watchthegardengrow

first fruits

2011-08-11T16:47:00.009-04:00

very excited that there will be tomatoes in august this year -- because we ate our first ones in july! here are some pics of the first fruits and flowers in the garden from a quick visit july 23-25. we can thank Jaclyn Pryor for the sexy photos. she has been a farm apprentice all summer at 'the next barn over' in hadley, massachusetts http://www.nextbarnover.com/ and enlisted her to document the goings on in the annual garden during her visit to Denniston Hill.

TOMATOES

From watchthegardengrow

CHARD

From watchthegardengrow

BRASSICAS

From watchthegardengrow

PURSLANE

From watchthegardengrow

SWEET PEAS

From watchthegardengrow

LETTUCE

From watchthegardengrow

GREEN BEANS

From watchthegardengrow

DANDELION

From watchthegardengrow

DAISIES

From watchthegardengrow

this year's garden plan encourages us to keep perennials that come up in the garden regardless of whether we planted them or they are "invasive" species. during this visit i came up with some ideas about pruning/harvesting/weeding that would take advantage of what the soil will give while encouraging our annual crops to thrive. dandelions and clover are good examples -- we keep and harvest the dandelion for the green, bitter, savory leaves that can be sauteed, their roots go deep and bring up minerals and nutrients to plants with shallower roots, and their flowers attract bees and butterfies. I pull them out of the ground if they are encroaching on a crop we value more, like tomatoes or lettuces. red and yellow clover provide flowers and either before planting in the spring or at the end of the season, because they are nitrogen rich, we can slash them and till them into the soil to replenish it. Clover is also a good groundcover and keeps back other less desirable plants like grass.

purslane, is much like dandelion ...

butterfly weed, like clover.

returning about a month since my last visit when i put in the tomatoes and started some weeding, it was exciting to observe the changes. at first the garden seemed chaotic and overgrown ... but instead of pulling out everything that wasn't an annual, i took my time to figure out which plants really took up too much room and offered very little -- and which plants could be beneficial.

i decided on a protocol...

grasses out especially near annuals

there are 2-3 plants that are everywhere and grow prolifically and offer little and choke out everything else -- one is an imposter mugwort, another a poetic tiny pink flowering plant with hollow stalks that send out shoots and vines across the topsoil GET RID OF IT.

dandelion, purslane, clover, burdock, mugwort, chamomile, butterfly weed :: these stay unless they are bullying other planned crops. harvest them to keep them under control but also for medicinal and culinary purposes.

if we dont' know what it is and it flowers -- keep it a bit to see what it does -- if it's not too intrusive, keep it and pick the flowers or trim it back if it gets too big.

following these protocols there should be ample room in the garden for everything planned and every surprise.

i'm mostly excited about the medicinals that sprung up this year in great quantities: chamomile, mugwort, burdock, mint + thyme.

this post brought to you by

JACLYN

From watchthegardengrow

and

KARA

From watchthegardengrow

Garlic harvest

2011-07-22T23:47:00.000-04:00

Echinacea

2011-07-15T13:52:00.000-04:00

Garlic harvest

2011-07-15T12:58:00.000-04:00

Garlic scape and bok choi kim chee

2011-06-27T18:02:00.000-04:00

Our garlic scapes and Gorzynski's bok choi married in a gay Kim chee paste made of garlic, ginger, Korean ground chili powder, น้ำปลา，花椒，and sugar.

Other farms

2011-06-14T17:44:00.000-04:00

This year, because of the many friends of Denniston Hill who are coming up to volunteer their time to help garden and build our new barn studio, we bought a farm share from Gorzinsky Ornery Farms out in Callicoon. Gorzinsky is a pioneer in local, sustainable farming. It's been nice to pick up these beautiful boxes if produce every Tuesday. Not only are they delicious, they give us an opportunity to see what is growing (and not growing) in other parts if the county. This week's box included list of lettuce, rocket/arugula, green shallots, green leeks, spinach, chives, cilantro, and bok choi. They seem to be having trouble with their weed control strategies and their pea crop failed (ours went in later and, touch wood, seems pretty healthy) but otherwise the produce looks amazing and tastes even better.

Garlic scapes

2011-06-13T16:07:00.000-04:00

Soon to be turned into Kim chee.

Rank and file

2011-06-13T16:06:00.000-04:00

Brussels sprouts

2011-06-13T16:05:00.000-04:00

Chamomile

2011-06-13T16:04:00.001-04:00

The new garden design is full if surprises, like these chamomile plants that line the borders of the squash beds. Our new garden plays with the boundaries of wild and cultivated, value and valueless, farming and gleaning.

More borders

2011-06-13T16:04:00.000-04:00

Cucumbers

2011-06-13T16:01:00.000-04:00

The weather has been very hot and then it got cool and damp. These transplants look a little worse for wear but we're hoping that they pull through.

More spring stirrings

2011-06-13T15:59:00.000-04:00

Spring stirrings

2011-06-13T15:54:00.000-04:00

Parsley and kale

Spring renewal of the field

2011-04-24T17:04:00.000-04:00

The garden's new neighbors.

raised beds in action

2011-04-12T13:02:00.000-04:00

We hadn't had a thaw for about 2 and a half months this winter. We got some warm weather and a lot of rain, and that about melted our snowpack. The raised beds help keep them from flooding, which is especially important when there are plants growing. This is about as wet as I've seen it. It dried up in a few days.

Beet kvass

2011-03-14T09:16:00.000-04:00

I've made the last of our beets into kvass, A lacto-fermented beet beverage. Cut up some beets, add about 1/2 cup of whey (the liquid from yogurt) and 1 tbsp. of salt in a 2 quart glass jar. Fill with water, replace lid, leave it out for a few days, and then keep in the fridge. You can use what's left of the liquid as starter for the next batch (instead of the whey). Our beets were mostly golden, so this one is a light orange color. With red beets, the liquid becomes a rich dark red.

wintergarden

2011-01-24T13:48:00.003-05:00

Still lettuce alive in the greenhouse. Last watering was about 40 days ago. I gave it a couple of gallons of water today, knocked the snow and ice off the roof and shoveled out the ice and snow buildup along the base. It's been below zero for a few nights now and was 9 below this morning at 10 am. There is still a non-producing brussell sprout in the garden that has refused to give up. It's on the left in the garden pic.

art + ag collective residency debrief

2010-10-18T20:25:00.006-04:00

Several members of the Arts and Agriculture Collective at Hampshire shared a residency here at Denniston Hill last weekend.

It'd be difficult to account for the array of mischiefs that the collective members engaged in individually; there was ample time given for people to wander and do as they pleased. But there were a number of concerted, collective efforts that also took place.

The first frost of the season arrived October 9, the eve of the Oktober All Saints Fest at the Church of the Little Green Man. It seemed an appropriate convergence of occasions, with the last harvest of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchinni and basil followed by a night of celebrating the dead, the shifting of the seasons, and the last days of traditional reaping.

There was a bit of foraging. Evan brought us back a mushroom that only grows on living birches, and made us a fine tea. A few of us went out foraging for the last gasps of the goldenrod, some of us even enjoying the frigid waters of the nearby river as we did so. Basil was hung to dry, dispersed, some of it made into a pesto. Lots of mint and thyme were harvested, along with the last of the sage, all tied and hung to dry. Pumpkins were carved for the Church of the Little Green Man, and seeds were roasted. Folks made sourdough bread and sourdough pancakes, and every morning Kara made a soup for folks to enjoy throughout the day. We ate dinner collectively.

Tripplebrook Farms over in MA had given Kara and other collective members some very handsome gifts :: three chestnut trees, two paw paw trees, and four hardy kiwi plants. The collective brought them to Denniston Hill, met to discuss where these new creatures should go, and then planted them. A chestnut tree was planted over at John's, the other two planted on the southside meadowed slope alongside the driveway and road, with full access to the sun. A paw paw was planted along the roadside bit of wall in front of the house, and the other closer to the porch. And the hardy kiwis were planted so that, over time, they will form an edible arbor of sorts for folks on their way to the pond, the pool, or the woods.

We did our first round of sheet mulching! The last day of the collective's stay several of us got together, and having shoveled more of Josh's generously donated shit the day before, laid down the sheet mulch layer by layer. We broke up the soil that was already in the greenhouse, soaking it deep and long as we did so (it took a surprisingly long amount of time), then lay down fresh cut vegetation from the nearby meadow and pond, covering that with the former horse manure, followed by about eight inches of fallen leaves, followed by four inches of compost and older garden soil, and topped with straw, soaking every layer as we went. In the upper four inches of soil we planted some lettuces, spinach, etc for a late fall/early winter harvest. There was concern raised about the degree of activity happening beneath the top layer of soil, and whether or not that would hinder the growth of these plants, so it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out. Regardless of how well the seedlings end up doing in the long run (they've already begun to come up), we have certainly contributed a lot for the growing of good soil (and, in a roundabout way, raised beds) in the greenhouse.

There was also plenty of loafing, reading, swimming, walking in the woods, storytelling, and live music to boot, with wandering violins, accordions and their players.

The day the collective left they were sent off by a gentle, rolling storm of electric pink lightning and smooth, drawn out thunder. A very pleasant way to see the collective off and reflect on their residency.

The next day Kara and I set to pulling up the plastic between the beds of the gardens. We want to experiment with a green carpet for the paths, a carpet that'll include elfin thyme, purslane, clovers, roman chamomile, lady's mantle, dandelions and whatever volunteer plants that want to make a home there. I've been making my way along the paths since, prodding the ground with a pitchfork to break its surface up just a little, to help the soil breathe in preparation for the laying of seeds.

Today I sheet-mulched a bed in the garden that had been given over to weeds/volunteer plants. I simply slashed them in place, grateful for the work they'd been doing to feed and break up the soil, and for the work they will continue to do as their aerial and root systems break down and are eaten by the other communities of the soil. I poked up the ground a bit, soaked it all deeply, lay down manure over the slashed weeds, soaked the manure, and then laid down eight or nine inches of fallen leaves, soaking them as well before topping them off with some soil and the last of the straw.

I also planted garlic at the foot of the tomato/basil/carrot bed, among the carrot patches alongside the shrub beans, and among the fully grown collards, kale and cabbage beside the eggplants.

Kara and I'll be buying some seeds this week. There's a number of medicinals I'd like to find a home for in the meadowed hill where we planted the chestnut trees. Kara and I've come up with a list of perennial vegetables we'd like to experiment with. I had a mind for making an edible wall of perennial vegetables around the garden, with the taller plants surrounding the northeast corner. We've also got the seeds for the green carpet to look forward to, and a few more varieties of mint I'd like to plant along the meadowside of the garden to ward off mice.

Then it's sheetmulching further, a bed at a time, fixing up the fencing, and planting some of those perennials.

More experimental eggplants

2010-10-15T23:08:00.000-04:00

These eggplants had prickly leaves

2010-10-15T23:07:00.000-04:00

Chinese experimental eggplants

2010-10-15T23:06:00.000-04:00

october eighth

2010-10-08T13:25:00.007-04:00

Kara's Arts and Agriculture collective/class is coming later today, and much of what I've been up to has been about preparing for their arrival.

We're going to be doing a lot of dirty, exciting things, foreseen and unforeseen. Aside from participating in the Oktober All Saints Festival at the Church of the Little Green Man (more on that later), we'll be laying down sheet mulch in the greenhouse (which we're gonna be treating like any cold-frame this Fall and Winter) to build up the soil there, and potentially sheet mulch another bed or two in the garden if we have the capacity to do so. We'll also be laying down seeds (however belatedly) for a Fall and Winter harvest. We'll be harvesting, preparing, and enjoying what the garden's providing us these days, and I have a mind for people to do a collective weed walk in the garden, discussing the volunteer plants we recognize and which ones are edible or medicinal. Perhaps some folks will want to take it a step further and include some of these volunteer plants in our food this weekend, or begin to make medicine with them.

I've gone through the seeds we still have at Denniston (and there are a lot - I'm very excited about next Spring's seeding), setting aside those that we'll be planting this weekend. We're gonna map out the lay of the greenhouse/cold-frame together before setting to work.

I've been spending time in the garden, cleaning up here and there and getting to know the plants a little more. I feel very lucky to suddenly have so much basil in my life, and in such variety too.

And I'm glad to see that many of the weeds I can recognize in the garden are edible and medicinal. Most of what I recognize is plantain, clover, and dandelion.

I've applied a freshly-chewed pumice of plantain to a skin sore before, and the soothing and healing effect it had was pretty remarkable. And plantain is in copious supply. It's also been used for coughs, diarrhea, hemorrhoids, and toothaches.

From the Peterson Field Guide to Central/Eastern Medicinal Plants and Herbs, I learned that red clover, which we have sprouting up here and there throughout the garden but all throughout the yard as well, has been used to treat, among other things, "asthma, bronchitis, spadmodic coughs; externally, a wash has been used as a folk cancer remedy, including the famous Homsey treatment, and for athlete's foot, sores, burns, and ulcers. Flowers formerly smoked in anti-asthma cigarettes."

And, though perhaps more known as something to toss into salads, dandelion also has medicinal qualities. Its leaves and flowers are rich in vitamins A and C, its leaves have been used as a folk laxative, and its roots have been used, fresh and dried, to treat problems of the bladder, kidney, gallbladder, and liver, and "as a tonic for weak or impaired digestion, constipation."

On the northeast corner of the garden, outside of the fencing, are a variety of mint plants that seem to be very comfortable. I've already used some fresh mint leaves in a tea to soothe some stomachaches and alleviate a slightly sore throat. Something we might try and work out this weekend is whether or not to plant more mint on the southern side of the garden fence. That's the meadowside of the garden, where plenty of mice have been making their home, going for raids in the compost pile (I accidentally killed on while shoveling the compost with Kara the other day - about four or five of them soon came writhing out of the ground and ran away). Apparently mice don't take too well to mint plants, and they have provided effective non-toxic, edible barriers against mice for other people's gardens.

There's also quite a bit of thyme growing between the deck surrounding the pool and the pond, over where people hang their laundry to dry, and that has medicinal properties too, though I didn't learn that until this week's research. It's used for the treatment of viral and bacterial upper respiratory infections, and staves off cough and bronchitis.

On Wednesday I went over to Josh's to gather some horse manure for the weekend's mulching. The folks who lived on the land he's on some fifteen years or so ago had horses, and left behind an ample field of the stuff for us to enjoy. When he took me out back to find it, however, I had a hard time at first figuring out where to look. Gesturing broadly to the lush, diverse near-to-meadowland before us and telling me to go for it, I didn't really know what to say or do. He then led me over to a nearly waist-deep pit and, jumping in, started hacking away at the edges with his shovel, drawing the rich, dark soil out from beneath the riotous green happening above. I recovered from my momentary confusion and began to do the same, marveling at the beauty and aliveness of the stuff we were digging.

There's been some skepticism voiced about just how useful this stuff is, but my suspicion is that it'll do plenty more good than harm for our sheet-mulching and the building up of our own soil, whether it could still be considered manure manure or not.

While we dug in silence, carrying buckets of it over to the bowl of tarp set up in the Subaru some ten, fifteen feet away, my thoughts turned to soil as the symbol and the literal embodiment of transformation that it is. It was one of those moments of seeming clarity, where I felt I could discern, however hazily, the continuities between "life" and "death" that were at play in the soil before me, and that together composed the soil itself. To my eyes there were merely fleeting snatches of this play, the more humanly-visible spiders and worms and sowbugs scattering everywhere as I disrupted their living and dying places, but I knew there was a lot more going on than I could ever hope to see.

For much of my life I've regarded soil as an inert, static substance, more of an empty vessel or perhaps, in the language and spirit of the prevailing industrial, mechanistic paradigm, a factory through which creatures and materials and elements come and go. Though clearly the potential cradle of abundant communities of life, it has often seemed to me to be another place where living and dying happens. It's only in recent times that I've come to understand soil as, wholly and entirely, the chaotic and dense composition of these processes. The soil is somehow an embodiment of, somehow the riotous and anarchic unfolding of living-and-dying itself. Sometimes, when I understand and experience soil in this way, I have this moment where I can feel the dichotomous demarcations between life and death that I often uphold straining to fall apart and fall away.

Very recently a young friend of mine died, and before his body was committed to the soil that inspired him (he was a grower of things, an activist and organizer whose work centered around food justice and sustainability), there was an open casket wake. It was very hard to accept the fact of his body, in the coffin, at the end of the room before me. Among the things that passed through me was the impossible feeling that his body didn't look at all like him. I couldn't bridge my memory of him with the body before me.

Offered all around me were the familiar, muttered affirmations that he had gone to a better place. Personally, I've felt a spectrum of things when it comes to all this talk of soul and whether or not life as we think we know it can be said to have a beginning or an end, and I've come to no stalwart or fundamentalist positions about any of this, save to assert the fact of my own ultimate ignorance. In more recent times I've tried to not conquer, in thought or speech, what I deem to be the ineffable, radical mystery of this place that we're unfolding in, and I don't think I'd find much comfort or solace in doing so.

As I sat with my friend's body there was a particular word that kept coming to me :: dispersal. It was clear to me that whatever forces had animated his eyes, his lips and his hands, were no longer present, or at least not present in the way that they'd been. And the unseeable communities of bacteria that once blossomed and composed the life of his stomach, where were they? Had they gone dormant, left? Would they now turn to feed on the matter of his body, from within? Or had they died out entirely, and wouldn't they have left something of themselves behind? I'm sure the most nuanced and detailed explanations and mappings abound out there, but I guess I am less interested in what those mappings have to say. During the time of his funeral and his wake, and some two or three weeks later as I shoveled fifteen year old horse shit into buckets with Josh, it felt enough to know that somehow there was transformation, that somehow there was dispersal, however inadequate or shortsighted any particular mappings of that transformation and dispersal may be.

These aren't always easy perspectives to sit with, and sometimes I can hardly bear the fear that such mysterious company sets to flare within me, but for now at least, I feel committed to stoking my courage, and committed to not try and banish my fears, but to listen for what these fears of mine have to teach me.

I'm looking forward to our weekend with the Collective, and will be writing about what we get into shortly.

Garden Residency

2010-10-05T00:55:00.005-04:00

Hey folks ::

My name's Aidan, and I'm gonna be posting here at watchthegardengrow very frequently during the coming months.

I just started the pilot for a garden residency here at Denniston Hill. A while back I approached Kara and other members of the Garden Committee with a proposal :: that I'd help take care of, plan, and develop or expand Denniston Hill's garden in exchange for the ability to do some projects of my own making here at the site. Concomitantly, I'll be apprenticing with a couple of permaculturists who live down the road a ways, Andrew Faust and Adriana Magaña of the Center for Bioregional Living.

The three proposed projects were

1) research and documentation of the ecology of the site, the lay and history of the land, to be used as a reference by the Garden Committee and as a tool for any potential future permaculture designs for the site.

2) an ongoing foraging project. I'm interested in wild medicinal and edible plants and the practice of foraging in general. My plan is to harvest as many things as I can, to process and store wild foods for the winter, and to craft tinctures, oils, and salves from the wild medicinals I gather. Thanks to the work of L. Mazzarella, we already have a substantial list of identified wild medicinals growing in the area to start with.

3) an expanded compost/soil-building project. I'm still getting a feel for the scope of what's possible for me to do here, but the initial idea I had would be to build relationships with local restaurants and other local producers of organic waste and see if I can't truck some of that refuse home to grow compost for us as well as a free resource for people who are gardening in the area.

I'm interested in the idea of soil stewardship as a fundamental and base practice of gardening. I've only recently begun to learn about the ecology of soil life, and the importance of nurturing a diverse and robust base of soil communities as part of a larger practice of growing things. I'm looking forward to taking that on.

The proposal was recently approved by the Board and I moved here this past Friday. Needless to say, I'm very excited to be here, and have already found quite a bit of joy in the work that I'm doing.

And Kara and I got to work right away.

We went out to the garden a few times this past weekend, harvesting some tomatoes, kale, cucumbers, squash and zucchini, and just assessing the overall situation there. We discussed what had been doing well, and what hadn't, and we referenced a previous map plan for the garden and talked about how things had played out in terms of companion planting and the timing of seeding. We figured out what we still had left to harvest up until the first frost, and what would persist on post-frost and continue to be productive in the late fall/early winter.

We discussed what could happen with the garden from hereon. Use of the greenhouse structure as a cold frame is going to be a priority. We'd both like to see more greens, especially in the early spring and in July. We'd like to see more companion planting occur, and to figure out some strategies to protect the kale and collards from the critters that seem to be having a good time eating them.

We also discussed some aspirations I'm particularly excited about. I'd like to sheet mulch (basically, compost in place) as much of the garden as possible, to build up the soil and the communities of life that are in it. It'd be great to cover crop this winter, of course, and we talked a little bit about what that could look like. I'd like to experiment with the use of a perennial green carpet for the pathways that can mulch in place and develop the soil and, ideally, provide some sustenance.

I'd also like to experiment with the intentional use of weeds next season. I've been reading "Weeds: Guardians of the Soil" by Joseph A. Cocannouer, and I highly recommend this book. It certainly is an unorthodox position to take by many people's standards, but the author discusses how the intentional, managed use of weeds or volunteer plants can do tremendous things for the soil and the other plants in it :: by providing mulch material above and below ground, and by digging deep into the subsoil with their roots to loosen it up, conducting nutrients and water up to the topsoil, and leaving behind them paths for our more traditionally cultivated plants to do similarly. All that generous work aside, there are many so-called "weeds" that are edible and/or medicinal, and have historically provided sustenance for many communities the world over, including Native communities here.

Lastly, we discussed the idea of having more insectary plants throughout the growing season next year, as a strategy to waylay the various pests that are out there.

Aside from all this scheming and dreaming, Kara and I went to work on the compost pile we got going alongside the garden. There had been at some point the idea of having three piles, side by side :: one ready to use, one cooking, and one fresh pile to give new materials to. Over time there's been less distinction made between what's cooking and what's cooked, so Sunday we decided to get a little dirty. We used shovels to push the cooking layers of material to the side, and shoveled as much of the fully cooked stuff into a pile in one of the less human-used beds of the garden (the weeds have been making plenty use of it, and from what Kara told me it sounds like the weeds and the shizo planted there have done some beautiful work for the soil). The idea is to use this cooked compost for sheet-mulching the inside of the cold frame this upcoming weekend, when Kara's Arts and Agriculture class over at Hampshire shows up for a few days of dirty romping.

Sunday was also a beautiful day for foraging. I've been meaning to harvest the bountiful droves of goldenrod growing everywhere for some time now. However, it's often occurred to me to do so when I've spotted goldenrod butting up against a frequented roadside, and I'm not too keen on the idea of turning to such places for my medicine. Fortunately, here I don't have to. The meadows alongside the river back behind John's place are still popping with delicate, aptly-named goldenrod. I gathered as much as I could, taking cues from all the pollinators to determine which plants were the freshest, most recently bloomed. Though the goldenrod community didn't seem to be facing any risk of subsiding or falling behind in the meadow scheme, I made a point of only harvesting a little here and there, taking from robust clusters and leaving behind the more isolated, exploratory plants making their way alone. Now they're hanging in my room to dry. Once they have, I'll be making some tinctures for the treatment of urinary tract infections. Basically it has the ability to sooth the entire genito-urinary tract, and is a diuretic and antiseptic for treating kidney or bladder infection. It'll make a good gift for some of my friends who are plagued with the like.

Yesterday, Monday, was mostly about research. I read up on a plan for an Appalachian Solar Dehydrator I'd like to build this week, to take advantage of the last of the season's tomatoes etc. and dry some food for the winter. The folks with the best design I could find predict a total cost of materials at $150, more than a little beyond my current means. But I suspect there are plenty of scrap materials to be found in the area that I could use, and today I'm going to begin looking for them.

I also researched potential cover crops for the winter, some dynamic nutrient accumulators that could be useful to plant throughout the garden next season, and some edible insectary plants that could be planted next season to encourage the presence of beneficial, predatory insect communities.

Lastly, I took to organizing and cleaning up the mudroom/summer kitchen/harvest processing space, and decided to process as many of the tomatoes as I could. I oven candied, with olive oil, salt, and dill, a bunch of tomatoes from the DH garden to enjoy this week, and then took tomatoes from the garden here as well as from Hampshire Farm and made them into a very rich sauce, which I then canned for the winter.

Among other things I'll be up to this week :: planning and scavenging materials for the building of a solar dehydrator and for the laying down of sheet mulch this coming weekend.

garden in august

2010-08-15T05:28:00.001-04:00

saturday aug 7 folks came up for the screening of Our Daily Bread as part of SLoP programming and we got some good gardening into the agenda. weeding, picking, + planting. pull out some carrots, plant new seeds... we also put in chards, spinach, beets, lettuce + arugula

alien grass

2010-08-09T17:07:00.004-04:00

The soil we had delivered in the spring sprung giant grass that isn't naturaluzed to the farm so I've been pulling it from the garden as it sprouts and, in the remains of the dirt pile, waited til it was about mature and ripped it all out over the last week. My camera is busted so I don't think I'll be posting for a while. Kara and Beth should be posting soon. Second planting is mostly in.

midsummer garden

2010-07-28T10:34:00.008-04:00

Kara was up for a few days and we got the garden weeded and planted. Peas, beans, cukes, zucchini, and tomatoes are all producing well. The peas flowers are beautiful. The overview pic shows peas and beans on the left trellis, cukes on the right trellis. Squash, tomatoes, and basil are in the background. Bush beans and hot peppers are in the center.

Eggplant Delivery

2010-06-12T20:15:00.000-04:00

A big eggplant delivery came yesterday. The plants are waiting in the greenhouse while we prepare their space outside.

To the left of the eggplants, our radish plants are starting to break through the soil.

Outside, the pea plants are sprouting up and starting to unfold.

The black and white zucchini plants are doing well.

And the squash plants are settling in nicely.

Pickled Garlic Scapes

2010-06-09T23:07:00.005-04:00

Yesterday we took off all the garlic scapes.  

So the garlic will be ready to dig up in a few weeks. 

Then we pickled the scapes.

And they are delicious.

Wildberry Picking; Flower Watching

2010-06-08T17:51:00.009-04:00

Picking wild strawberries in front of the house, on the side of the road.

Watching the flowers on the cucumber and tomato plants.

Cucumber.

Tomato.

Flowers becoming tomatoes.

And basil in a tomato plant shadow.

Real Basil and Shiso

2010-06-05T23:17:00.003-04:00

Today we planted basil--the real stuff. The last basil post was actually about shiso pretending to be basil.

The shiso is doing very well, both in the greenhouse and outside. We are looking forward to many delicious salads.

John also planted zucchini

and three different kinds of hot peppers. 

And little flowers are already starting to bloom on the cucumber and tomato plants.

Tomatoes and Cucumbers 2010

2010-05-31T18:18:00.004-04:00

John planted many tomatoes

and cucumbers.

And after just five days, the lettuce in the greenhouse is already poking out.

Basil and a Butterfly

2010-05-26T12:05:00.008-04:00

Digging up Basil outside.

Replanted basil in the greenhouse.

And a butterfly visited the garden.

So much basil, only a small portion made it into the greenhouse. Basil inside/outside experiments and lots of pesto to come.

organic soil delivery

2010-05-23T11:09:00.005-04:00

The truck could only make it half way up the hill to the garden so I had the soil dumped there and I'm slowly transporting it to the beds. The greenhouse is loaded with soil and ready to plant. The seedlings are out of my living room and hardening off for the next week or so and then will be put out in the elements. Last frost date around here is the end of May, although it looks like the warm weather might be a bit early this year.

Haeckel: forms in nature

2010-05-07T16:43:00.000-04:00

Giant ferns

Blueberry pie

2010-05-07T16:42:00.000-04:00

The Secret Life of Plants in the Rain

2010-04-27T08:50:00.000-04:00

The Secret Life of Plants

2010-04-24T22:41:00.000-04:00

Installing Peter Coffin's sculpture.

German duck fatties

2010-04-19T20:59:00.000-04:00

Not really from the garden but the duck meat was from our local duck
farm, Hudson Valley Foie Gras, and the organic Mission figs and Ancho
chilis were from farms further away. They felt good in the hand.

Sent from my iPhone

On ramps and off ramps

2010-04-13T22:50:00.005-04:00

The weather is fickle, but the surest sign of spring are the ramps that are coming up in the forest by the river. We went picking ramps this past weekend and cooked them in a balsamic vinegar/duck fat reduction served over home-made duck ravioli (thank you Hudson Valley Foie Gras) and then in a duck ragout over penne. We also pickled some in miso. Trillium are coming up too.

71 varieties

2010-04-13T15:12:00.003-04:00

Here's the list of seeds purchased from Fedco this year. Nearly all organic and everything I planted last week is sprouting already, except for the peppers. This is supplemented with what we already have growing in the garden, garlic from our neighbor Charlie and perrenial herbs (chives, garlic chives and marjoram). Add to that what already grows on the land: low and high bush blueberries, blackberries, red and black raspberries, "heirloom" apples (every tree tastes different), pears, ramps, and fiddlehead ferns. Oh, and plenty of dandelions.

2010 garden begins

2010-04-07T19:04:00.004-04:00

I fixed the fence this week. Just in time as the deer had started to nibble at the garlic, which is about 6 inches tall already. I thought garlic was deer proof, but when that's all that's up, I guess they'll force themselves. Started some seeds today, I've attached the "map" of what's been started so far. Sorry about page 2 being upside down (I tried). We have a lot this year. Very exciting. Looks like Pesto, Tomatoes, Pickles and Hot Sauce will be the big canning events this year, if the weather cooperates. There's all kinds of stuff getting direct sown after the last frost date, and we're getting a greenhouse put up this year so we can start a lot of things a month early (hopefully).

on sale today in the frozen foods section

2009-12-16T09:29:00.002-05:00

December 16- As crappy as this summer was for trying to grow food, some things just won't quit. I'm guessing this is the final harvest after more than a month of freezing weather. Collards and broccoli florets for the holidays!

2009-08-30T14:09:00.012-04:00

Medicinal plants: native, naturalized, invasive

Observed on or near Denniston Hill, July 2009

Photos and plant identification: L. Mazzarella

Jewelweed (Impatiens sempervirens)

Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum)

Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata)

Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)

native, naturalized, invasive

2009-08-30T13:44:00.004-04:00

Herbalist and Poet, L. Mazzarella, compiled a list of native, naturalized, invasive medicinal plants that she observed over the course of her 2009 summer residency at Denniston Hill.

A working list of medicinal plants

Native, naturalized, invasive

Observed on or near Denniston Hill

(roadside, field, forest, garden, waste places, and riverside)

3-14 August, 2009

By L. Mazzarella

Cleavers (Galium aparine)

Plantain (Plantago major, lanceolata)

St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum)

Nettle (Urtica dioica)

Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota)

Stoneroot (Collinsonia canadensis)

Burdock (Arctium lappa)

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Yellow Dock (Rumex crispus)

Sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella)

Goldenrod (Solidago sp.)

Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederaceae)

Raspberry (Rubus idaeus)

Bee balm (Monarda fistulosa)

Echinacea (Echinacea sp?—purpureum, or cross)

Garlic (Allium sativum)

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

Lobelia (Lobelia inflata)

Marjoram (Origanum majorana)

Basil (Ocimum basilicum)

Turkey Tails (Coriolus versicolor)

Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum—and others? tsugae?)

Blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus)

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Lavender (Lavandula sp.)

Pleurisy root (Asclepias tuberosa)

Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)

Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisifolia)

Lemon Verbena (Aloysia triphylla)

Dogbane (Apocynum sp.)

Poke (Phytolacca americana)

Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum)

Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata)

Jewelweed (Impatiens sempervirens)

Elder flower/berry (Sambucus canadensis)

Red Osier (dogwood) (Cornus sericea?)

Trillium (Trillium sp.)

Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)

Violet (Viola sp.)

Stream Orchid (Epipactis gigantea, or helleborine?)

Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)

Chicory (Cichorium intybus)

Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritaceae)

Red Clover (Trifolium pratens)

Patridgeberry (Mitchella repens)

Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)

Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfare)

Wild Lettuce (Lactuca canadensis)

Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris)

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

Elecampane (Inula helenium)

Dwarf Cinquefoil (Potentilla canadensis)

Blackberry (Rubus sp.)

Strawberry (Fragaria vesca, or virginiana)

Horsetail (Equisetum arvense)

Oak (Quercus sp.)

Willow (Salix sp.)

Pine (Pinus sp.)

Staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina)

Wild Cherry (Prunus vulgaris)

Rose (Rosa rugosa and others)

Clownberry, aka Purple-flowering raspberry (Rubus odoratus)

etc.

Other seasons will yield further sightings

and the trees have not yet been fully considered

Ava's daisies

2009-08-01T22:04:00.005-04:00

I'm growing up on Denniston Hill veggies!

Harvest

2009-08-01T21:59:00.008-04:00

Kale, garlic, nasturtium, broccoli,
cauliflower, haricot vert,
runner beans, yellow beans, squash,
anonymous pepper.

Also plentiful but not pictured are
collards and garlic.

Gorgeous + delicious!

Away we grow

2009-08-01T21:46:00.013-04:00

Ava(!), runner beans, red cabbage, beets, tomatoes,
hungarian hot peppers, cauliflower,
broccoli, cabbage, eggplant, squash.

Midsummer veggies

2009-08-01T21:41:00.004-04:00

Garden of Eden

broccoli

2009-07-19T16:22:00.002-04:00

the broccoli, cabbage and kale are all thriving. They seem to like the cool wet weather. Collards too.

tomato blight

2009-07-19T11:43:00.003-04:00

Tomatoes aren't doing so great this year. We are experiencing "late blight" which is a fungus that attacks the leaves and eventually kills the plant. Same fungus that caused the great potato famine. The hope is to get some tomatoes to ripen before the plant dies. Some dry hot weather will help considerably. If not there's always pickled green tomatoes and fried green tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes seem to be doing the best.

cukes over the years

2009-07-15T19:19:00.001-04:00

The weather has been cold and wet for the first half of summer and the ground hasn't warmed up enough to jumpstart the cukes. for a comparison, here's the cucumbers from 7/28/06, and 7/21/07. The last one was taken 7/14/09. They got some catching up to do.
Collards, broccoli and kales are loving the cool nights and doing great. Zucchini and Summer squash, just starting. The lettuces haven't gotten bitter yet from too much sun (the plus side of the cold and rain). I'll post more of this year's crop in a day or 2.

permaculture in the west bank

2009-06-05T10:33:00.001-04:00

found this article...
remarkable story in many ways -- inspiring to think of the political + social ramifications of permaculture/sustainability and the global movement around it. also humbling to see how long it takes to build something.

garden update

2009-06-02T13:56:00.004-04:00

Paul came up with some new seedlings and we replanted this weekend... and then had another frost. Lots of peppers, eggplant, more tomatoes, broccoli rabe, and summer squash. We had a ton of seedlings so some things went in a little cramped, but it all survived this latest cold. Tomatoes are in hibernation until the ground warms up which doesn't look like this week. But what little new growth there is looks healthy and green. The peas and beans are sprouting as well as a few cukes (which we supplemented). And a portrait of the sole surviving pepper from the original planting.

Spring Planting

2009-05-31T07:10:00.011-04:00

The garden was a busy on the weekend of May 16 when members of the Denniston Hill board and friends of Denniston Hill came up to plant seedlings and get a jump on the season. Thank you to everyone: Libby Brown, Christian Capurro, Jodie Vicenta Jacobson, Brigitte Landou, John Letourneau, Libby, David Melrose, Paul Pfeiffer, George Pisegna, Joel Rivera, Beth Stryker, Robin Vachal. Photos by Christian Capurro. And many thanks to the Horticultural Society of New York and the Chelsea Garden Center for their generous support of this project.

frost bites

2009-05-19T08:38:00.003-04:00

The Denniston Hill Crew was up this weekend to put in the garden. Everything went in and then we had 2 consecutive nights of heavy frost. I was able to cover most of the tomatoes as they had cages to hold up a tarp. The big white canvases had a previous life as swanky Manhattan curtains. Reuse. The rest of the garden didn't do so well. Summer squash is laying flat, eggplants are kneeling and red leaf lettuce and the cukes are drooping bad. We'll see what needs to be replanted once it warms up later. Kara is on her way.

local grain csa

2009-04-06T14:01:00.001-04:00

check out the link on the title... community supported agriculture and grains!

first snow

2008-12-25T17:20:00.000-05:00

back in october...

overwinter

2008-12-25T17:08:00.004-05:00

fall fell

2008-12-25T14:57:00.005-05:00

these are the last days of the garden. closed up shop over a few weekends from halloween to post election euphoria we harvested all the root vegetables, pulled out the dying tomato, squash, bean and cuke stalks; and then sowed white clover to overwinter and become green manure in most of the beds.

as big as a baseball bat

2008-09-29T12:14:00.003-04:00

2008-09-29T12:11:00.001-04:00

even with some kind of stem rot... the tomatoes are beautiful and delicious...

invasion of the summer squashes

2008-09-15T16:45:00.002-04:00

the red garlic ballads

2008-08-01T16:15:00.001-04:00

Pungent red garlic, Murder City red and Chioggia beets, and a new tattoo.

the killing fields

2008-08-01T16:04:00.004-04:00

Sorry to interrupt, but it's time to die.

I can think of no better way to drown than in beer.

baby carrots

2008-08-01T14:28:00.004-04:00

went into a salad with baby beets, olive oil, garlic and apple cider vinegar.

Bees fucking in the front garden

2008-08-01T14:09:00.003-04:00

"Even within the most beautiful landscape, in the trees, under the leaves the insects are eating each other; violence is a part of life."
-- Francis Bacon

Today, walking down to the river with Girl, I saw a Monarch butterfly flying away with another Monarch butterfly. At first I thought, how sweet, one butterfly is wounded and the other is carrying it back home. And then reality sunk in and I realized, no, the other butterfly is taking it back home to eat.

that other garden

2008-07-30T20:03:00.030-04:00

Here's a pic of the front garden. Echinacea, Bee balm, Marigolds and in the foreground, some orange clustered things that were supposed to be something else (mislabled bulbs from Walmart) Anybody recognizes them? We're getting peas and zucchini now in the vegetable garden and the rest is growing fast. I'll post some shots soon.

beans

2008-07-28T15:11:00.002-04:00

larry was very concerned that the beans were not growing...
but i think it is just a matter of time.
last year i think i had to replant the bush beans 2 or 3 times and the pole beans for sure 2x, and even then the kentucky pole beans really never came up at all.

summer squash

2008-07-28T15:05:00.001-04:00

squash + zucchini about to explode...
this was about a week ago so i'm sure there's some good eating already going on.

Voilà, les premiers radis de la saison

2008-06-29T22:03:00.005-04:00

some pics to the last post

2008-06-22T13:16:00.003-04:00

Not that Lawrence's highly visual prose needs any. But anyway, here's what he's talking about.

rhizomes

2008-06-21T16:03:00.002-04:00

The garlic is scaping and I trim the elegant tips off of it so that the energy can go back down to the bulbs, still buried deep in the earth. We make a pizza out of them: whole wheat crust, tomatoes, mozzarella, olive oil. Another pizza gets kale and sheep's feta. While the dough is rising, John and I go for a walk with Girl. He's plowed paths in the field so that the grass and weeds rise high on either side of us. Only, while walking through the fields the weeds lose their monotonous appearance. In their place are yellow and purple wild flowers I've never seen before. Some look like orchids, others like pineapples. When we get back to the house, I look down at what I thought were more weeds and see thousands of tiny wild strawberries, ripe and red, just behind the dark green leaves. As many as we can pick, there are still many more handfuls to gather in the coming days, to be eaten with labne and honey.

亂中有序

2008-06-20T12:41:00.007-04:00

We left a bale of hay by one of the beds I had planted with chard and overnight the soil that Paul had so meticulously weeded into a rich black loam is flecked with emerald scratches. The chard has started to sprout so that it is only slightly larger than the new grass seedlings. The whole thing looks random and chaotic. I spend over an hour picking out the baby grass from the chard. At times it is difficult to discern what is a weed or grass from what is chard, but as I keep on picking, the chard emerges in neat, orderly rows. The seedlings look first like little splashes of red and green, then like asterisks or webdings, and then like words. And finally the words form into sentences, neat and sturdy.

...how does your garden grow?

2008-06-20T12:33:00.003-04:00

Rosenthal asks me what I grow in the garden and I say "rage," "sorrow," "bitterness." These words hang in the air between us for a moment, long enough to see how silly and pretentious they sound out of my head. I laugh a little at how insufficient language seems to describe where I am at now.
I planted four beds the other day and then went inside to take a nap. It took me a while to hit REM sleep but when I did I had this dream that I was driving and talking to my mother on the phone. At some point I realized my mother was dead and I started crying uncontrollably. I woke up soon after and was surprised that my face was dry. I went back outside and weeded two more beds. I know gardening is supposed to be therapeutic but the weeds just made me angry and I had to take frequent stops to go back inside and get something to drink, or go jump in the pool. I'm already sunburned from working outside without a shirt, so I was wearing my hoodie and sweating. I found the work endless and by the end of the day, utterly unrewarding. Everything I have planted is still too small to eat and requires much tending.
I am angry and impatient with everything lately. And yet when people ask I have no choice but to say, I'm doing fine. I'm OK. There is no cause for alarm. Ignore the sharp knife in my hand or the fire in my breath. My mother is dead and she was the most significant person in my life and I'm just fine. There's not a lot that can be done, except perhaps keeping me busy and away from sharp objects. I feel utterly disconnected from everyone and everything sometimes. I don't want to be, it just feels this way a lot lately: like I'm in some bubble of grief that nothing can penetrate. I am feeling like I need to change my life but I'm not sure in what way I should do this. What edges need polishing, what excesses need to be trimmed. Until I figure it out I'm trying to keep things simple: kill the weeds, get the fucking seeds in the ground, nourish the plants, get my applications in, get my motorcycle license, spend as much time on the bike as possible, go through the motions even if I'm losing it. It helps to think that people are watching. It keeps me from losing it entirely.

Soundtrack for weeding the fucking garden

2008-06-20T11:12:00.005-04:00

NY is Burning by K-Salaam and Beatnick

http://sharebee.com/a3dd7f86

weeds are the devil.

(to download, hit the link and choose the file share service of your choice)

garlic in the snow

2008-04-05T07:20:00.004-04:00

The garlic is up in spite of the odds! April 4th brought what I hope is our last snow. The garden fence was felled by one of this winter's ice storms and I didn't notice it until the deer had eaten the tops off of all the new garlic. Now that it's back up they seem to be doing fine and in spite of some freeze damage at the tips, they're thriving. Thanks to our neighbor Charlie for donating the bulbs and of course Kara for having the foresight to plant them last fall. Lawrence has started some seedlings and I've been sniffing around for some manure as our neighbors supply of aged Beefalo poo has finally dried up. Last frost date here is May 15 and the sensitive crops like tomatoes shouldn't go in til June 1.

charts 2006

2007-12-17T09:11:00.000-05:00

it's winter. there's plenty of snow in glen wild and noreasters passing thru.
it's time to stay inside by the stove.
now there's time to reflect on the garden in the last few years. here are all the charts for the seedlings we started in 2006, which plants were started inside, and which we put directly in the ground. next post will show the same charts for 2007.

kitchen gardens

2007-12-17T08:57:00.000-05:00

finally, finally i'm posting these examples of semi-urban kitchen gardens in Umbertide, Italy. they are very impressive mostly in that every apartment building and house has at least a small plot of lettuce and rucula growning. in fact my friend Diego said that it is totally unheard of to buy greens in the market, because everyone grows there own.

the dirt from umbria

2007-10-15T06:06:00.000-04:00

up in the hills of umbertide huddled in civitella ranieri center, we are surrounded by farms. tabacco, corn and hay. also some olive orchards and fruit trees like FIGS! also all the neighbors have small kitchen gardens. cabbage, greens and some peppers. most people in this region look down upon buying lettuce at the market. everyone grows their own. there is also a program here called 'agriturismo' that was meant to save family farms by turning them into bed and breakfasts with farming as the touristic draw. check the link above for more info.

baci to my peeps in woodridge.

flowers

2007-09-24T15:51:00.000-04:00

garlic
crysanthemums (we eat the green leaves in salad)
nasturtium
marigolds
sunflowers

good for the bees
good for keeping the bugs off the tomatoes
good for the eyes

garlic season

2007-09-23T18:38:00.000-04:00

our neighbor charlie has a dog named sasha who barks loudly but is a sweetheart. he also wears a fisherman's cap and has a good moustache...
but really what distinguishes him to this blog is that he has contributed beautiful garlic bulbs for next year's garden. he grows them in his garden and dries them in his big equipment shed. he also goes to the garlic festival every year.

i made a visit a week ago -- i brought him some zucchini and tomatoes and he gave me garlic and the secret to planting it. it hardly seems like a fair trade since really he was doing us a favor by accepting the fruit. at any rate he gave us a big bunch of garlic with the bon voyage of: plant what you can and what you don't put in the ground you can eat.

just so you know -- i did plant a whole bed -- and there's still plenty for hummus, pesto, and everything else

i almost forgot another great contribution that charlie made -- he told me the name of those huge gourd/squash things our other italian neighbor grows from construction scaffolding in his front yard ::
Cucuzzi

eggplants + peppers

2007-09-23T17:55:00.000-04:00

this year we put in eggplant.
purple + orange
john already tested out pickling the orange turkish ones.

the peppers are green and hot. they are a crucial ingredient in the zucchini fritter recipe we came up with recently to contend with the fact that the zucchini are making a come back.

pomodore -- zutallore

2007-09-23T17:45:00.000-04:00

more tomatoes.

sprawl

2007-09-23T17:15:00.000-04:00

the squash have taken over the far corner of the garden.
underneath all the big leaves and yellow flowers...

cocozelle
white bush lebanese
yellow summer crookneck
carnival winter
nutty delica winter
acorn

rainy day

2007-09-11T21:11:00.000-04:00

rain

finally

the perfect tomato

2007-09-11T20:35:00.000-04:00

yes we are always looking for that one, beautiful, tasty tomato.
i think we've found this year's choice.
it is a cherokee purple. just off the vine yesterday.

but it's lonely at the top.
here are a few friends -- a bit more run of the mill heirlooms but juicy all the same.

bees and inhibitors

2007-08-30T12:23:00.000-04:00

we have an intruder plant in the bush beans. john thought i put it in with a grand plan to inhibit the potato beetles that like the leaves of tomatoes, beans and eggplants. but i didn't. now it is enormous and has these big pods that are drying on the stalk. time to do some research... the beetles are distracted saving the bean leaves for optimum photosynthesis.

inhibitors that i did plant on purpose: nasturtium in the bean and cuke beds + marigolds with the tomatoes. their flowers also attract the bees. bzzzzz.

there have been some fears recently about bee communities and their vibrancy. we have lots. but i've included a link to an article about cell phones + bees. maybe that's why we have to walk to the communication rock for signal, so that we can have bees zooming around doing their thing, pollinating and keeping girl busy (she likes to eat them).

compost

2007-08-29T14:53:00.000-04:00

finally shifted the compost....
trying to keep 3 sections:

new
last year's
2yrs ago

new is closest to the house + 2 yrs ago closest to the road, with last year in between. the idea is to rotate the compost so that we always have some older compost to work with in the garden in the spring. just need to cover up with mulch to get thru the winter.

as i was digging and pulling up big flat rocks, i was wondering who decided to put the compost here in this spot below a tree at the side of the house farthest from the garden. john told me later that it was the site of the original outhouse for the house - half way between the barn and the house -- then it was a chicken coop, then a shed. now that i've already pulled out the rocks, wonder if i should have left them there as a deterrent for moles + their cousins....

2007-08-11T22:45:00.000-04:00

More Out-of-Order pictures to confuse you. A small strawberry is good anytime, in July or August.

hello from the republic of new orleans

2007-08-06T19:57:00.000-04:00

been kicking it up in new orleans.
feeling far far far from the the garden, the catskills, new york, the northeast, the u.s. i'm certain this is another country. maybe when nyc seceeds from the union, it should team up with the big easy.

spent the last few days sopping up good lovin and sweating out every last drop of water while shaking ass to non-stop music. went to jazz mass at St Augustine's church and joined the second line and stepped it on down to the u.s. mint for a day of local brass band magic:

rebirth
treme
soulrebels
freeagents
pinettes

another week of research and play in atlantis.
k

missive from farmer john

2007-08-06T19:46:00.000-04:00

new crops

Garden is thriving. Here's the first batch of Zucchini, The last radish from the cuke bed (The cucumbers ate the radishes!) and thepole beans. Beans started producing like mad. Turnips harvested on Mon. They are huge! First harvest of the bushbeans was sunday. Pole beans are ready to start harvesting in a day or 2. We've only got a few tomatoes starting to fruit, but the plants are doing well. We should be tomato-rich by the party. Cukes are probably a week away from the first pickling. So far about 10 have been harvested. Yummy. Lar is going to plant more lettuces this week. We finished laying down the mulch yesterrday. That's about it. See ya soon.

john

gaying it up!

2007-07-20T19:16:00.000-04:00

john is putting his hand to the beds in my absence. loving it!

2007-07-19T13:21:00.000-04:00

HERE COME THE ZUCCHINI!!!
watch out.

2007-07-12T18:54:00.000-04:00

Here are some photographs of the garden a few weeks back. I've been delinquent in posting the most recent ones--to follow this evening. I am now 90+ miles away and am missing the gardeners and the chives terribly.

rain at last

2007-07-06T11:13:00.000-04:00

a lot of rain. two days of it.
good. needed.
a nice break.
going out in the evening wearing brigitte's big gray rain poncho -- come back dry with chard + salad greens for dinner.

today a quick trip to agway for:
stakes for tomato, bean + zucchini beds
red plastic for tomato beds
research for inhibitors for snails.

to do soon:
rotate the compost pile. yum.

this week

2007-07-04T14:15:00.001-04:00

i know i have to post some images soon. but i'm hoping suzanne will post the various ones she's taken in the last couple of weeks.

have already planted more arugula and radishes and they are coming up.
we ate our first cucumber of the season.
we will have beets and turnips by the end of the week.
we are closer than ever to erradicating grass from the aisles thanks to lots of elbow grease from john and suzanne this weekend. we've started lining the aisles with plastic and will lay down wood chips -- it's gonna look sweet.
the zucchini is growing and growing and growing. i think they will take over.
we finally transplanted the tomatoes. they are in their beds and we have some starters left over to give to the neighbors. just in time for the temps to drop down to 45 overnight. crazy
josh came by for a garden consultation as he begins to design his seed beds. we sent him off with a fistful of chard, basil and radishes as well as four tomato plants and some marigolds.

what we can expect: lots of pickles this fall.

highlight of the week: purple radishes + planting the tomatoes

deer tongue lettuce

2007-06-24T13:24:00.000-04:00

i think that now we know why this lettuce is named after deer. sure the leaves look a bit like their ears... but that's not it. it's that they really like to eat it. it's their favorite gourmet snack. that and endive.

they don't like the spicy stuff tho -- avoided the mizuna + arugula with the nose of a true snobby epicurean.

yesterday morning john and brigitte chased a deer out of the garden.
and yesterday afternoon john and kara fixed the fence.
it's been waiting for a month -- two rolls of black plastic mesh fencing resting on the pile of drainage stones by the garage.

hadn't even noticed the lettuce bed...
what had been big beautiful heads of lettuce ready to pull out and eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner were munched down right to the quick.

i guess i could thank the deer for helping us with two items on the 'list of things to do': fix fence + succession plant the lettuces. HAH!

in response, i planted a few new rows of arugula + endive. today replant some lettuce + prep the tomato beds.
tomorrow: re-lay plastic between the beds and line them with the new chip mulch fresh from the 'wood chippah'

the fence looks great. john put up the fence while i cut the old rusting chicken wire. and every day i'll do a little bit to connect the old fence with the new.

last year's garden

2007-06-14T09:35:00.000-04:00

some veiws from last year.

things to do

2007-06-10T01:11:00.000-04:00

To do :

Transplant basil
Transplant parsley
Transplant celeriac
Transplant leeks
Transplant cucumbers
Transplant tomatoes
Transplant spinach
Transplant marigolds in tomato beds
Transplant peppers + eggplant
re-seed direct pole beans
re-seed direct bush beans
re-seed direct shell peas
thin mizuna
thin beets
thin chard
thin collards
thin kale
thin turnips + parsnips
thin carrots
thin zucchini + squash
thin Japanese cabbage
succession plant arugula
order nasturtium seeds
order mesclun salad seeds
weed strawberry bed
weed herb garden
weed asparagus
set up and plant potatoes
get red plastic for tomato beds
lay down plastic + mulch on walkways
repair fence
research pest control (birds and snails)
plan water irrigation + pump
eat salads, chives + strawberries