super moon

It sure looked 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter!

The Farmer's Almanac says the March full moon is the

Full Worm Moon – March As the temperature begins to warm and the ground begins to thaw, earthworm casts appear, heralding the return of the robins. The more northern tribes knew this Moon as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signaled the end of winter; or the Full Crust Moon, because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night. The Full Sap Moon, marking the time of tapping maple trees, is another variation. To the settlers, it was also known as the Lenten Moon, and was considered to be the last full Moon of winter.

bulletin board

The scouts are installing our new bulletin board now!! I am looking forward to posting notices on it soon. All sorts of action is starting up at the community gardens. There were 4 or 5 gardeners out this morning, clearing up from winter and some turning soil already.

There are piles of debris showing up at the periphery of the gardens - I will have to post signs to show where these piles should be located. I'll also post a map of the plots so people know their plot numbers. Of course garden rules should be posted.

The front of the board will be locked and covered with plexiglass for "official" notices, the back will be open cork board for interactive use. I hope there will be communications about seed swaps and gardening tips etc. What fun!

bird watching

Just a couple nesting raptor links here:

I have come across a great web cam that streams video from an active bald eagle's nest. They currently have 3 chicks in the nest and Mom and Dad are very attentive parents, bringing them lots of fish. Virginia Eagle Cam

And the other link is a blog I am hosting of the red-tailed hawk nest near my house. We have a Yahoo Group and I post the updates on the blog. This nest currently has eggs in it, though no web cam so we don't know how many. Red-tailed hawk blog

parsely, sage, rosemary and thyme

These are the herbs I picked from my garden this weekend. Really nice on our grilled winter squash and roast pork dinner.

overwintered rosemary

My rosemary plant has survived the winter outside! I forgot to bring it inside last fall. When the snow melted, I was surprised to see that its still looking good. Its growing in a corner of my cold frame, roots inside, but leaves outside of the frame. Maybe it survived since the soil that did not freeze. Or maybe the deep snow cover was protective. Or both.

sowing seeds

Diane reminded me that its nearly time to plant the tomatoes. I printed out a planting calender for myself (from the on-line calendar link on my side bar). I will plant eggplant, peppers, marigolds, basil and beets this week. Next week, tomatoes and cabbage. I have pots and soil ready.

snug cold frame

Here is my cold frame with its newly replaces plastic panels on the front and back. Also new battens to seal the seam between the top panels and the sides. In the next warm day, I will add compost to the soil and replant everything.

crocuses

I love how the first crocus push their way up through whatever debris I've left behind. Soon I'll rake the leaf layer from the garden beds, carefully.

seedlings

These are photos of my seedlings over the past 2 weeks. The tray at the top was started Jan 28. Mostly lettuce, endive and onions. I put them out in the cold frame around March 1. Some of the seedlings frosted because I didn't realize the plastic panels of the cold frame ripped in the wind that week.

The bottom seedlings were started Feb 26. Broccoli, celery, frissee, dill, radicchio and more onions. They are ready to go out to the cold frame soon.

update

Wow - its been a really busy week. My job has been taking up all of my time. Finally today, I have time to work in my garden and to catch up recording what's going on here.

The big thing that has happened is that THE SNOW IS GONE!!! It seems like spring has come all of a sudden. Last week was warm, but very dark, dreary, and lots of rain. This weekend it cleared, the sun came out bright and all of a sudden the spring bulbs are inching up and blooming, and the birds are very active. Our hawk pair that we watch has been laying eggs in their nest. My sparrows are cleaning out their bird house and the robins and cardinals are singing loudly at dawn.

Yesterday, I bought few bags of compost and manure to amend the soil in my cold frame. I tried to do this last weekend, but was told the bags were still frozen and snow covered and couldn't be purchased. Now that I have them, my plan for today is to remove all plants from the cold frame, spread the compost, turn it in and then replant the plants.

My cold frame has had a makeover in the past week. The plastic of the front and back panels ripped to shreds in heavy winds. We replaced it with new plastic. Also, replaced the foam strips that seal the space between the door panels and sides. More work needs to be done to replace tape on top door panels, but this can wait. It's nice and snug now. Temp inside was up to 75*F yesterday!!

I moved my first tray of seedlings out to the cold frame last week. I lost about 1/4 of the little plants, because of the cold and open panels, but much of the seedlings look great now. Especially the lettuce, which is so big it will be good to transplant it out of the little pots later today.

I planted another tray of seeds last week and they are nicely sprouted now. Mostly broccoli, greens and more onions. These can go out to the cold frame today. And I will start up a new tray of seeds. I think its almost time to start my peppers. I will have to check on this.

Its almost time to plant the peas and fava beans too! Last year I planted these on St Patrick's Day (March 17). I didn't think there was anyway the snow would melt by then this year. But it looks like I will be able to plant this week! (I forgot the order fava been seeds - I will do this tonight.)

Tonight I am planning to place a couple seed orders. I have a bunch of items circled in my Asian catalog: Kitazawa, and also in my Botanical Interests catalog. I will add fava beans to these.

I have a bunch of photos I have taken during the past week that I will add here later today. Right now, its time to go out and work in the dirt.... :)

Belmont community gardens

Still deep snow in the community garden plots. But at least it has compressed enough so we can walk on it. Skippy and I walked in to look at my plot for the first time in two months. Its still snow covered. Except around the compost bin.

signs of spring

I think spring is right around the corner. The birds and squirrels seem to agree. The mornings have become noisy with bird songs this week. Snow piles have melted a bit in recent rains. The warmest southern sloped yard in our town has lovely snow drops in full bloom. A friend of mine who lives in PA told me lots of flowers are in bloom there - crocuses and tulips - so soon spring will make its way up to Boston soon. Its so exciting to watch the progression.

award!!!

I'm the recipient of an award from HORTICULTURE Magazine!!! How cool!! Thank you, I'm honored.

The award is for "Best Gardening Blog" and editor Jenny Koester posted a nice review of my blog on her blog: Best Gardening Blog—Skippy’s Vegetable Garden.

She even gave me a fancy badge to post. I'll get it onto my side bar soon.

I think in honor of the award - and to spite the snow - I'll go outside right now and bring my seedlings to the cold frame to start hardening off. Its 45*F right now inside the frame. Some of the snow on the cover in the photo below has begun to melt. March 1 seems like a good day to start bringing new seedlings out!

side yard aerial - another snow-covered garden photo

No, this isn't just the same photo as last month - even though it looks identical. We got about 5 inches of snow on the garden this past weekend. And even though we've had warm days, there has been very little melting of our 3 feet of snow cover.

more snow photos