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July 22nd 2016

A beautiful, hot summer day in a New Hampshire garden... So many beautiful flowers and veggies thriving in the warm humid air. Happy days ahead, I think.

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July 12th 2016

The garden is reaching is crazy stage where everything is booming with flowers and vines are scrambling every which way... It’s a delightful mess and I’m trying to be ok with the proliferation of weeds. Here’s a hot pink nasturtium (I didn’t even know they came in the color!!) and one of the first baby tomatoes to start growing! I started these plants from seed under a small kit with a grow light that I bought from Ocean State Job lots and I wasn’t too certain these plants were going to make it. Yet, here they are, massive and bushy (no... I didn’t build the fancy tomato cages I had planned on constructing, so it’s about to get even more jungle-y in the garden) and thriving.

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July 11th 2016

The delphiniums are flowering! I bought these plants in a little four-pack from our local Agway in the early spring at just $2 a pop. I’ve never grow delphiniums, but always wanted to. Anxiously, I planted them and wondered if they’d make it -- this hillside on the farm gets a lot of direct wind, and they’re in a part of the garden that’s most exposed to wildlife. Yet, here they are, flowering away like sapphire trumpets :) Also, here’s a picture of little Milo, attempting to play with Gaby. Interestingly, Milo is a girl and Gaby is a boy b/c names don’t have genders. Also, interestingly, both Milo and Gaby are rescued barn cats. 

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July 10th 2016

It really feels like we finally hit the turning point of summer - all the flowers are starting to blossom, and the veggies are taking off. The garden is a mess but it’s also a food forest... Lots more insects this year taking their bite out of the harvest, but I haven’t been nearly as good about weeding and working out in the jungle this time around. There’s been so much going on that needs my attention. 

We got two full days of rain, which the garden really needed and although it meant all of the plants exploded with new growth, it also mean that my strawberries - especially the ones planted under the fruit trees - were flooded with slugs. Millions of hungry, hungry slugs :( 

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July 1st 2016

1 & 2: these mystery caterpillars are snacking on the kale that re-grew from the stumps of last years bumper crop in the old raised garden. Pretty, aren’t they? I haven’t a clue what they are though.

3: My first harvest of home-grown strawberries! Admittedly they look a little rough here, but I’m still so excited to be growing my own fruit! Something (I suspect baby wild turkeys) nibbled off all the blueberries on our new bushes, but at least they left the bushes intact.

4: Little cabbage heads are forming! I have seen cabbage moths fluttering about, so I’m a bit anxious about how they’ll turn out - no one likes biting into a cabbage worm :(

5: We officially have tomato blossoms! In other parts of the country, people have been harvesting tomatoes for weeks now. Oh well. 

6: The garden looks all wild and rambley this time of year. The weeds are growing like crazy and I haven’t the time to keep up with them. Oh shwell.

7: A garden bouquet! Dill blossoms, cilantro flowers, apple mint and nasturtiums - come to think of it, everything minus the lilies are completely edible in this arrangement :)

8:The tomatillos are working their way into a righteous jungle state. I’m excited.

9: Watermelon vines are really starting to take off! So are the cukes and the pumpkin, but they’re on the opposite side of the garden.

10: Ahh collard greens. So majestic. So bushy.

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June 22nd 2016

1. The sweet peas are FINALLY flowering! I interplanted fragrant sweet peas with the regular sugar snap peas, but I haven’t seen any evidence of their colorful blossoms. :/ 

2. The tomatillos have started flowering, despite severe attacks of some bug... I thought maybe leaf miners were the culprit, but after googling that’s clearly now what’s been eating the plants. Maybe a beetle? Flea beetles? It looks like the best option to control the problem is to add a thick layer of mulch around the plants and plant more radishes (plant trap!)

3. The strawberries I planted in the early spring are looking much, much better. I removed all the strange, small berries produced last month, with pushed the plants to produce lots of strong runners, big flowers and now big berries are underway. I’m hopeful that we’ll have a bumper crop of berries! I’d also like to remove the black plastic and replace with with saltmarsh hay, so the runners can set down roots. Plus, strawberries prefer straw to plastic, though I think they appreciated the extra warmth when they were planted.

4. I planted 2 lupines this spring - one out by our new apple tree and one with the strawberries. Lupines are in the legume family, fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil. They’re great companions for all fruit, and draw lots of beneficials!

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June 20th 2016

We planted bunches and bunches of radishes in the garden as a pest deterrent/companion plant. They mature in 23 days and come in lots of fun, colorful shapes & sizes! I don’t personally like radishes, but I’m going to look into some recipes for roasting them :)

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June 15th 2016

There are so, so, soooo many wild daisies growing here. I had to laugh when I saw some of the local greenhouses selling them in their perennial collections. Ummm why would I pay $14 for a native flower growing right in my backyard and literally everywhere else in the state! They’re very lovely, though & make the best flower crowns. 

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June 14th 2016

1&2 Peonies, peonies, peonies!! These are from an old bunch of peonies that were on the farm when my parents bought it in ‘99. I moved them about 4 years ago, carefully dividing the rhizomes and I think they’re ready to be divided again this fall. I think I will add more peonies to the opposite side of the rock wall at the same time. (I’ll order them from fedco when I order my fall bulbs)

3&4 Our pansies and violas are still going strong - I might start drying some again to make all natural flower confetti again (having just sold a whole bunch!)

5 Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of this flower (I bought it on sale at a local hardware/garden center box store) but it has done incredibly well in the new perennial bed. All those flowers open up at once, making for a lovely bushy display of blooms. 

6 Spinoza is checking out the front yard :)

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June 10th 2016

Summer poppies and duckies. Enjoy <3

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June 3rd 2016

1-3: June is IRIS time!!!

4-8: The veggies are loving the intense summer heat we’ve gotten - somewhat uncharacteristic of this area’s climate. 

5: The strawberry bare root plants I ordered are doubling in size daily - I’m so happy with my choice for a ground cover under the fruit trees! Side note, it’s probably time to add more straw to the mulch layer :)

6: Spinoza looking cute af <3

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May 30th 2016

1&2: We left a whole row of kale winter over in our raised beds (now dedicated to flowers!). The deer came up to the house and nibbled on the greens for much of the winter, yet many of the plants survived, sending up curly leaves and bright yellow spires of flowers on smoky purple stems.

3&4: Our duckies are all grown up! 

5: I have planted bunches of new perennial flowers around the farm, including this false sea thrift. We’ve also been mulching all the beds, slowly but surely with very well aged wood chips donated by the roadside tree-trimming company that came through town a few years ago.

6: This cheerful coreopsis is very happy in the big vegetable garden, which has a huge ring of perennial flowers around it. We chose plants that are deer resistant, have beneficial qualities for the fruit & veggies we grow, and attract beneficial insects. I’ll be adding bunches of flowering allium and daffodils this fall (can’t wait!!!)

7: There are bunches of volunteer plants in the aisles of the raised beds from last years flowers & herbs. Sunflowers, nasturtiums, dill, parsley and cilantro just popping out of the dirt! There are also bunches of lemon squash in our lawn under the pear tree. Oh nature! 

8: Speaking of volunteers, we planted a small row of hopi red dye amaranth last year and let it go to seed (supposedly you can use the seed for food coloring, but I never got around to collecting & processing the seed heads. So, now we have amaranth coming up EVERYWHERE! Happily, the small leaves are excellent and very nutritious in salads.

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May 26th 2016

1.Our rose plant is looking so delightful! It’s called watermelon, in the watercolor series. Oo la la! Roses are supposed to be good companions in orchards. My hope is to build up a healthy mix of perennial plants in this part of the garden, attracting beneficial insects and creating a diverse mini eco system. 

2. Seriously, gotta love those flowers!

3. Our apple trees are doing pretty well after being planted. I don’t expect any fruit this year, despite the flowers :)

4. I order 100 (!) bare root strawberries to grow under all the fruit trees as ground cover. Every single one of them is doing incredibly well, despite my lax watering and the high temperatures. If I ever have to purchase strawberries again, I guarantee I will be ordering them online again.

5. Ahh, happy fruit garden! I think next year I will add some plum trees and maybe a pear tree &/ another peach tree. And raspberries. And rhubarb. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself?

6. Happy wheel barrow! I never know when I am going to find a great deal on perennials! I went to one of my local big box hardware stores to pick up some irrigation parts (which I finished installing, by the way!!!!) and found a whole rack of practically hidden 50% off perennials. There wasn’t anything wrong with them - no disease, bugs etc; they had just flowered. Whoopie for me! I snatched them right up and planted them down in the new garden.

7. A view of the veggie patch :)

8. Our little ducks aren’t so little now. They love coming out first thing in the morning and snacking on bugs. I’m hoping to get them to come closer to the garden so they can start snacking the ticks that keep trying to snack on me!

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May 22nd 2016

Ahhh I just love this time of year! Spring is full of fun things, like our new fruit trees (2 apples, 1 peach) and blueberry bushes & even more strawberries. 

The duckies are big enough that they can play outside of their little duck yard during the day. 

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May 19th 2016

The garden looks BEAUTIFUL this morning!!

Our row of strawberries is so happy

There are even some wee berries growing already! These are ever-bearing varieties, so we should have fruit all summer. *fingers crossed*

The peas are up! Sugar snap peas and sweet peas (the pretty flowering variety) :D

They’re ready for trellising -- gotta get on that ASAP!

We planted lavender last week in the boarder bed, meant for flowers and perennials. Lavender smells amazing, can be dried and used for cooking & potpourri and has the added benefit of being deer resistant! (x) 

I drove all over the place (to 3! different nurseries) looking for garlic chives, as companion plants for our three new fruit trees (2 apple, 1 peach) but didn’t find any that looked healthy enough to buy. Instead I found lupine, bee balm, statice and perennial alyssum (which I have never heard of before!)

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May 18th 2016

Ducklings in a pool! ... Because I know you wanted to see this. Who doesn’t want to see ducks swimming for the first time. I hope we can walk them down to the pond and let them go swimming soon!

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May 17th 2016

Spring is like a perhaps hand (which comes carefully out of Nowhere)arranging a window,into which people look(while people stare arranging and changing placing carefully there a strange thing and a known thing here)and changing everything carefully

From "Spring is like a perhaps hand" by E. E. Cummings