Winter gardening con't.

The PVC 1/2" piping is secured well to the sides of the raised bed with four brackets on either end of each length of pipe. Plus, there's a length of string, not visible in the photo, crisscrossing over the plastic between the pvc. We get some good winds here. It's not had a big test, yet. Waiting for a nor'easter!

There is a thermometer in the tunnel. I'm not able to monitor regularly. But, the temp, on a sunny, warmish (40's) day,  reaches the 60's.

December gardening

Winter gardening has its rewards and challenges.

Buttoned-up

Clips allow for ease of access.

It's great to be eating fresh, home-grown greens in December.



On the other hand..it seems aphids thrive in the enclosed environment. I've lost one broccoli plant. Hopefully, spraying with biodegradable soap will stop the spread of the little buggers.

Aphid eggs..yuck

I've found storm windows to cover my cold frame that is within the tube. The plastic cover doesn't hold up during rain..it collapsed. The glass storms will be great for spring when tube is removed.

Mid November..the season goes on and on!

By now most gardeners in New England may have hung up their tools. The only things left to harvest may be carrots that can be left in the ground all winter. Just cover them with a thick layer of mulch before the ground freezes. You can then reach through the mulch and pull a carrot or two..that is until the snow is too deep!
Kale happily grows in the cold. Brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower), beets, lettuce and leeks can manage some cold. 

Broccoli heads forming!

Broccoli and sage plants not in cold frame as they can manage cold. 

My goal: keep harvesting at the Rotary Garden site in Lowell into mid to late December and to commence growing in March.

I've constructed a "tunnel" over my garden. Withing the tunnel is a cold frame. Plants in the cold frame will enjoy double protection.

Ready for the cold!

Opened up on a warm day.

Seedlings, beets, arugula, carrot and lettuce, developing.

My other garden plots are cleaned-up and put away for the winter. I'll not return to the North Chelmsford plot..too much running around. 
The South Chelmsford garden at Sunny Meadow Farm is a keeper. I've gardened there four years. The soil is in great shape now.
The pea bed is prepared for planting as soon as possible in the spring.
Lots was learned from this year's experiences. For instance, no root crops in South Chelmsford. The voles will need to find food elsewhere.
No potatoes this year. I've just got too many! But more tomato plants!  
Corn needs consistent moisture!!
More photos as winter progresses. 

Busy season

So very busy cleaning-up/harvesting/processing harvest and preparing to start fall/winter crops.

New cold frame for Lowell garden and material ready to build a tunnel over my raised bed in Lowell.

In the meantime, the nasturtiums are at their prime this time of the season.

A favorite

Fall colors

Soon come with more to say. 

Problems and Progress

Rotary Garden, Lowell:

Tomato plants developed a fungus. The leaves are covered with gray-brown spots. A leaf sample sent to the state extension service for testing ruled out late blight for which I am very thankful.  The fungus will not kill the plant but will spread if not watered carefully by watering soil without splashing on leaves. However, this damp, rainy weather is not helping. It’s a dilemma. We need the rain badly. 

Tomatoes still developing on the infected plant.

 

Carrot, beet and arugula seedlings are doing well. I will soon plant more carrots and spinach. 

Wotton St. Garden:

Growth is progressing nicely. The bees love the pollen. Ears on the fist planting of corn are developing well. A few more days until harvest. Yummy. 

Go to: Dropbox to see pictures that would not upload correctly here.

Butternut squash plants blooming and spreading. The main broccoli heads harvested, eaten, shared and frozen. Side shoots are large and plentiful.

One last cabbage to harvest.  A small batch of sauerkraut fermenting nicely.

                     

W.F. Lewis Garden

Only one vole caught in the mousetraps set out. The traps are under propped cardboard boxes to conceal the trap from birds. I suspect ants are eating all the walnut bait.

Look at the teeth on that critter!

 The resident hawk is also helping with vole control. 

This is the bugger I found when I went searching my tomato plant for whatever critter was nibbling the green tomatoes and the leaves.

Horned Green Tomato Worm.

Progression of melon growth

These are pictures of one of ~8 melons I've spotted on my vines in the W.F. Lewis Garden, South Chelmsford. 

I'm finding it amazing to watch how quickly it's developing. 

July 20 First sighted

July 25 Just 3 days later (new moon growth spurt)

July 28

July 30

August 3 Close to full size

Aug. 6..sounding hollow when tapped. Stem is still green..waiting til stem stem browns and shrivels.

Anticipation as it gains full size and ripens.

Beginnings and Endings

I'm very tardy posting this. So much work and no time to post..LOL. Plus, I had family here for a week.

July 20

Back from mini vacation and thankful for friends/garden neighbors who watered and for the mulch that kept things moist during the hot, rainless spell.

An advantage of being part of a community garden. Gardeners helping each other; sharing garden tips and reporting issues that might affect each other. 

Weeds at Wotton St. garden not deterred by heat and lack of water. Need old rugs to suffocate them. 

Butternut’s gotta ways to go. Not even a flower.     

 Ready soon are broccoli, showing small heads, and cabbage definitely forming nice heads. 

·       It’ll be a couple weeks before the first phase of corn ready. Can’t wait.  I hope to get to it before corn borers invade the ears.

·     W.F.Lewis garden holding its own.

·       While peas and potatoes are dying back, hot weather crops are developing fruit.

  Picking young, sweet carrots from small carrot crop. Misshapen. They may have hit a small stone as the roots grew downward.

·     

·       My big excitement was finding watermelons developing on the vines. The challenge, keep them coming.

July 20.

·     
  A vole eating up my potatoes is a downer. Gonna set mousetraps.

Rotary Club Park garden doing very well.
Apologies. I'm not able to rotate pictures. They are upright in my file. 

   Tomato and pepper plants thriving. Lots  of fruit

Aphids found my cucumber plant.  That invasion appears to quickly stopped with the application of borax (the laundry booster) like magic.

·           

·       The first sunflower to bloom. Gotta love sunflowers.

Wotton St. Community Garden, North Chelmsford:

I’m still building the soil. I’ve added well-composted horse manure and compost. Sand was dug in to increase drainage. Nevertheless, there is so much clay; the soil soon hardens when left untended or when walked on. Still the weeds grow through the hard pack. Issues with my back have held me back from digging more.

Corn is coming. You can see seedlings. The third planting completed. It will be a month or so before I start harvesting.

Broccoli showing signs of developing the edible flowers. Cabbage is forming heads.

Butternut squash will soon take off.  A new squash transplanted from raised bed is under the hay. 

brassicas and corn.

There's a transplanted butternut under the hay.

W.F. Lewis Community Garden, South Chelmsford:

This is my fourth season gardening on this plot. The soil is loose, fertile, drains well and weeds are controllable.  I’ve double dug my beds each year; often digging one bed in the fall to ready it for very early season planting of peas.

Potato plants are doing well. Some plants have developed seedpods. I’ve read saved seeds can be planted the next season.

Between the wind of late and the heavy yield, the pea trellis is leaning. An elusive, unknown visitor ate a few pea pods in an interesting manner. It (they) shelled the pea but didn’t just eat the peas inside; they left the outer skin of each pea and ate the middle. We’re thinking it could be a mole or vole.

The peas and the potato made for a tasty dinner.

Will be freezing peas soon.

Tomato plants looking much healthier and baby watermelon plants are starting to vine.

Rotary Community Garden, Lowell

The best soil of all. Weeds are non-existent. Soil is loose to the bottom of the 4’ depth. What a treat.

Bugs are still an issue albeit not major. Now that ladybugs are being sighted it’s time to remove the row cover.

The Serrano pepper plants and plum tomato plants, donated to farmers by Mill City Grows (http://millcitygrows.wordpress.com/), are developing small fruits.  The cucumber, also from Mill City Grows, is doing well. Harvested my first cukes today.

The hanging tomato plant from Community Gardens Greenhouse (www.communitygardensgreenhouse.org) is bearing tasty little tomatoes.

Harvest summary: Cucumbers, lots of peas, potatoes, lettuce, cherry tomatoes and arugula.

Gardens growing

Wotton St. Community Garden, North Chelmsford:

I’m still building the soil. I’ve added well-composted horse manure and compost. Sand was dug in to increase drainage. Nevertheless, there is so much clay; the soil soon hardens when left untended or when walked on. Still the weeds grow through the hard pack. Issues with my back have held me back from digging more.

Corn is coming. You can see seedlings. The third planting completed. It will be a month or so before I start harvesting.

Broccoli showing signs of developing the edible flowers. Cabbage is forming heads.

Butternut squash will soon take off.  A new squash transplanted from raised bed is under the hay. 

brassicas and corn.

There's a transplanted butternut under the hay.

W.F. Lewis Community Garden, South Chelmsford:

This is my fourth season gardening on this plot. The soil is loose, fertile, drains well and weeds are controllable.  I’ve double dug my beds each year; often digging one bed in the fall to ready it for very early season planting of peas.

Potato plants are doing well. Some plants have developed seedpods. I’ve read saved seeds can be planted the next season.

My fingers not that red in real life. But,  you get the idea of the seed pods.

Between the wind of late and the heavy yield, the pea trellis is leaning. An elusive, unknown visitor ate a few pea pods in an interesting manner. It (they) shelled the pea but didn’t just eat the peas inside; they left the outer skin of each pea and ate the middle. We’re thinking it could be a mole or vole. 

Pea vines doing well

The peas and the potato made for a tasty dinner.

small and tasty gotta love new potatoes

almost three cups..another three harvested July 7

Will be freezing peas soon.

Tomato plants looking much healthier and baby watermelon plants are starting to vine.

Rotary Community Garden, Lowell

The best soil of all. Weeds are non-existent. Soil is loose to the bottom of the 4’ depth. What a treat.

 

Bugs are still an issue albeit not major. Now that ladybugs are being sighted it’s time to remove the row cover.

See the lady bug?

The Serrano pepper plants and plum tomato plants, donated to farmers by Mill City Grows (http://millcitygrows.wordpress.com/), are developing small fruits.  The cucumber, also from Mill City Grows, is doing well. Harvested my first cukes today.

The largest of multiple El Jafe jalapeno peppers

The hanging tomato plant from Community Gardens Greenhouse (www.communitygardensgreenhouse.org) is bearing tasty little tomatoes.

tomato plant hanging from blue bracket. Bed partially covered with row cloth

.

Love small cucumbers.

Harvest summary: Cucumbers, lots of peas, potatoes, lettuce, cherry tomatoes and arugula.

Harvest and Sharing

Shelling pea harvests are getting larger. Picked enough for a couple meals for myself. Added them raw to my salad last night.

Benefits of a community garden include sharing ideas and harvests. Seona gave me a head of red-leaf lettuce; another farmer at the CF Lewis garden offered me a head of green leaf.  A little later, a neighbor at the Rotary Club Garden gave me some fresh basil. 

Peas before shelling.

Garden tips, progress and dilemmas

My tomato plants at W.F. Lewis Community Garden are not looking too healthy planted at W.F. Lewis Garden in S. Chelmsford.  The leaves are yellow as if they are lacking nitrogen. I’ve given them a dose of nutrient dense fertilizer and pulled seaweed a bit away from the stems.  

Tomato plants small and not looking too healthy

Asiatic beetles have been chewing on the young spinach and sunflower leaves in the Lowell, Rotary Club Community Garden (RCCG) raised bed. Since these little buggers fly and mostly after dark, the best solution is to use row cover over the plants. 

beetles been munching

The seaweed and coffee grounds help deter the crawlies; seaweed because of the sharp edges. Coffee grounds deter slugs. Not sure why.

Broccoli and cabbage have been transplanted. While corn is coming up at the Wotton St. garden plot in North Chelmsford.  To stagger my harvest about 12 corn seeds are planted every 10 days or so.

Brassicas and corn

Transplanting:

I try to garden by the moon phases. At times, this is not practical.  Most seeds germinate best around a new moon when upward growth is stimulated. Transplant around a full moon when root growth is stimulated. It’s less stress on the plant. Better not to transplant during the time of upward (leaf and stem) growth.

My gardening mentor gave me many tips. One is to remove the primary leaves from the plant before transplanting. 

Pinch off primary leaves

Then loosen up roots. This saves the plant the energy it would expend sending them out. Don’t worry. It really helps the plant. I’ve root-pruned houseplants when transplanting.

Set the plant in the ground deeper than it was in the pot. Roots will develop along the underground stem.

Notice the stem is crooked..It's now buried. The plant will grow straight

.

Before I set the plant in the ground, I fill the hole with water. Mud pie!  This puts the water right where the plant needs it most.

No visual..Sorry.

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