first day of the sprinklers

A little yellow and gray warbler was having fun under the water. He was too quick for me to photograph.

welcome home gift

My parents have returned from the South to their Massachusetts home. (Another sign of Spring!) Skippy and I are visiting today. I have a little package for them - to help start their garden. A few seed packets (nasturtiums, beans, spinach and a summer crisp lettuce). Also plant labels and marker pen. I have a lot of seedlings for them too, but they're not ready yet.

garden gifts
sure signs of spring

row cover for broccoli

This morning I covered my broccoli and kale seedlings with row cover to protect against the caterpillar of the cabbage white butterfly. Gretta says there are also flea beetles around. Both are a real problem and will eat the seedings down to nothing. So these guys get to be covered all season. Later I'll make taller hoops.

cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae)

spring flowers

Spring comes very fast once it starts.

lots of pea sprouts

My neighbor was surprised at how dense I planted my peas. Well I didn't expect them all to sprout. How dense do you plant your peas? I have a nice row of sprouts about 8 inches wide and 3 feet long. I'm planting similar rows as soon as the previous sprouting comes up. The photo shows Pisello Nano, a very short (1 foot tall) green shell pea.

mouse and trowel nominees

Here are the 2008 Mouse and Trowel nominees. Good luck to all. I am glad to see that a lot of the blogs I voted for won nominations.

plot aerial

I thought I was going to fall and kill myself, but no, I survived perching on a tall thin stump to take this photo. I think from this view you get a good sense of the plot and surroundings. You can see the meadow to the right. The surrounding plots. And you can see all of my plot. I have now finished turning the soil, and I've marked out the plot perimeter, doorway and the beds. Now I have to try to stay away from the plot for a few days to catch up on my work and the yard work at home. It won't be easy....

Here's a slide show of some photos from my plot today.

soil samples sent

I just mailed out my soil samples. Just so I remember: sample 1 is from the new plot adjacent to my house, sample 2 is from my old raised beds, sample 3 is from my new community garden plot. I think its likely the soil adjacent to my house will be contaminated with lead and I will need to abandon this plot. We'll see. The results should be back in 1-2 weeks.

topic: soil

photos of my new plot

Here are photos of my plot from all angles. (Plus the plot's guard dog.) My plot is just bordered by rocks so far. (My rock garden.) I hope to put up a new fence this weekend. I've turned about 2/3 of the soil so far.

We went to the plot early this morning to do an hour of digging. I had to tug on Skippy to get him to leave. He's quite at home there. He got a bad stomach ache from eating too much grass around the plot on our first day there. And he was pleased to be able to do some of his own digging in the dirt.

Now that the excitement of the new plot has worn off a bit, I've been able to make more accurate measurements of the plot. The long sides measure 25 feet and the short sides are 14 feet. That's 350 square feet! And I need 78 feet of fence.

I have had some good advice to skip the raised beds since I have good soil. I think the next step will be to mark out beds (about 3.5 by 7 feet each, like my home beds) with string and stakes. Then I'll put wood chips in the paths. I think I'll move the door way from the back side to the front corner, which means a little rock moving.

The fence will go just outside the rocks. I think the rocks will be a useful resource. They will make a nice bench. Maybe other uses.

more pictures of skip

tomato sprouts

Lots of little seedlings!

Solanum lycopersicum

my new community garden plot

My new plot measures 12 ft by 21 ft. Its in the full sun, with the exception of a nice little lilac bush just outside of the plot in the northeast corner. It is surrounded by a low border of stones. No fence yet - that's one of the things on my to-do list. It up on a little rise, maybe a foot or so higher than most of the plots, which are to the south and west of mine. The plot itself is level.

The plot is on the east edge of the gardens, with no one to my east side. I border on a wide open meadow. I have a good view of a nesting box with a pair of bluebirds. I share my north fence with a friendly new gardener, who is thrilled to now have more space than her apartment stairwell for gardening. The other sides are paths.

The soil is very dark and rich as this plot appears to have been tended well over the years. It had some debris from last year's crop on it when I began work yesterday. I removed tomato vines, rosemary and basil plants. There is a nice oregano plant that I left in the northwest corner, and a few mini rose bushes that I left along the north edge. I also helped myself to some rhubarb that was discovered in a abandoned plot and put this in the northeast corner under the lilac bush.

While working my plot, the plot's gardener from last year came over and introduced herself. She said the plot was heavily shaded last year by trees to the east that were removed this fall as part of a restoration project of the adjacent meadow. She admired how sunny the plot was now, but said she just wanted to start fresh on a new plot. She now has a nice new plot, too.

Yesterday I cleaned debris from the plot and started turning the soil. I figure I'll just turn the whole plot first and then mark out beds. I may see if I can make raised beds using timber from old pallets available for free from the hardware/garden store nearby. I collected a soil sample to send out for analysis.

Things to do:
1. Make a good fence, high enough for deer, since I'm on the outside edge of the gardens.
2. Finish turning the soil.
3. Send out my soil sample.
4. Make an area with some shade for Skippy and a bench for me.
5. Remember to wear sunscreen and a hat next time I go there. (I have a red face from yesterday as I'm not used to gardening in the sun.)
6. Pick up the free pallets useful for raised beds, bench, shade arbor or fence.
7. Mark out beds. Make raised beds. Line with wood or maybe leave unlined this year.
8. Bring in wood chips for paths (supplied by town).
9. Find another garden shovel to leave at the plot.
10. Move my two espaliered pear trees to the plot edge on the new fence.
11. PLANT! Its already time to plant most of what I'm planning to grow there.

Belmont Victory Garden

its plot assignment day !!!!!

I was assigned a FANTASTIC plot!!! I could not have hoped for a nicer one. About 12 ft by 21 ft, with beautiful rich soil. Full sun. In the general location I was hoping for. AWESOME! And, a I met really nice group of gardeners at the plot assignment/clean up event today. More than 50 gardeners turned out to clean up the common areas, and 18 new plots were assigned to new gardeners. Such fun! I'll post more details later. I've got gardening to do now....

Belmont Victory Garden

community plots

Yesterday I walked through Rock Meadow Community Gardens with Skippy. I took pictures of many of the plots, which are showing lots of signs of spring planting. I enjoy the different ways of using the plots. Different types of beds and different types of pathways. I'm considering how I will set up my plot. Tomorrow's the big day - plot assignments!

Belmont Victory Garden
sure signs of spring

planting before the rains

Today, in my home garden, I transplanted kale, broccoli and lettuce seedlings. I didn't realize I had so many. I also sowed seeds of radish, peas (Pisselle, Sugar Sprint, Tall Telephone and Capucijners) and fava beans. Rains are forecast, which should water them in well.

bluebirds at the community gardens

Its spring! The birds are nesting. Skippy and I walked through the gardens at Rock Meadow (Belmont) where I hope to have a community plot assignment on Saturday. I was enthralled by the nesting birds. I didn't look too hard, but found several nesting tree swallows and 3 beautiful pairs of nesting Eastern bluebirds!

There's a big open field of conservation land adjacent to the gardens where the town has nesting boxes scattered. It is a beautiful habitat for many species.

garden birds (Hortus Aves)
Belmont Victory Garden

Rock Meadow Conservation Land, Belmont