In the Garden: September Frost

Just when I start to feel like I will never catch up with the garden produce, there was one last rush (the harvest all plants, protect everything possible frost warning rush) and then it was mostly over. This year we had a frost here on June 1st and on September 20th- this is technically normal for our area, but we were spoiled the past couple of years.

It wasn’t just a frost though this year- we got 3 in a row, with the overnight low on the last night at 28F. I was able to harvest a ton of things and cover my peppers (their tops got singed, but the peppers themselves continue to grow) and of course the fall hardy veggies like kale and cabbage did fine under cover. I still have carrots, but had to say goodbye to cukes, zukes, tomatoes, green beans, and all the herbs. Surprisingly, the raspberries are still producing. I can’t believe they survived those frosts, but I’m thrilled to still be harvesting a handful or two every couple of days.

September 18th Harvest

SO many green beans. This is after I froze a 1 gallon bag

Drying herbs & strawflowers & some of the bouquets I picked before the frost

Sad plants after the frost

Very sad tomatoes (I picked a ton of green tomatoes- still waiting on some of them to ripen)

Chard and kale looking good under the cover

And so the gardening season begins to wind down. I have a ton of cleanup to do that I’ve been putting off (much less fun than planting or harvesting) and also have a lot of bulbs to plant in October. There are still some veggies and fruits to eat, but the pace is much slower now. Fall is truly here.

In the Garden: July & August

The garden felt like it was lagging a little in July. I had lots of flowers, but still mostly greens for veggies.

But there were still strawberries and the raspberries really started to come into their own.

The zukes & cukes were still so tiny & the climbing beans on the other side of the trellis hadn’t even begun to climb yet. Next year I will start a couple cucumbers & zucchini plants earlier for a longer season.

However, even just a couple of weeks later in August, things started to really explode. In that same bed, the zucchini started really producing, as did the cucumbers.

And the beans started climbing the trellis. On the other side, the peas were pretty much done for the season.

And the flower beds were looking lovely. There have been so many birds, bees & butterflies this year- it makes me so happy!

There were so many blueberries this year- I used an organic Berry Booster from Gardener’s Supply – but somehow I don’t have any pictures of that.

Tomatoes were hit by blight but are still producing. The Double Click Cosmos got slightly wind blown in the tropical storm a couple of weeks ago but are still going. I’m just letting them be crazy.

The herbs are having a great year- I just made a huge batch of pesto with the basil, and we’ve been eating lots of falafel with parsley & cilantro from the garden.

Some greens are still going (the kale is wrapped here to protect it from cabbage moths), but most of the spinach and lettuce is gone, and the peppers are just starting to produce (another thing I will start earlier next year!). Green beans are also producing so much! And I sowed a few soybean seeds just for fun and whoa they are going crazy. Turns out they are vining, which was a surprise! I love edamame though so hoping for my own mini crop.

And the harvests are getting more diverse and looking better every day. I love this time of year!

Early August

Mid August

In the Garden: Late June 2020

June was hot and dry for us here, which was tough for cold loving crops like spinach (mine quickly went from tiny but growing to seed). I also found my broccoli and cabbage were slow to grow.

I was watering every morning before work for awhile- a garden is definitely a labor of love!

Eating: peas, lettuce, garlic scapes, herbs, and strawberries.

Waiting: for the raspberries and blueberries to ripen.

Hoping: that the peppers, broccoli, and cucumbers actually start growing (spoiler- they did once things weren’t quite so dry. Even watering every day wasn’t really enough for them.)

Here’s what the garden has been looking like:

Blueberries with lots of berries that will hopefully ripen by the end of July, and rhubarb in the back.

Baby pepper plants- I started them from seed in April and next year I will definitely start a couple earlier. They’re so tiny! Also some kale, lettuce, and green beans in this bed. Plus I added a dahlia because I wasn’t sure where else to put it.

Lettuce, some flower starts, some kale, broccoli, and cabbage in this bed. Yet again I’m having a hard time with scallions. I was told they were easy but not for me!

Tomatoes- so many (21!). Some cages I was loaned, some made.

I planted pole beans on one side of this trellis, cucumbers on the other, with zucchini in the rest of the bed. Now if things could start growing, that would be great!

Garlic- scapes are formed so I harvested them. Soon it will be time to pull out the garlic and dry it so it lasts a little longer. I’m not expecting this to last all winter, but it’s nice to have some through the fall and early winter.

Herbs that I started from seed are finally big enough to start harvesting which is exciting. Again, I’d start a group of them a little earlier next year. Learning every year!

And finally, some flowers because they make me happy. Look at the color of these delphiniums! The lavender in this bed is just about to bloom too. The forget-me-nots are done and looking a bit shaggy as is the lupine.

In the Garden: Early May 2020

This is late, but I’m still posting because it’s fun to look back…

We are in the midst of a heatwave here in New England, which is changing things rapidly in the garden. We had snow on May 8th and now we have temperatures in the mid 80s. It’s kind of crazy!

But I took these photos just before the heat hit, so it shows a more normal May for us.

In May, things are still waking up for us. Barely any leaves on the trees, and a lot of the grass isn’t green yet. The flower garden had bulbs I planted last spring (daffodils, muscari, and tulips) bringing some color.

For food, we are still pretty limited- asparagus, chives, and rhubarb is all I’ve harvested. The cold frame is new this year, so this fall and next winter I hope to have greens in it early (though that will reduce my seed starting capabilities, but I’ll figure it out).

May is when asparagus starts to come up here. We went from none to a lot so fast! This is my 3rd year with the asparagus bed, so I can actually harvest this year. The first year you harvest nothing, the next year only a little.

My peas went in- they don’t mind the cold

The rhubarb is also looking good. I over harvested the first year, so last year barely took any, and it’s looking great now.And in the herb garden, regular chives and garlic chives are up. The oregano I put in a pot didn’tsurvive the winter

Garlic continues to grow.

I’ve moved most of my seedling out to the cold frame. As it’s above freezing (mostly) now I put them on top during the day to soak up the sun, and put them inside at night.

And now for the flowers- bleeding heart is putting on a show, lots of white daffodils in the white garden. And this is the first spring of the blue and purple garden and I love it!

The long bed also has daffodils and tulips for the first time (it was tiny last spring and I did a major overhaul and expansion). I want to add a different color daffodil in the fall- I think there’s no dimension right now, but I’m so happy to have the color.

In the Garden: April 2020

The garden and the outdoors have always been a place of refuge for me when the world seems like a lot to handle and my mind needs calming.

So even though it’s still early here in Zone 5, I’ve been spending a fair amount of time on gardening things.

First off, an update on the garden. It currently looks like this:

There is a flower bed down the left in the photo with blueberry bushes at the foreground. There are 5 4×8 raised beds (adding another hopefully this week!), two 4×4 beds, and a coldframe that is new this year and currently housing some seedlings.

It’s not huge, but it’s big enough for me for now and I can grow a lot of food in this space.

Since it’s early here still (we had snow yesterday), not much is going on yet.

The garlic I planted in October has started to come up – it’s much more clear in real life, but look for the green shoots.

The blueberries have buds and the rhubarb is starting to appear just behind them.

Still waiting on the asparagus- this is the 3rd year so should have a decent crop I hope!

The chives are coming up.

And there are seedlings in the coldframe. I’m just trying this for the first time, so some successes and some failures. I started dahlias from seed and they were not pleased in the coldframe.

I’ve direct seeded some peas in the lower bed with a trellis and some radish in the bed up top.

And I’ve been germinating seeds inside under grow lights before moving them out to the cold frame. Chard, kale, spinach, broccoli, cabbage and more. Lots of cold loving crops!

At this time of year, it’s mostly prep still- making sure the garden plan will work, starting seeds on time (I made a spreadsheet with seeding dates), and putting compost (delivered in bulk as my own compost has been slow to get started) on all my beds to give them plenty of nutrients.

My goals for the year are mostly around better succession crops. I managed a very good harvest last year but it was kind of a glut- a ton of produce all at once. I’m going to try to start seeds multiple times this year to see if I can spread it out more. We don’t have a root cellar or a spare freezer right now (dreams for the future!) so mostly I just want to eat homegrown veg in season May-October.

But for now, it’s mostly waiting and checking every day to see what early spring flowers are popping up.