sideyard aerial - the last photo before we move :-(

skippy's vegetable garden is moving

Skippy's vegetable garden will move soon.

The garden is at its peak, tomatoes ripening, big green basil plants, tall teepees of cucumbers and green beans. I am picking more than we can eat from this cute little garden. But, something else is going on too....

The cold frame is being taken apart and removed as we get ready to show the house to potential buyers. I wonder if someone will continue to maintain my little side yard garden? Or maybe it will be removed and replaced with grass. I wonder. It's been a productive area for me over the past 22 years - even though the amount of sun continues to go down as the trees continue to grow. I must have 1000 aerial photos taken over the years. It will be hard to say good bye....

But then, it will be exciting to start fresh and build a brand new garden! Skippy's vegetable garden will move to a big open area next to a pretty little pond. Our new house is only about 10 miles west of our current one. It's a bit further from Boston, a bit more rural. The back yard has big granite steps that wind down a slope through ferns and laurels and bring you to the flat open grassy area by the pond.

I am excited to mark out garden boundaries soon. I hope to turn the grass under later this fall and let it compost over the winter. Maybe I'll add some fresh manure to compost in the soil too. All winter I can plan, and then in the spring ..... ahhh, I can't wait....

summer solstice weeding

I am amazed at how fast the weeds are growing this year. But then, bet I say that every year.... I start weeding at one end of the garden and by the time I finish, there are big weeds at the far side again and I have to start over.

As I remember, this weed phase is a late June/early July thing - the summer solstice weed race. Soon the vegetable plants will be big enough to shade the weeds. In late July/August, the weeds will wind down their growth spurts as all of the plants move to making seeds and fruits.

But I think this after photo does show a fully weeded summer solstice garden (except for that far right corner). (snap quick) Thank goodness for photos!

rainy May garden

This is my shady garden. I know it will have even less sun this year as those trees keep on growing.

The open cold frame gets the best light (5 hours of sun: 10am - 3pm). I'll plant tomatoes, peppers and eggplants in it soon. I have a pile of compost inside ready to spread and dig under. Yesterday I cleared the last of the winter broccoli and lettuce out of the frame, so its ready to go when the rain clears. The seedlings are soaking up the rain and waiting to be transplanted.

The far left and right beds get the least sun (maybe only 3 hours of midday sun, 11am - 2pm), plus they're shaded by the rose and day lilies next to they. In the far left bed I planted basil. Some peas are struggling along, but I'm thinking they won't amount to much. I'll plant shell beans in the far right bed soon.

The three middle beds get about 4 hours of sun midday (11am - 3pm). Herbs do well along the front. I've planted pole beans there and cucumbers on teepees. Some lettuce is growing well and ready for harvest soon. I'll plant lots of edamame soybeans soon - yum!

getting ready to plant!

Isn't spring wonderful!

I just now clicked on my label link below for "sideyard aerial photos" and was reminded what a tough winter it was. Only one month ago we had a foot of snow, Feb we were covered with nearly 3 feet, Jan and Dec were cold and dark, and October we had Hurricane Sandy.... All I can say is:

Isn't spring wonderful!

garden aerial view

I was talking with my brother yesterday. He's looking forward to planting his garden. We were noticing that St Patrick's Day is only ONE week away now! That's when I planted my first seeds last year. We are wondering if there's any chance we can plant that soon this year.

I remember last year on a 70*F day in mid March I turned in a load of compost into my parents garden in northeastern Mass (mostly my son did the spreading and turning) and we planted seeds for them. We planted beets, lettuce, arugula, carrots and lots of peas. The lettuce didn't do so well, but all the others did great.

I'm hoping our soil isn't frozen very deep now and that the snow will melt from the warm spots this week. I'm getting my seeds ready - just in case. I have some packets of arugula, radish, carrots, beets, Chinese celery, spinach and peas ready to go. Even though its probably wishful thinking.

... and then another 30 or so

snow

We had a powder sugar coating of snow on the garden on this first day of December. It accumulated to about 1.5 inches. It stayed around a day or two, and then melted back to bare ground.

I'm reminded of my fig tree as I look at this picture. It's still sitting in the garden in a pot, unprotected. I have read that its hardy down to about 10*F. We're not close to that yet, but we'll likely get down there in a few weeks. I'm thinking that once the temps fall a bit more, I'll bring it in to my heated porch where my Meyers lemon spends the winter.

weathering hurricane Sandy

We were fortunate with almost no storm damage, though it was WINDY!! The garden is wet and leaf-strewn.

Many houses nearby fared worse, though nothing like NJ. Here's a slideshow of my neighborhood after Sandy.

aerial

aerial garden view

The gardens are full and green.

Click on photo, then mouse over to see what's growing where.

sideyard garden

It was evening when I took this photo from the upstairs window. Earlier in the day I caught the thermometer at 106*F! The sensor is located in full sun in the middle of my open cold frame. With the adjacent house walls and the stone path, it gets really warm. If I move the sensor a few feet to the shade, its a good 10* cooler.

As I am posting this photo I notice a squirrel in the far left bed. What is he doing!!? I spent the day working in this bed. I pulled the peas that were there, added fresh compost from my tumbler, and spread and worked it in. I then planted 3 blocks of plants: Teddy Bear sunflowers at the front, Blue Scotch and Winterbor kale in the middle and zinnias at the back mixed in with some feverfew volunteers. The squirrel is back near the zinnias. I think he has probably found something tasty (to him) in the fresh compost.

I also worked on the little paths between the beds. I spread a good layer of newspaper and covered this with brown wood bark mulch. I have finished the two rightmost paths so far.

The coldframe is filling fast with growing plants. Along the back are cucumbers and a couple watermelon plants. In the middle are eggplants and a tomato. At the front are rosemary, parsley, oregano and basil.

The beds at the left have mostly green beans and soy beans (edamame) in them. (Also some tomatoes, mustard greens, alpine strawberries, y0ung blueberry bushes, sage, chives and parsley.) I have trouble with beans at my community plot because of rampant bean beetles, and trouble with soy beans because of the chipmunks. No beetles or chipmunks here and beans do pretty well in the less than full sunlight.

I've been sowing bean seeds every two weeks all June. They haven't been sprouting well. I think partly because of cool damp weather we had early June. But also my seeds were old. I ended up planting handfuls of the old seeds thick in a little trench. And I bought some new seeds. And the weather got warmer. I have lots coming up now.

At the far right, I have another bed of peas to pull and replant when I have time. I am planning to put in summer crisp lettuces here. Am hoping in this shadiest bed, lettuce will do well in midsummer.

sideyard garden in the cool wet spring

The beds are pretty well planted now with peas, beans, edamame and tomatoes. They are growing slow in the cool wet weather. The peas have pulled down their supports. I'll look for another support next year. But they are just about ready to start picking.

Inside the cold frame are eggplants, cucumbers, watermelon and herbs.

april garden arial

A lot of good gardening weather this week!

Midweek, I moved my Meyers lemon out to its summer location. Its full of fruit this year and blooming again.

Today I shoveled 3 wheelbarrows full of compost to my garden beds, raked it down and did some planting. I usually turn the compost in every spring, but (mostly out of lack of energy) decided to try lasagna gardening this year. Since I have an irrigation system that needs to be lifted and redug when I turn the garden, its a big saving of time to forgo turning the garden. I layered on compost, racked to level, and will turn it locally to plant.

I planted six tomato plants today. Four (Beefsteak, Orange Blossom, Cherokee Purple, and New Girl) in brightly colored cages. One (Sun Gold cherry) has a 10 ft pole. And the sixth (Pink Beauty) is in the cold frame and will get a pole later, when the cold frame covers are removed. It is maybe the earliest I have ever planted tomatoes. What a year - such warm weather!(I'll plant another 6 tomato plants in a week or so at my community plot.)

I have 4 and a half rows of peas growing fast. I am working on getting a trellis for them (and the 3 rows of peas I planted at my parents' garden.) This is next weekends' garden job.

April garden view

Not much happening yet, but soon. My gnomes are working hard. And the peas are growing.

bare winter garden

This year is on track to be the least snowy winter ever in the Boston area.

first snow of the year

Finally. We got a couple inches of snow last night. Looks like it will melt in the next few days.

garden November aerial

snowy halloween garden

After a day of melting, this is my garden. We got about 3 inches of the white stuff on Saturday. Way less than other places to the west of us.

A big branch fell in the backyard that will need to be cleared with a power saw. I hope the weather warms and stays snow-free at least til next weekend so I can clean up my gardens. I was still picking peppers and basil last week and had done minimal clean up. I guess its time to prepare for winter!

aerial after the storm

We were lucky and have very little damage in my yard from hurricane Irene. My rain gauge says we got 3.3 inches of rain. The town of Belmont had a number trees down and power was out in some areas. Tomorrow I'll check out the other side of town where my community garden plot is. This area is low and sometimes has flooding.