Tips from the Potting Bench

Here it is almost the end of May and the forecast calls for ‘frozen mix’ by the end of the week! The weather sure did change with the new moon solar eclipse, although truth be told I’m looking forward to a little cooling off, it means I don’t have to spend so much time watering giving me more time for planting. The temps in the green house will only be in the 90s instead of over a 100, which the plants and I will appreciate. Read More →

Is it time? That’s the big question in the spring garden. Is it time to rototill, is it time to plant this or that? These are the burning existential questions on every gardener’s mind these days. I’m not one to jump the gun and in most years I caution folks to wait until at least Mother’s Day if not Memorial Day before putting in their precious tomatoes and peppers, melons, summer and winter squashes, cukes, beans and corn. This years feels different though, I can’t explain it in any rational terms I just get the feeling the time is now. Read More →

Sometimes I am at a loss for words when it comes to talking about the weather, especially in spring and fall when the nature spirits of two seasons are playing tug of war. Several days of 80 degree temperatures and bright sunny skies can’t fool me. After all, it snowed just about a week ago. Even so, I am tempted to plant out an experimental row of tomatoes, cukes, and summer squash. Read More →

Ain’t that the truth? What a glorious time of year this is, made sweeter by the dark, grey days of rain. First the peach blossoms all alone in the chill and grey of March’s gloom burst forth and glowed in the dankness to be joined some weeks later by the daffodils and tulips. Now the whole orchard is blousy with blooms, and the rain continues to fall. Read More →

It has finally rained enough to wake the old creek that is our property’s northern border. With more rain to come, our gardening activities are limited to inside work. That means one of two things, sitting down with seed catalogs or browsing them online, dreaming and scheming about this year’s garden, or starting seeds. I’ll leave the dreaming and scheming to you, so let’s talk about seed starting. Read More →

Another year, another opportunity to perfect your gardening! It’s garden-planning time once again. The seed catalogs have been arriving in the mail with all their tantalizing choices. Read More →

With two rainstorms under our belts I’m so ready to settle into winter, how about you? I was able to get some winter grain crops sowed before the first storm and with the warm weather that followed they are already germinating. I am really excited to get this new grain growing experiment going. It’s something we have wanted to do for quite awhile. It’s another step in the road towards self-sufficiency. Read More →

Ah, harvest season. It starts in dribs and drabs and builds until you hardly know what to do with all the abundance. There are zucchini the size of baseball bats, crookneck squash turned into warty old clubs, cucumbers bloating and turning yellow and melons so juicy over ripe they burst their seems right in the garden. We gave up on the French filet beans because the seven varieties of edamame I planted all came on at the same time. Read More →