aged chicken poop. I like to use chicken “stuff”, as it is easy to use, cheap and organic. But, yes, it smells a little. At least according to my husband, who likes to complain about the smell when he fixes his bikes in the basement next to our garden supplies. I dug the matter under my soil and was careful to turn only about 6-8 inches of the top soil, which is plenty for my crops. I garden in the city and when our community garden was established, it was all filled up with new top soil. Since I amend it year after year and have a lot of help in the form of tons of earthworms, I can be sure that my top soil is in good shape. But I am not sure what lies underneath and do not care to find out. I have my soil tested from time to time, every three to four years, to make sure it is free of heavy metals and also to see if it lacks any nutrients. Ready to plant peas!