SCHLAVER SEED FARMS - The Garden Blog

The year is ending....

2011-12-16T21:40:00.000-05:00

December 16, 2011: The year is rapidly ending and I haven't posted since early November. Well my excuse is I have been on the road! Now that the gardening and canning work is done for the season I finally was not tied to the homestead and its demands. I made a long overdue trip to Los Angeles to spend some time with my oldest son, Benjamin. We spent some time in Las Vegas (no, I didn't win) and really enjoyed our side trip to the Hoover Dam and new bridge near it. Boy the water level was low, thanks to endless development in Nevada and their water demands as well as a dry year out there. Las Vegas was fun though and we did visit the Pawn Store made famous on the History Channel's "Pawn Stars" TV show.

After a few days back in Maine I boarder a train for a consumer conference in Washington DC and then traveled on to Richmond VA for a visit with the relatives there, especially the elders, Ruth and Ralph. After those day I returned via Amtrak to New York for some nice time with Roxi, Julian and Cotton. We went to Rockefeller Center and saw the big tree, ice skating pond and some stores and went to the "Top of the Rock" for a breath taking view of New York City at night.

I returned after this ten day trip and did a second craft fair sales effort of my canned goodies and began the process of preparing for the Christmas visit of the whole family for the holidays. In the age of on-line shopping we all are ordering things to be delivered here and there has been a steady stream of trucks in the driveway: USPS; UPS; and FedEx! The tree is up and the baking of cookies and other goodies is about to begin.

It has been a very satisfying year at the "Schlaver Seed Farm." The garden did well with far more crop successes than failures. The canning was a big success with a grand total of 436 jars put up! Many items are in the freezer and a lot of potatoes, squash, garlic, herbs and onions are in storage. The freezer also has many bags of veggies and fruit. I am loving my new kitchen and living area and look forward to enjoying it together with the family. We will no longer be crowded at a table too small, the crowded walkways and kitchen area. Part of the time will be spend shelling beans for there are still two bushels of dried bean pods to empty and then put the beans into jars. I plan to make a big pot of chili this week before the family arrives using some of the garden raised kidney beans. I am sure I will end up with a full winter's supply of the three varieties of beans grown when the shelling is all done. The wood stovc is going strong and the wood piles are ready for whatever the winter weather brings us.

I wish all the blog readers a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Fall Surprises

2011-11-04T08:08:00.000-04:00

November 4th: October had several surprises here at the Schlaver Seed Farm.The biggest weather surprise had to be the record-breaking October snow storm. Right before Halloween 5 plus inches of heavy, wet snow hit, bringing down many branches still full of leaves and for many, but not me, power loss. An "extra" visit from the Brooklynites let them enjoy the snow experience here. As the pictures show below, one day Cotton was having his final fling with his sandbox and Hot Wheels jeep and the next day he was making snow angels with his mom.

Earlier this month my sister, Marcia, made her first visit here from her home in Michigan and kept busy shelling beans for me while catching up with family tales and news. David was able to show off his nearby condo to her as well. He traveled to Notre Dame after she left for a long overdue visit back there and missed the snowstorm. A few remnents of the snow are still here as the nights are cold and the days are sunny but fairly cold. The first hard frost only happened on the night befor the snowstorm that hit October 29th so it was a long growing season. When the frost hit the beautiful dahlia blooms ended their showy display. Now I have to cut back the debris and dig all the tubers as well as the gladiola tubers for winter storage. This is one of the several garden cleanup tasks remaining.

While I have had to wait several days for the snow to melt and the leaves to dry again so they can be gathered, I was able to borrow a powerful wood splitter from a friend. I had a big stash of cut logs from recent tree cutting and gathering so was able to tackle the splitting with this machine instead of the backbreaking wood of hand splitting with my trusty maul, axe and wedges. For four days I went at it for about 4-5 hours per day and now have about two full cords of split wood for next winter. I need to now stack and cover it for the year-log seasoning process. I have plenty of wood already set for this winter. I put a small amount on the deck right near the door and the wood stove; another small pile in the garage near the ready-to-go snowblower and have big stacks in other nearby locations that I access throughout the winter. The splitter was still a grueling task for so many hours as many of the logs were big and some were in four foot sections so they needed to be cut with the chainsaw first to stove-sized length. I could not' be happier though, to now have so much of next year's supply in hand. I will be even happier when it is all stacked for that is a pretty big task remaining to be done.

November will be focussed on final garden cleanup and leaf gathering now. Many tasks remain such as protecting the strawberry and asparagus beds, and removal of the remaining plant debris. The only crops still in the garden are some leeks and some horseradish awaiting harvest. I continue to sell my jam, salsa and pickles and many beans are still piled up awaiting shelling. I made a big pot of chili this week using some of the recent bean harvest...it was good!

Summer ends quickly and Fall is now here!

2011-10-03T09:12:00.001-04:00

October 3rd The month of September simply flew by and now the Fall is here and all the new tasks and weather changes that means. A lot of "Cotton time" did occur in September though since he had his 4th birthday on the 13th. The New Yorkers were here for a long weekend before that date and it was filled with some birthday activities, including his second visit to the Seaside Trolley Museum. The pony ride occurred in Brooklyn New York though. I went there for a long weekend myself and he had his debut on a pony named Snickers. His skitishness about doing that soon turned into a happy thrill.

On the home front I can report that September was fairly cool and rainy and the harvest soon was slowing down. The tomatoes flourished and salsa making was strong but by the end of the month the tomato patch quit producing. The tomatillos are still going though so now the production of green salsa is catching up to the red variety. The next batch I make should push the jar total over the 400 mark. My first sales opportunity will occur this Thursday at the Saco Bay Garden Club Fall harvest potluck meeting. I have also notified the Union Church community of the direct sales possibility. I am taking orders! schlaver@maine.rr.com I plan to donate 10% of all 2011 sales to the Saco Meals Program. My supply of jam includes blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, rhubarb-orange, peach jam and I have both apple and peach butter. The pickle choices include bread and butter, both dill and sweet spears, hamburger dill or zuccihini chips, pickle relish and dilly beans. Of course there is either green or red salsa.

I have had specutacular sunflowers this year thanks to the seeds Julian gave me last Christmas. The birds have enjoyed them a lot as well. Speaking of animals, to my surprise my late summer garden has excperienced a deer invasion. Fortunately most of the damage has been confined to eating leaves like all the sweet potato plant leaves and the beet tops. I decided I better harvest the pumpkins and winter squash as two pumpkins were also devoured, presumably by the deer.

It is now the time of year to return to some wood cutting to begin developing the piles of firewood for next year so it can begin to season over this winter. There will be tons of garden cleanup work to tackle as well and then there is the annual leaf gathering ordeal! Ah Fall...but the colors will be so pretty!

I should mention that I have approximately three huge bushel baskets of bean pods now separated from their dried plants. This will result in many jars full of dried beans, like pinto, cannelini and kidney beans. Baked beans or chilli can't be beat for a cold winter's evening meal. The shelling of the pods is to be a big fall project and I am hoping upcoming visitors all pitch in on that task.

Irene Visits the Farm

2011-08-30T20:31:00.000-04:00

August 30th: Hurricane Irene did not do much damage here in Saco. We only got about two inches of rain in total. The pictures below show the only damage. A lot of small branches littered the yard and my third planting of corn suffered significantly. The biggest impact was the loss of a fairly large black walnut tree between my property line and the large Field Garden. It split off on the top and now needs to come down and be turned into firewood. It will be a challenge to cut down since the large upper part of it is hung up in a nearby tree. This project will be tackled in the weeks ahead. I do have sufficient firewood cut, split and stacked for the coming winter. This will start the stockpile for the following year.

I continue to enjoy a good harvest and a busy canning season. As of today the tally has reached 235 jars of various items, mainly jam and pickles so far. My neighbor's peach tree needed to be completely picked before the storm hit as all the fruit was ripe and ready and would have been knocked off the tree for sure in the high wind. I turned this bounty into jam, peach butter and canned peach halves in syrup in addition to some baked goods. I am looking forward to the next fruit harvest, namely the first grape harvest from the now three year old grape arbor.

The first ripen regular tomatoes have now been picked and soon a ton of them will follow. The grape and cherry tomatoes are endless as is the neverending cucumber harvest. The green and yellow beans continue to flourish and the pepper harvest is doing well. My sweet corn is being attacked by racoons as well as wind storms but I have enjoy a fair amount of tasty corn ears this year. I even managed to put some in the freezer for a mid-winter treat.

Cotton at "Summer Camp"

2011-08-18T22:02:00.001-04:00

August 18th I am writing this late in the evening on the night before Cotton's parents return from Brooklyn to reclaim their son after his eleven day stint with "Pops", his second 2011 stay at "summer Camp" with me. We had quite a time together! He certainly loves his time here on Ferry Road but I am sure will be glad to see his parents tomorrow. The garden may have been neglected a bit during this period of time but it is mainly at the point when it is simply growing food and triggering a lot of harvesting while the weeds finally play second fiddle.

Before Roxi and Julian left to return to New York and their busy work schedules they managed to do tons of work here on the farm organizing the garage, working in the gardens and helping me further organize the new kitchen and prepare for the canning season. Roxi has plunged into the wonders of jucing fruit and veggies for nutritional beverages so I resurrected my old, but good juicer that has been pretty dormant for many a year. Cotton sure loves to watch the "vegetable poop" (pulp) it produces.

He enjoys my neighber, Pipe Smoking Paul's backhoe and other machinery as well as sitting on my knee on the riding mower among other activities. He is also shown here watching Ms. Clarence the rabbit that sits in his garage hutch, enjoying the fruits of the garden and adds her fair share to the compost pile.

The most exciting outing of Cotton's visit here happened just yesterday when we traveled to Portland and took a ride on the old narrow gauge railroad along the shoreline of the harbor in the city and visited the attached museum. Cotton is quite the train buff and loves anything related to trains. He rode in the cabbose and sat up in the "cupola" part of it where the train crew would observe the condition of the many freight cars in days gone by. He managed to persuade me to buy him a wooden train set in the museum gift shop that he is constantly now playing with here.

We also had a great day at the nearby ocean beach last weekend. He is constantly visiting the gardens and like to stand there and pick blueberries, blackberries and cherry tomatoes right off the plants and eat them. He eats bowlfuls of sliced cucumbers as well. This coming Saturday we all will take a boat ride to the Wood Island Lighthouse off of Biddeford Pool for a visit. That activity should cap a great August time in Maine.

I should certainly give a brief garden harvest report for the faithful readers, though. The cucumbers are growing like crazy as well as the zucchini. I am ahead of last year's canning totals for the pre-tomato harvest point in time. I have done 175 jars of just jam and pickled products and there appears to be no let up in the harvest so that total will climb. I am a little worried about the tomato crop for this year as few are red yet but the weather has pointed to a later harvest so maybe all will be well if the rest of August is hot and so is September. The sweet corn is almost ready and should be a bumper crop. Potatoes are plentiful and most are still underground. The garlic was all harvested and with great results.

The heat has arrived in Maine!

2011-07-19T08:24:00.000-04:00

Much of the U.S. has faced an endless heat wave and drought this summer but Maine has just joined the trend with some high 80's to low 90's in recent days. I really never complain about the summer heat in Maine for high humidity often is not part of the process at all and even if there is a typical heat wave it is only a matter of a few days each summer. Also, there is an ocean beach barely a mile away!

The vegetable garden welcomes the heat for now the growth spurt begins in earnest. I would still say the typical harvesting of various eatibles is about two weeks behind last year's pace. This spring was cool and less rainy and growth was slower. The big tomato bed shown below has a long way to go. These sixty tomato plants are much smaller than they were in in mid-July of 2010. My starting plants were fairly small though so that was an additional factor. My landscape cloth method to help give the plants a chance against the prolific weed growth seems to be working. I still find handweeding to be a regular necesity but it isn't nearly as difficult of a process this year thanks to the cloth. One picture shows a bed of cucumbers, squash, etc. and each "hill" of the plants has a cloth rectangle buffer zone with the plants in the middle of it. I plant a lot of beans for dried bean use and a photo below is one of three beds of them: red kidney; cannellini; soldier beans, and pinto beans. They stay in the garden until the plants and bean pods are completely dried. I better throw a bean shucking party this year for reducing this harvest of dried plants to jars of individual shelled bean varieties will be a big project this fall....many hands will help.

Vases of flowers are beginning to be an easy addition to the house now. The shasta daisies are in full bloom and all over the place. The hydrangea bushes get biggier and bigger each year and other colorful flowers grace the flower and vegetable gardens. As the season goes on the range and beauty of flowers gets better and better. Unlike many gardeners, my efforts here have not been carefully executed to have constantly changing blooms but the gardens are not too off the mark on that score for there is now much new color to follow the earlier tulips, irises, daffodils, et al that started the colorful look in the spring.

The harvest tally so far has been eight weeks of incredible asparagus and I only just reluctantly stopped that harvest so the plants could begin the process of going to seed and renewing themselves for next year. The rhubarb continues. The strawberries are done for the year but yielded about 40 quarts and 43 jars of jam in addition to lots of fresh berriy eating and some giveaway baskets. Lettuce from the garden has eliminated the need to even consider buying at hte supermarket for the rest of the summer. The first meal of Swiss chard has happen as well. The first zuchinni and yellow squash are nearing the dinner table as are the first of the cucumbers. The snap pea and snow pea harvest was a small one but tasty. A few small broccoli heads have been harvested as well.

Blueberries are right around the corner now and should be prolific as will be the blackberry crop. Green beans are a matter of two weeks away as well. I don't expect any tomatoes until August though.

On a daily basis I pick the Japanese beetles off the grape vines but aside from this daily burden I can report the thrill of watching the many grapes grow in size, pointing to the first grape harvest on the grape arbor in this, its third year.

So while the hot sun limits the amount of garden work one can endure as July moves along, I marvel at the rapid growth of the veggies and patiently await the big harvest. The visitor calendar is rapidly filling for the month of August but all family and friends on that schedule will certainly enjoy the tasty results and the fun of simply standing in the garden and eating some items right off the bushes/vines like blueberries, blackberries, cherry tomatoes, grapes, peaches, apples, etc!

The kitchen is Complete

2011-07-02T06:57:00.000-04:00

July 2nd: The perfect large "farm table" was located and purchased by Julian and Roxi at a local antiques store and added to the house to complete the kitchen remodeling. Ironically the color of the old barn board top and the sturdy legs match the new cabinets and butcher block perfectly. I am thrilled for a large table to serve the crowd on those holiday dinners or other gatherings was my desire. It is perfect for just sitting around to socializing, making puzzles, spread out pictures and papers or most any activity. These images also give you further views and more perspective on the overall room. The images do not show the view out the deck doors that is directly to the left of the table in the first photo.but on a sunny summer day it can't be beat. The view and openness for air and heat circulation was a major goal of mine with this project. I so wanted to eliminate the wall that was the barrier between the kitchen and the rest of the space. Now it is all one open, grand room.

I can now shift my focus more to the gardening tasks at hand as the summer weather really begins in Maine. That means confortable high seventies and low eighties in temperatures and only rare days of high humidity. Maine is sure a delight in the summer! I continue to harvest asparagus, strawberries, rhubarb and lettuce...the only edibles so far. The weeds are flourishing and keep me very busy but the veggies are growing too. I just planted more sweet corn since the first planting is now several inches high. The cool spring and slow to arrive hot weather has set growth back by about two weeks on such things as corn, beans and tomatoes but I am not worried. I have cut off the garlic "scapes" and soon will harvest my largest crop of garlic in my gardening years here.

As the Furth of July weekend is at hand I am quietly pondering my good fortune to be here in Saco Maine on this wonderful property. I especially think of my mother now too for on June 30th we honored her on the ninth anniversary of her passing in her 89th yeear. Her hard work and frugality enabled me to buy this perfect retirement homestead and I will always honor her and my father for that by caring for it as best I can and sharing it with family and friends as they both always did with their home back in Mount Prospect Illinois.

The Kitchen is Ready for Strawberries

2011-06-24T07:34:00.002-04:00

June 24th: FINALLY! The kitchen is done! Only a few minor tasks remain. The "stone wall" isn't complete since more tile is on order to complete it to the ceiling above the window. The floor hasn't been refinished yet either. But I reclaimed the kitchen yesterday just in time to make my first two batches of strawberry jam. Today I will bake some rhubarb pies. With the addition of a constant supply of asparagus, I am enjoying these first three crops from the gardens...in great abundance this year. I can start harvesting lettuce as well now but must wait a few weeks before anything additional. I can cut of the garlic scapes now and the garlic plants really look great so I hope for a big harvest in July.

I have done a ton of planting this yer with three major beds of beans for drying: pinto, cannellini, Jacob's Cattle (soldier) beans and kidney beans. My first planting of sweet corn has emerged so it is now time to add some more rows for the succeeding crop. The potatoes and onions are doing fine. Many cucumbers, winter squash, melons and summer squash seeds have been planted as well. The tomato plants number about 70 and have much growing to do before and red fruit will appear. I am very pleased that the tomatillos self-seeded as per usual and I will have an abundance of them again for my green salsa making. The pole beans are starting to climb the trellis's and all other veggies are moving along on schedule.

I expect this to be a great year for fruit for the blueberries and black berries are prolific on there plants. Many, many tiny grapes are forming on the vines for the first grape harvest on the grape arbor. The first picking of strawberries yielded nine quarts and more than that are ready for the next picking. These are all from the Field Garden beds for the Raised Bed Garden berries are always a bit later to ripen. The two asparagus beds yield a pound or two every other day so has been a regular item on the dinner table for a few weeks now. My newest planting of a third asparagus bed should be ready for some picking next year to even make the yield greater.

But the biggest news this late June has to be the kitchen. The huge island with its walnut butcher block top is the spectucular center piece of the room now. What a treat it was to be able to SIT DOWN to prepare all the strawberries for the jam instead of endlessly standing at the old kitchen sink. I am in the process of relocating all the dishes and equipment to the new cabinets with their easy to use sliding shelves. I love the granite counter and stone wall too and the new oven and cook top have preformed their initial duties very well. I am so happy with it all and look forward to playing host again to family and friends and sharing the bounty of the gardens.

Early June Activities

2011-06-04T21:47:00.000-04:00

June 4th : An update from the Schlaver Seed Farm is long overdue. There is much to report after a ten day visit by Julian, Roxi & Cotton from New York. First of all I should note that the kitchen remodeling project is not finish but huge progress has now given me a fully functional kitchen even if I am not moved back into it with all pots and pans et al. A terrific electrician was found and he is working hard on the project. The cook top work; the sink is in and along with the dishwasher means no more struggles in the bathroom as the source of water and dishwashing. The oven is in and operational as well. The granite counter top and under cabinet lighting is a real treat and a beautiful work spot for me. The refrigerator is now encircled with cabinetry and a bookcase completes that end of the room. The huge island with its walnut butcher block top make meal prep, and serving appetizers and plating food easy and enjoyable. Roxi and Julian enjoyed sitting on stools at it and doing laptop work as well. The new ceiling lights are not fully installed yet nor has the ceiling been refinished or the floors resurfaced but the light is in clear view at the end of the tunnel!

The major project that Julian took the lead on was power washing and refinishing the front door small deck and the large deck off the living room. In addition the entire railing around the deck was power washed, sanded and primed boy Roxi and Julian. Of course there were weeding, planting and other gardening activities. The 60 tomato plants and 100 sweet potato slips are finally in the ground as well as many other plants and seeds. The weather has been perfect with sun and warmth but not too much heat for all this activity and almost no rain to slow us down. We have been eating asparagus almost daily but have a couple weeks to wait for the strawberries.

Cotton spent endless hours in his sandbox and tried to fully participate in all other activities in the garden, lawn mowing, and painting. He is a very busy, active little boy when at “Pop’s house.” He has discovered the wonder of worms but does not enjoy spiders at all. He will now spend a full week with me without his parents and then the two of us travel Amtrak trains back to New York.

Blossoming Inside and Outside!

2011-05-23T16:27:00.001-04:00

Yes, the kitchen is blossoming into its final form and the apple trees in my neighbor's orchard are in bloom as well. There has been a big construction delay because the electrician expected to do the project has failed to start at all. The crew installing the cabinets and doing all the other tasks have done a great job working around this problem. It will not be ready by Memorial Day for sure but I might get lucky and have a sink at least and the cook top in place and functioning. The granite countertop by the window is to be installed on Thursday the 26th and the plumber and gas company are to come on Friday to finish the install of the sink and cook top. If onl;y the electricity work was done as well so the hood fan, lights and dishwasher on that wall also worked for the weekend!

No new ceiling lights are in place yet, of course so the ceiling and the floor refinishing has to be delayed as well. Hence the project will certainly linger on well into June. But I love the look and am anxious to make some rhubarb pies from the rapidly growing rhubarb. In early June the first of the strawberries will be ready for jam making and the canning season will begin. A functioning kitchen better happen fast!

The weather here has been cold, rainy and endlessly cloudy with minimal moments of any sunshine. Hence any seed planting has triggered few emerging signs of growth. We really need some sun and heat! No late frost or flooding as in past years but really no better gardening results with the weather we did receive. I continue to do what I can with wood cutting, weeding and garden bed preparations but yearn to just be planting seeds and veggie plants and watching them grow.

Progress in the kitchen and the gardens

2011-05-14T06:58:00.000-04:00

There is a lot to report about for the last ten days. First of all, the kitchen work began again after a long pause with no action. As you can see below, the new cabinets have started to be installed. Next week should be full of activity with the appearance of the electrician finally so the work can now rapidly progress. I am hoping to have it all done by Memorial Day weekend but that might be a close call.

The weather continues to be very nice with not much rain and slowly warming weather. The May full moon will not bring a late frost as was the case last year. As the weather has been a lot chillier than 2010, the flowers, blossoming trees and early veggies are about two weeks behind "schedule." My glorious border of tulips along the Raised Bed Garden is in full bloom now and the fruit trees are just beginning to flower. My first asparagus pick finally occured and various seeds have now sprouted: lettuce; peas; turnips; broccoli raab and the first beet seedlings. The onion plants have adjusted and are standing up nicely but the seed potatoes haven't broken through yet. I continue to work on my firewood supply for next winter and now have over two cords stacked and covered.

Even though I am mentioning this last on this post, the most exciting news of the past ten days was my first experience with an exploding airbag and the death of my trusty 1992 oldsmobile. Yes, a car crash happened but no injuries occured except the death of a long time (since 1995) family friend, the olds. Another car turned into me at a bad intersection and my car is not worth fixing. I still have my reliable pickup truck but will miss this comfortable vehicle that ends its use for me at 192,000.

Check back soon for more kitchen pictures will be posted in a few days!

Blooms Abound and Veggie Planting is in Full Swing

2011-05-03T07:41:00.000-04:00

    When the magnolia tree is in bloom the joy of spring dominates the landscape here at the Schlaver Seed Farm. The daffodils, hyacinths are blooming as well and the tulips are beginning to open and sport their bright colors.
     Grass cutting has even begun after the mice nest was removed from under the mower's engine cover and the moveable parts were oiled and readied for use.
    The rhubarb is growing nicely and the garlic gets taller by the day. I look hopefully for the first asparagus sspears to emerge. But it is time to plant the spring crops that don't mind chilly weather at night and spring rains. So the following crops are now planted: peas, beets, carrots, radish, turnip, broccoli raab, lettuce and lots of potatoes and onions. The Brussels sprouts and kale stalk left in the garden last fall are growing again! The last image is the potato patch and rows of onion plant protected by landscape cloth to protect them from the devestation of weeds and grass that stunted that crop last year. The potatoes total 125 feet of them in six short rows. Approximately 250 onions are in.

Day Two---Kitchen Remodeling Continues...

2011-04-26T19:04:00.001-04:00

Wow...Day two and much progress. The old post and beam are done and I think it looks great. Next comes some electrical work before the cabinets can be brought in and assembled. I thought I should post a picture showing the company truck. Great comnpany, workers and ideas that helped the job evolve well as it is done.

Kitchen Remodeling Begins!

2011-04-26T09:49:00.001-04:00

On Easter Monday the work began on the new kitchen. The wall between the old kitchen and the living room is disappearing to open it all to the glorious southern sunlight exposure as well as gain the wood heat benefit in the kitchen as well. A big island will be added thanks to the openness. A huge amount was accomplished on day one and the pictures below indicated. On day two some old barn beams are to be added as two support posts. The ceiling beam made on site will be covered in old barn floor planking as well.

Expect a burst of blog posting now even if no significant garden news. I can say that the spring flowers are now bountiful even if the cool weather and April showers limit the pleasure of warm weather and garden work.

Finally...SPRING!

2011-04-15T09:50:00.001-04:00

Yes, I think I can finally announce the arrival of spring in Saco Maine. As of today, April 15th all traces of snow are gone from my property. I still used the wood stove last night as the temperature dipped to 32 degrees but most days are sunny, fairly warm and beautiful...except for the now more frequent rainy ones. When the ring of crocus aroung the lamp post is in bloom I know spring is here to stay. Below that photo is my garlic bed with the 168 of them growing well. Most of the flower beds have now been raked clean of their winter's blanket of leaves and mulch and there is good growth of the emerging perennials everywhere. The daffodils will be the next to bloom followed by the hyacinths and tulips.

My main project outside besides yard and garden cleanup is the hard work on the wood pile. I try to have almost all of next winter's 3-4 cords of wood cut, split and stacked before the hot weather makes such work too grueling and the garden projects get too demanding. The two pictures below show that I am almost half way there now. I have several piles of wood pieces that need to be cut into stove lengths and split to add to the covered piles as these below. I am on track though because the cooler, slow to arrive spring of 2011 compared to 2010 has limited the garden work that can be done as of yet. Grass cutting is still weeks away as is any outdoor planting of the first crops of peas, potatoes, lettuce and the like.

I am also busy getting ready for the kitchen remodeling project that is to start on Easter Monday, now just ten days away. While the crew is busy tearing up the place I expect to be outside gardening and working on the wood stash....and watching the new look inside the house unfold.

April Fool's Day -- What a Joke!

2011-04-01T10:26:00.001-04:00

Well...I guess winter decided to play an April Fool's Joke on us today. The pictures below were taken this morning simply by opening the doors and snapping the images. The first one is almost a duplicate of the shot from the deck door taken in February and the front door image shows the temperature this morning as well. It is a heavy wet snow that is expected to bring 3-6 inches of it right along the Maine coast but then turn to rain. I refuse to shovel it so will await the transistion of warming, melting weather over the weekend. I put my snow blower away weeks ago!

I have started some seeds indoors already but not too many as there clearly will be a slower arrival this year of good gardening weater compared to last year. The temperatures of late have been fairly brisk, only 30-40 degrees most days with a fair amount of sunshine. Before today's snowfall there were only a few snow piles remainig to melt. I have been focused on wood cutting, spliting and stacking...for next winter's supply. This is the right kind of weather to work on that strenuous task. Very little other outdoor work has been attempted yet other than some raking on parts of the lawn, removing debris from the winter. I have still not uncovered the flowerbeds of leaves and mulch as it is just too cold to expose the beginning flower growth. Only a few crocuses are blooming and the daffodils and tulips have a long way to go before they bloom;.spring is sure slow to greet me this year!

Waiting For Spring to Arrive

2011-02-26T14:22:00.000-05:00

I write this a few days before March begins yet there is certainly no hint of spring on the horizon here in Saco, Maine. The pictures below were taken today, February 26th, a day after the latest snow storm brought six or so inches of heavy, wet snow to Saco. Another storm may happen tomorrow and even if some days next week reach the 40 degree range as predicted, the nights will continue to be below 32 degrees. This winter has not set any records for total snowfall but these pictures show as big of piles of snow as I have seen in my eight winters here. The diference this year has been the fact that there has almost been weekly snowstorms since Christmas and the weather has stayed cold so melting between storms has rarely occured. I certainly hope the spring, when it finally arrives doesn't bring a steady deluge of rainstorms and flooding!

No serious garden planning has occurred yet even though the seed catalogues continue to arrive in the mail. I have tallied my seeds on hand so I can soon place an order though. The greenhouse is set up in the basement for some indoor planting that should get started in early March.

The wood pile is rapidly shrinking as the wood stove continues to have a voracious appetite for logs. I certainly will go thought the three cords I had split, cut and stacked for this heating season. If there is some decent snow melting in early March I may be cutting more wood for this season in addition to beginning the process of working on the stockpile for the winter of 2011-2012. Ideally the following winter's wood piles are prepared in the spring and neatly stacked and covered to dry over the long summer and fall months.

There really hasn't been much to report on since my last posting in December. The Christmas gathering of the family was fun and festive as always. I have made two more New York trips for Cotton babysitting duties, or as he would say, "I am not a baby, I am a boy." I have endured two long, lingering winter colds, read a lot and made a lot of soups and crock pot stews. Much time has been spent planning for the big news here on the homestead this coming spring, namely a complete makeover of the kitchen. Cooking, canning, freezing and endless food preparation of the harvest has been challenging in my current kitchen. Soon a wall comes down to open it up to sunlight from the south facing deck glass doors, to allow the warmth of the wood burning stove to better reach the kitchen and to have a big island and lots of counters to handling all the work needed for my Schlaver Seed Farms operations. The new cabinets are now being made and the actual construction on site will begin in late April. I bet I will do a mid to late May posting on this blog of the results!

The Garden is done for 2010

2010-12-11T17:27:00.002-05:00

Everything has now been harvested for this gardening season except a few leeks that have now been mulched and can be pulled as needed. There aren't enough left to worry about beyond the holiday season but certainly enough for some good pots of potato-leek soup! The garden beds are mulched with chopped leaves or straw for the winter. The strawberry and asparagus deserve the special straw treatment.

It was quite a garden year in 2010...the best ever. The larder is full with canned, frozen, dried or fresh stored items in a cool corner of the basement. It was a bit tramatic for me to now visit the supermarket produce department and not just smile and only buy bananas as was the case since July. If I want lettuce, cucumbers or tomatoes I need to buy them now. The seed catalogues are arriving for my winter enjoyment but I am not thinking about or planning for the next season yet.

I am due for some down time finally and some resting for my weary bones after many vigorous months of garden and yard labors. The only outdoor work now involves carring wood to the house for the wood stove and some cutting and splitting of logs and branches already gathered this year in anticipation of next winter's use. I need about three cords of wood each year for my stove and would like to have most of next winter's wood all cut, split and stacked for seasoning now before a lot of snow falls. I do have most of that amount in various piles awaiting that processing. It is sure satisfying to see the small amount of oil added to the tank each time the truck arrives each month, for the price is steadily jumping with each delivery. I end up saving nearly $1,000 per year by using my own wood. I manage to gather the wood for no cost from my neighbor's acerage or other opportunities that present themselves. So the only cost for wood gathering is a lot of sweat labor.

After a great trip to NewYork and Richmond VA for Thanksgiving I now look forward to playing host for Christmas here for my family. The tree is up and will be decorated this weekend. Some friends have decided to purchase many jars of my canned goods this year for some of their gift giving. I also had a few sucessful public sales events thorugh my social groups at Union Church and the Saco Bay Garden Club so can report a good year of sales as well. I made a donation of a portion of my sales to the local food bank and am kept busy with my envolvement with the Mission Committee of Union Church that does a lot of great charitable work on the local as well as international level. I am now the treasurer of the Garden Club so have some new duties with that organization as well There is plenty of jam, salsa, pickles and tomato sauce though to get me through the long winter and spring.

The winter will not be boring for me at all with my local activities and much desired down time to rest, read and enjoy the fruits of my harvest. I now want to send my best wishes to all my blog readers that their holiday season and winter months are also filled with rest, good company and hopeful thoughts for the new year.

The Last Rose of Summer.

2010-11-19T20:43:00.000-05:00

The last rose of summer is now blooming. The main colors left on the farm are the fall colors of leaves and some berries as on the bittersweet vines that are plentiful around here and fun to use as decoration by the front door as well as inside the house. The ordeal of gathering all the leaves, mulching them for compost, adding a winter cover for garden beds and the mulching of perennials is a major annual task but now about done. We have had some windy rain storms the last few weeks and it has hastened the fall of leaves. At this point I can report that most of the garden chores are now done, everything needing a protective cover for winter has it now, especially the strawberry and asparagus beds.

My final tally of canned products has hit 400 jars! Nearly one third has been sold and the shelves in the basement are buldging with the rest. I have my wood stash for the winter all covered and in place in a few accessible locations and the snow blower is now in position in the garage. I am ready! A few veggies are still in the garden: Brussels sprouts; leeks; kale; some carrots; Swiss chard and turnip greens.

I want to share a fun video with you, faithful readers of the blog. In late October Cotton and his parents visited and he had a chance to help make apple cider in the old cider press and also enjoy the Saco Fall Festival downtown. I think the video speaks for itself as to how much fun Cotton had as well as his parents and I. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fFPCpSOA9Q

Apple Cider Making and Other Fall Activities

2010-10-21T10:21:00.001-04:00

The harvest continues on well into the month of October. No killing frost has occurred yet so I can still pick flowers, harvest lettuce, herbs, tomatoes and other crops that the frost could harm. I have harvested all my potatoes and am thrilled with the sweet potato crop especially.

My neighbor, Paul B. has lent me his antique family apple press and in these photos is assisting me in the old fashion fall ritual of turning dropped apples into fresh cider. In this first session the yield for three hours of work on a Sunday afternoon was five gallons of cider. We have since done it again and ended up with six gallons! Some of it has been processed in the canner and now there are twenty-two quarts of cider on the shelves along with the other jars of things. The fresh cider can last nearly three weeks though and is delicious. I am sure the compost pile will benefit from the mash left after the pressing and bees love it too.

It is definitely fall now and the nights are cool even if no serious frost yet. The wood stove is in use each night and a wood pile has been stacked on the deck for easy access.

I recently noticed many, many small asparagus shoots growing the the garden paths surrounding the original asparagus bed in the Raised Bed Garden and decided to make a new bed in the Field Garden from them. To my great surprise I suddenly had 110 new plants to contend with! I made a new bed but could only use about 70 of the plants so am trying to find a home for the remaining plants.

The harvested items on the front porch give you a sampling of the bounty this year. I am still serving any dinner guests many fresh salads, cooked veggies and fresh fruit as well as enjoying it all myself. The canning jar total now stands at 370 with the addition of the apple cider and also the first batches of canned pear halves and pear jam from the pear tree. Pears take a few weeks to complete the ripening process after picking so there is more canning action to come. The pear tree is the first of the six dwarf fruit trees to produce a crop. I also plan to use some of the nicest dropped apples to make some apple butter. I make it in my crock pot and cook it all night. (All the apples I used for the cider and will use for apple butter come from the neighbor's old apple trees as my apple trees have not produced a crop yet.)
I am sure I will set a record of over 400 jars of items this spectacular gardening year. I have done well selling some of it to Union Church friends and Saco Bay Garden Club members in addition to giving many jars to family and friends. I look forward to the trips to the basement all winter long to grab a jar of jam, salsa, pickles, juice and pasta sauce.

The only other fall planting to be done is the mid-October planting of garlic. The task was accomplished yesterday and I put in 187 individual cloves of the stuff. I decided to increase my annual supply. My yield for this year was 116 heads of garlic. Since it was such a productive year of canning of salsa, a lot of garlic was used in that process. This led my to determine I needed a bigger yield in the future, hence the increased planting for 2011.

There are still the following crops in the ground and are safe from cold weather harm: Brussels sprouts; carrots; beets; Swiss chard, and turnips. My tomatoes are all but done finally and I could harvest more tomatillos but really can't use them all. I even have some nice Indian corn for decorative use and have been adding the corn stalks to my lamp posts for a fall display. When the frost finally hits I will start digging the gladiola and dahlia tubers for winter storage in the basement. I am now starting to take in the various benches, deck furniture and garden decorations for the winter.

My only pet, a female rabbit that was named Clarence before her sex was determine, has moved from her outdoor rabbit hutch to her winter quarters inside. This image shows her via the web camera. If you go to this web location you may be able to watch her in real time during the daylight hours. I occasionally have the camera on the Field Garden view though, instead of turned toward her hutch: http://saco.schlaver.com:90/javaimage.html

It's October and I am still Harvesting Daily!

2010-10-01T21:55:00.000-04:00

The weather is holding nicely…cooler and some rain but no frost. I may be able to harvest some late peas,turnips, snow peas and radishes that were planted in hopes of a fall crop. My fall crop of green beans produced nicely. There are still tomatoes in the garden and I am cooking everything RED imaginable: chili, pasta sauce, soups and stew with tomatoes in them…and still canning tomato-based products.

The sweet corn was a big success and just harvested in September. Soon I will have decorative Indian corn as well. Acorn squash was the success story in the squash family and I have about two dozen in storage. The leeks are huge and I am due to start using them. They join Brussels sprouts and kale as the frost safe crops so there is no harvest pressure for them.

Anyone visiting me these days leaves with a bouquet of gladiolas and or dahlias as well as tomatoes, tomatillos, Swiss chard and yes, some of the endless zucchini crop! Many green peppers, various hot peppers, okra and eggplant are still growing and are part of the daily harvest as well.

Sales have begun of some of my canned goods, namely various jams, pickles and salsa. I look forward to more sales in October and some customers plan to buy extra for gifts for family and friends for the holidays. After all I have over 300 jars of products so can easily sell off many of them.

My crop of dried beans is now all “shucked” for storage: pinto, cannellini and kidney beans as one of the pictures show. I still have to finish digging the potatoes and pulling the onions and am very curious about the size of the sweet potatoes remaining underground. All should be harvested in the next week or so.

Harvest Time Is In Full Swing -- and Fall Approaches

2010-09-17T11:52:00.000-04:00

The bounty from a good garden season continues to pour into the house from the garden. The tomatoes and tomatillos have triggered the production of now over 100 jars of salsa. I am turning tomatoes into others things as well, namely, pasta sauce, BBQ sauce, hot sauce and just plain canned tomatoes. There doesn't seem to be any end in site either to the basketfulls of the red things every other day.

The canning jar tally is now at 300 and climbing from there. I have put the word out to my Maine friends and church or garden club colleagues that jars of goodies are now for sale. I am hoping many jars are sold and the money can help fund the garden needs for next year. I still have more potatoes and onions to dig and as the photo of the leeks show, it is time to make some potato-leek soup.

My gladolias and dahlias are now showing wonderful blooms all over the Raised Bed Garden and the black eyed Susans, sedum and other late summer-fall flowers are in full display. I am still cutting the acreages of grass but not as often now. The nights are cool for sleeping and the days rarely bring sweat producing heat. Unfortunately I seem to spend most of my time in the kitchen except when it is time to pick more tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, and greens for dinner. If I was a vegetarian I might not visit the grocery store at all!

August in Maine!

2010-08-30T20:47:00.000-04:00

Where do I begin...the Garden Blog has been long silent due to some computer issues here at the Schlaver Seed Farm. Those problems are now over, thanks to son, Benjamin, so now I can catch up and give a report on the 2nd half of the incredible summer in Saco. This is my eight summer in Maine and the weather this year has been the absolute best of them all...even if the rainfall has been less than what might be needed for the garden. We have had endless sun and warmth, cool nights for sleeping, far fewer mosquitoes than usual and the tomatoes are thriving!

I continue to fight a losing battle with weeds in the fairly new Field Garden. I am seriously conidering an investment in a large amount of black plastic for next year. I can anchor that on the beds, add slits and holes for the seedlings and plants and hopefully better manage the weeds as a result. The onion and potato crop has yielded a stunted, in size, harvest because of the weeds stealing the water and nutrients from the crops. This has also been the case with other veggies like the cucumbers and corn. Yet I am pleased with what I have been able to harvest so far. The tomato crop is mammonth and so is the tomatillo yield as well as various varieties of hot peppers so that means lots of SALSA!

Anyone that has been sitting at my dinner table this summer has enjoyed an abundance of lettuse, beets, cooked greens, beans, potatoes, zucchini, and incredible amounts of fruit like strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and peaches. The freezer is filled with bags of fruit that was first frozen on cookie sheets to keep the individual pieces separated and then put into plastic bags.

As the pictures below show, I am in full canning mode now and have been for several weeks. The tally of jars is now close to 200. The first effort is always jam: strawberry-rhubarb; strawberry; blueberry; blackberry and peach. Later will come the apple butter. Pickles begin next and so far I have done: bread and butter pickles; sweet pickle spears; dill pickles and even zucchini spears. I have a crock full of whole dills that are brinning away for a month or so before going into the canning jars. I have made four batches of red salsa and a couple batches of green salsa and there will certainly be more of both to come. Several jars of pasta sauce are put up already and more is expected. The main variety of tomato I choose to grow is the pear shaped San Marzano, a meaty variety perfect for sauce and salsa. One batch of "eggplant Madras" is completed for a special tasty treat.

As per usual I am able to pick my neighbor Midge's bountiful peach tree of all its fruit and this year that meant a lot of work over a couple days as they all seemed to ripen at once. So jam, pies, canned peach halves, some baked desserts and a lot of peaches eaten right off the tree resulted.

A very special event happened this August. I was given the honor of spending a full week alone with my grandson, Cotton. This was his first time away from both his parents at the same time and he passed the test with flying colors. Fortunately he is so used to the Schlaver Seed Farm that it was like his home away from home in Brooklyn. We had a great time together digging potatoes, watching spider webs, picking Japanese beetles off the grape arbor, and eating blueberries and blackberries right off their bushes. He loves his sandbox and all trucks and toys here and kept very busy. Of course, preferred that I, "Pops," was right there playing with him. To cap off a fun week for this almost three year old, we took the Downeaster train to Boston and then after a subway switch from North Station to South Station, boarded the Amtrak train for New York City. He was thrilled to see his folks again but enjoyed his first of many trips, I presume, for a "summer camp" adventure in Saco.

Garden Club Visits The Farm

2010-07-15T09:41:00.001-04:00

On Thursday evening July 8th The Saco Bay Garden /Club (SBGC) held its monthly meeting at the Schlaver Seed Farm to hear from two Master Gardeners involved with the the Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) Program: http://extension.umaine.edu/york/programs/master-gardener-volunteer-program/plant-a-row/ My gardens are the most extensive among the SBGC members as to vegetable growing so was the logical setting for this presentation. Thirty plus people showed up to walk around my gardens, hear the presentation and share in so tasty nibbles. I served a large sheet pan filled with home grown rhubarb made into pie-like squares and also had a couple remaining 2009 jars of both red and green salsa from last year's harvest. The club members kindly overlooked all the weeds to enjoy the growing vegetable and flower plants. I welcomed all the advice and suggestions offered as well. Thank goodness I have a long driveway for there were many cars to park! This meeting happened two days before the bi-annual SBGC Garden Tour that viewed ten area gardens. That tour was a big success even though the rainly deluge of that day hit about noontime. The SBGC web page is: http://sacobaygardenclub.com/

It is "Officially" Summer Now and Very Welcome!

2010-06-23T15:31:00.002-04:00

Today was a bit rainy so I am inside taking a gardening break and thought it was time for a Garden Blog update. The almost perfect weather year continues in Saco ME.Even though the vast gardens here continues to trigger endless gardening work, I am happy and confident of the harvest already at hand and to come in the weeks and months ahead.

The Field Garden strawberry beds had their first productive year and I ended up with 18 quarts of tasty berries in this early harvest year. The Raised Bed Garden with the two very mature strawberry beds is now taking over the ripe berry duty so the harvest continues. 21 jars of jam, frozen berries and some strawberry- rhubarb pies and lots of simple berry eating has already happened with the first 18 quarts. Fresh rhubarb has been picked once and is about to yield the second harvest.

The Raised Bed Garden has already yielded broccoli raab (rapini), turnip greens, radishes, lettuce and arugula and soon some fresh peas will be captured. The blueberry harvest due to begin in late July looks VERY promising. The 100 plus garlic plants have produced curly scapes and when the plants turn yellow/brown that harvest can begin, also in July. I am anxious to see how big the garlic heads will be as the manure rich Field Garden might just produce the best results for me to date. I am still using garlic in the kitchen from last year's harvest.

I reluctantly stopped harvesting asparagus after a solid month of good eating. For the health of the plants and next year's crop one can't be greedy after all. I planted a new row of plants this year as well so the volume of harvest in two year should simply be spectacular.

The weeding burdens are relentless though, especially in the Field Garden. as it is a long term task to let gardening dominate that 120 feet by 85 foot garden created there after decades of weed growing freedom. I continue to try to keep on top of it and to add more wood chips to the garden paths. The power company was busily cutting branches along Ferry Road recently to protect the power lines and I scored two huge loads of their wood chips. I have enough for the next couple of years for sure now. They offer me a free weed barrier, source of nutritional mulch as it breaks down over time and a visual appear to paths and flower beds.

So now I am waiting, watching and working hard hoping the 60 tomato plants, rows of onions and potatoes and sweet potatoes, many variety of beans and countless other vegetables grow and grow. The flower beds don't wait until July and after to satisfy though, for phase two of the year's blooms now abound. Some new plantings near the front porch complete the new look just fine thanks to Julian's hard work on his Father's Day visit.

The Memorial Day Report

2010-06-06T14:33:00.001-04:00

The Memorial Day holiday prompted a full week's stay for Julian, Roxi, Cotton and Roxi's dad, Ken visiting from St. Louis So Ferry Road saw a burst of activity and lots of fun and good eating. As per usual Julian and Roxi did tons of work on the homestead. Planting, pruning, weeding, lilacs adding fragrance to several rooms inside, meat cooking in the smoker, and domino playing late in the evening. Cotton, now three months short of his third birthday had a ball, endlessly digging in the sandbox. He rarely stopped running in the yard, playing, or looking for worms and spiders to take a nap. As the photo below shows he once fell asleep on my lap looking at videos on the computer. He is a busy boy and a joy.

The flowerbeds by the deck always are revitalized and improved by the creative energy of Julian and Roxi as these photos certainly show. The pond received a new pump and fountain as well. No chipmunk has moved into Roxi's little hobbit hole but time will tell. Their visit lasted long enough to sample the first pickings of strawberries, arriving about two weeks early this year. They enjoyed the first rhubarb pies and the taste of home grown asparagus a couple times. Since they left last Thursday I have picked more strawberries and the first radishes. An abundance of lettuce, broccoli raab and the first turnip greens are due for pickings shortly.

A major home improvement has been accomplished this spring...a new roof on the house! Yes, a new 30 year shingling of the roof was completed this past week by a great local contractor that may well be the regular handy man I will turn to in the months and years ahead for other projects as needed. I think the "sandlewood" color is a good addition to the look of the place.

The continuing good weather with a nice mix of rain, sun and warming days gives all indication for a great garden year. The next few weeks will focus on more and more vegetable planting and weeding as well as the beginning of the canning season with strawberry jam. The potatoes, onions and sweet potato beds look especially promising and now there are 33 tomato plants in cages and counting, for more need to be added. The various perennials are starting to show their colors with the first roses, peonies, lupine, irises and other bursting forth. All the winter pondering and anticipation of spring and summer is at hand!

The Summer-like Spring Continues

2010-05-17T18:01:00.000-04:00

The great weather continues with only a brief interlude of a frost one night. No real damage on the homestead as no fragile plants have been put out yet, only seeds planted so far. Since it has been warm so early some Maine farmers were at risk for their various fruit blossoms: strawberries, blueberries and fruit trees. But all is fine here. The strawberry crop looks to be a bountiful one this year....many white blossoms and now berries forming.

As you can see below, the azaleas finally are blooming. My plants are along side the garage and are in the shade a lot so seem to bloom later than most around this area but they are worth the wait. The next photo is of the wisteria in the archway by the raised bed garden. Its bloom this year is a mix of white and purple and there are many, many blooms.

The nighttime temperatures are nearly 50 degrees now or above and the days are near 70 or above in the ten day forecast so it was definitely time to put out the greenhouse and add all the plants that have been started inside the house. Hopefully the tomato plants and other things will now experience a big growth spurt as the weather is so good there really can be put in the ground soon, possible even before the usual Memorial Day planting weekend.

The last two pictures show the creative log rack that my neighbor Pipe Smoking Paul invented many years ago. He lent it to me to use to cut the many pole of wood I had gathered than needed to be cut into stove-sized pieces. These pictures are before and after shots In a matter of minutes the chain saw turned it into cut logs. I actually did three rack loads of pieces. I now had my winter of 2010-2011 wood supply all gathered and should easily have over three cords ready for seasoning all summer and fall. I do have quite a pile of these newly cut logs and some others logs that do need splitting into smaller pieces though.

Some new plantings this week include snow peas, sunflowers, and acorn squash. I have cleaned and prepared some additional planting beds so am ready to plant more beans and other things. The potatoes have now emerged in their rows and the onions are flourishing nicely. The asparagus is simple wonderful this year. Four meals so far and counting. I expect to make the first rhubarb pies just before the family arrives from Brooklyn for a week long visit over Memorial Day.

May Flowers and Vegetable Gardening Flourish

2010-05-08T19:35:00.001-04:00

April was a perfect weather month in Maine but May seems that it might even top that phenomenon. The first week is ending and only two modest rain events so far but a lot of sun and warm temperatures. Hence I am planting more early crops than any year so far. I have planted sweet corn; various beans for drying in the fall, namely pinto, cannellini and red kidney; kale; arugula; turnips; carrots; radishes; lettuce; Italian dandelion green; Swiss chard; scallions; green beans; beets; and broccoli raab. The onion sets planted recently are all growing very visibly and the potatoes are starting to emerge. I have now served asparagus for dinner three times! The strawberries are growing well and the four beds of them are full of white blooms and the beginnings of small berries. The peas are emerging nicely as well and the rhubarb is close to the first harvest and that means some rhubarb pie.

I have used all the wood chips recently acquired and completed a few Field Garden paths with them after putting down some black plastic. I could use another couple truck loads of chips, easily. I have now resorted to covering the paths with leaf mulch now so that some of the essential paths are covered between the permanent beds of strawberries, asparagus, garlic,, rhubarb. etc. It is important to create these weed barriers and buffers for the sake of the garden beds and to lighted my weeding load somewhat. The Raised Bed Garden has wood frames and more years of existence so weeding is quite minimal. I believe the pictures below gives you some sense of the effort I speak of. Note the garlic in the middle-right of the first picture, now a foot tall and looking like a bumper crop. I bet the cow manure added to the soil will trigger larger garlic bulbs when harvested this July..

The next picture shows the first stack of wood right behind the fence and convenient to the deck and hence, the door near the wood stove. I will have the three pallets arranged there all covered with stacked firewood when I complete the cutting to size and splitting of the wood awaiting that finishing in my wood staging area. You can also see thick leaf mulch spread before the pallets and fence. This weed infested area in the past will become a nice place for some flowers and bushes when the mulch successfully kills off the weeds.

Lastly, I thought I would share some photos of the glorious colors of the spring flowers now blooming all over the place. The Raised Bed Garden is bordered with a wonderful display of tulips that seem to be more beautiful as each year goes by. Behind the tulips the first five beds are almost completely planted. Some closeups of lilacs, grape hyacinths, and creeping flocks seem to be the best way to share their bright colors. To me the prettiest spring "bloom" is the tasty green asparagus...so worth the wait and short season each spring. You can almost see it grow more each day. Hopefully, I will be able to harvest some regularly for the whole month of May.

A Glorious April in Maine

2010-04-27T16:23:00.001-04:00

This is the eight spring I have experienced in Maine and certainly the best. March was a record breaking rainy month but April continues to be filled with sun and more warmth than usual. I have been loving it and am able to spend hours outside working nearly every day.

I finally developed the flowerbed near the road and sidewalk as you drive into my property. I was given five rugosa rose bushes last fall and had them staged in a garden bed awaiting my plan to put them in this flower bed. The forsythia bush planted in 2009 is healthy and flowering now. There is a culvert under the road at this point so much of this flowerbed is filled with stones for drainage. I dug many of them and piled in the center and brought in several wagon loads of garden soil so I could plant the rugosa roses on the left side. I also added some liastris bulbs that will bloom later in the summer and transplanted some tiger lilies. Hopefully this will be a low maintenance and colorful flowerbed from now on.

I couldn't resist adding another photo of the magnolia tree that graces the yard so beautifully at this time of year with its fragrant white flowers. Yes, that is my trusty 1992 Oldsmobile near it!

I have on occasion, but not for the past two years, landed a free dump truck of wood chips from a local tree service. My prayers have been answered again for I just acquired a load of fresh oak chips and have begun to spread them in garden paths, as mulch around trees and bushes, etc. Two photos below show such use. I plan to use most of them between garden beds in the Field Garden. The five dwarf fruit trees are all looking healthy and starting to show some budding and flowering so I am hopeful that this year will bring some peaches, pears and apples.

The remaining two photos show the blooming weeping cherry tree overhanging the garden pond and another showing some blooming hyacinths on the edge of the Peace and Joy flower bed. The tulips are starting to bloom now and the endless daffodils, hyacinth, jonquils and creeping flocks add color throughout the flowerbeds.

As to vegetable crops...I have now planted 100 feet of potatoes, including Yukon Gold, Kennebec, and Red Nordland varieties. I also have 100 feet of onions sets in as well, red, white and yellow varieties. Some peas are planted too. I have now planted more seeds indoors for late May garden planting, including: winter and summer squash, watermelon and cantaloupe, cucumbers, romaine lettuce, cabbage and marigolds. The previously planted tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, red cabbage, leeks, tomatillos, green, red and various hot peppers are all doing well under grow lights.

The strawberries are all looking good and the first asparagus spears are almost ready for picking! I can also report that I now have two cords of wood cut, split and stacked for next winter. I want to have three plus cords so will keep at it to complete that task before mid-May when the full focus on gardening occurs and the weather gets a bit warm for wood splitting. Oh yes, lawn mowing has begun!

An early spring has sprung in Maine

2010-04-09T10:57:00.002-04:00

A month has flown by since the last post and I can't blame a lack of interesting news to report on this Garden Blog for the silence. I did travel a lot during March though. I attended the CFA Consumer Assembly in Washington DC, traveled on to Richmond VA to visit the Coplan clan and flew back to Maine only long enough to celebrate St. Patrick's Day at the Wonder Bar in Biddeford before heading on the train to New York for another Brooklyn visit and some enjoyable babysitting duties with Cotton. There was also a day trip to Boston at the end of the Month. But every free moment while in Saco was spent enjoying the wonderful weather here. Snow is a distant memory and even chilly, rainy spring days are not very frequent.

There was another horrible late March rainstorm triggering the biggest garden floods I have experienced though before sunny, warm days took over ever since. The garden ponds created by the nearly five inches of rain brought a pair of ducks to the homestead for four days until the pond disappeared. Cotton, Julian and Roxi were able to make an unexpected Easter weekend visit here and certainly enjoyed the warm, sunny weather and the burst of spring flowers all around the property. Cotton enjoyed an Easter Egg hunt and played for hours in the sandbox. The flower beds have been cleaned of mulch and debris and many perennials are popping forth: peonies, hosta, ferns, hydrangea buds,lilies, lupine, sedum,and bulbs everywhere.

My new garden cart...a freebie along the side of a country road...has new wheels and worked perfectly behind the riding mower for gathering all the debris piles around the yard. The family pet, a rabbit named Ms. Clarence, moved into her summer home in the garage from indoors and has a pleasant visit around the yard thanks to Roxi. The pond had the pump activated and was cleaned of fallen leaves and is ready to gain some water plants. The magnolia tree alongside the driveway is nearly in full bloom.

I am busily splitting and stacking wood since major garden work is still a few weeks away. My goal is to have a couple cords all ready for next winter, covered and seasoning over the summer months. But the seeds of many vegetables and flowers are already started indoors and I am planning my planting locations in anticipation. This has been the nicest late March and early April in my nearly eight years here so I am confident the planting peas, potatoes, and some other early crops are merely days away. The lawn is so green that I may be mowing grass well before the end of the month!

Here's hoping that this surprisingly sunny, warm spring is an indication of a great, long, hot growing season and the best garden year ever. But remember all gardeners and farmers have to always enter the spring season brimming with optimism and I am no exception to that rule.

Enjoy some images that visualize the above words:

A Winter Storm Hits the Maine Coast

2010-03-03T08:57:00.002-05:00

Southern coastal Maine escaped the most recent snowstorm that buried much of New England, New York and Pennsylvania AGAIN. But we did experience high winds and tons of rain triggering flooding and power outages. My house lost power for about 20 hours and since I do not have a generator the sump pump sat silent and the water covered the basement floor but fortunately only about a half inch before the power returned. The ground was still generally frozen so both gardens flooded as the pictures below indicate. Camp Ellis suffered a lot of damage from the high seas and powerful waves rolling down its coastal streets.

In my immediate area there were few trees knocked down but enough fell overall to impact the power lines. A tree in front of the rectory at St. Margaret Church in Old Orchard Beach was uprooted. Since I have a good “connection” there, namely my brother David, the acting pastor, I was given permission to remove the tree for my firewood use. It has been a four day chain sawing effort and four pickup truck loads of wood but I now have nearly a full cord of wood I can burn next winter in my wood stove. The wood is all here but a lot of sawing and splitting remains to complete the job. When those tasks are done it will be stacked and then season nicely by next winter.

As previously reported, gardening work has yet to begin so my focus continues to be on wood gathering and cutting so that I have three cords or more all set for next winter. I am getting organized though for some indoor seed starting in the basement under grow lights. My seeds are order and arriving in the mail. My garden layouts are taking shape as well.

The first three months of the new year is a time for me to do some traveling as well since the demands of the garden are minimal. I recently went to New York to do another babysitting stint with grandson Cotton and will return in the third week of March for further duties. Cotton loves playing with his trucks and wooden train set…endlessly! I will also fly to Washington DC for the Annual Consumer Federation of America Consumer Assembly next week. I wonder if there will be signs of spring in DC after their challenging winter. I will take a three day side trip before returning from DC to visit the Coplan clan in Richmond.

Sunny and Cold but no new snow therefore....

2010-02-04T15:46:00.006-05:00

I tackled the long dead cherry tree along the driveway yesterday and today. The bark was long gone and it is dry, seasoned hardwood ready to burn. The challenge has always been whether it would fall down easily after cut with the chain saw or get hung up in some branches of the neighboring healthy tree and create a nightmare calling for ropes, tree climbing or other tactics beyond my skills. Well it came down easy and clean as one of the pictures below shows. Next came the task of cutting it into usable logs ready for splitting. It took nearly forty cuts with the chain saw but that task is now completed and as you can also see below it is neatly stacked awaiting splitting and hauling to the ready-to-use woodpile behind the garage. About half of the supply prepared for this winter is now gone so there is amply room for new additions.

I hope that the remaining stack of wood will be enough for this season but one never knows how cold March and April will be here in Maine. I can certainly report an easy, but quite cold winter so far. The snow total has only reached 32 inches and no storms in sight. The relatives in Virginia are facing a bigger snowfall this year than Maine...how ironic! Winter in Maine is always very unpredictable but when it isn't snowy I am happy to report that the days are usually sunny. I have spent a lot of time this winter sitting by my wood stove and reading in my new chair as previously reported on this blog. But I like to put in some outdoor time each day no matter what the weather. On cold, sunny days I am able to at least spend some time wood gathering as I have done with this big tree falling and cutting task the past two days. It keeps me in shape for the long (hopefully) gardening season I am now starting to think about and plan for more and more as we near spring, in spite of what the famous Pennsylvania groundhog might predict.

The Latest from the White House Garden

2010-01-12T09:19:00.003-05:00

If you are a regular reader of this blog you know I have a great interest in the White House Garden that Michelle Obama initiated in early 2009. It has been a great success for the first season in terms of the harvest but of far more importance has been the educational and public opinion influence it has triggered. First lady Michelle has masterfully used it to let it speak loudly about food policy and personal eating habits. It has also done wonders for the locavore gardening and farming concept. Her emphasis on the value of involving children in gardening and food education has been especially valuable.

If you are a viewer of the Food Network on Cable TV then you have probably seen the recent Iron Chef battle that featured vegetables from the Obama Garden and even had a brief appearance of Mrs. Obama. It is clear to me that the impact of this White House garden goes far beyond the periodic photo event and occasional media coverage of a "pet cause" of a first lady!

The White House blog periodically has postings about the garden and here is the latest link to that story about the iron chef http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/01/05/iron-chefs-and-healthy-eating

There is another posting as well as a nice video about the effort just taken to both make the vegetable garden become a productive winter garden and also the latest policy effort of the Department of Agriculture to encourage farmers to do the same: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/12/16/planting-winter-garden

I am doing my planning and research as to how I can make more use of my garden in early spring and late fall as well. Of course this year it was a struggle to get it to produce well during the SUMMER given our dismal weather in June and July of 2009. I do see some cold frames and hoop gardening as essential in my own garden in the future.

The Snowy New Year Begins

2010-01-04T09:59:00.008-05:00

My "Let it Snow" sign by the front door is working well as 2010 begins. The slow moving snow storm lasted three days and left a solid 12 inches of snow on the ground here in Saco. I used my trusty snow thrower three times on my long driveway. This snow will not melt away before future snow storms so the wood gathering efforts are now over for some time. Hopefully I have an amply wood supply in or behind the garage for the steady demand of my wood stove. My new canvass log carriers are working well as I transport loads of it on a daily basis to the living room. The living room has a major new addition thanks to the generosity of Ben, Julian and Roxi. I was totally surprised with a new living room set that is both beautiful and very comfortable. My parents 1950's couch is still in use in another room but no longer the living room seating option.

So now I can sit comfortable and read my 2010 seed catalogs and ponder and plan for the next gardening season. January is a good time for reading, soup making and crock pot cooking. Maine in the winter is a quiet but beautiful time with the white snowfall so untarnished by urban grim and grit. If it is not snowing, there is almost always a sunny sky to help show off the beauty of the snow and ice and animal tracks on and surrounding my homestead. New Year's Eve had its first Blue Moon in 19 years to add a special beauty to the first major snowfall. So LET IT SNOW...I am not anxious for spring to come....yet!

Winter and Christmas Time in Saco

2009-12-17T17:25:00.008-05:00

No posting for several weeks! Sorry about that. I spent the week after Thanksgiving in New York and Washington DC but went to cut our Christmas tree at a local tree farm just before leaving for that trip. Cotton helped me...see below.

While out of town the first snowfall hit so gardening projects ended. I had finished most of the projects but one of the two manure piles will have to sit all winter and be spread on the garden in the spring. A big wind storm occurred while I was gone and it knocked down four sections of the old fence in the back yard. That repair will also have to wait until spring as it will require four new post. Hopefully the old fence sections can be reused though. If you want to take a look at the view of the field and that big garden spot you can go to the web camera web site during the day and see the fallen fence also. That first snow fall has melted but I am sure more will be arriving before long! http://saco.schlaver.com:90/

I am now in the Christmas mode and for me that means some decorating around the house but more importantly, baking. I have pies in the freezer from previous baking efforts so I concentrated on Christmas cookies. I made five different varieties and am showing them off to you on the picture below. I look forward to visits from all the Schlaver kids and grandchildren.

The wood stove is doing a nice job keeping the house warm and minimizing the use of oil. An oil delivery came today and I only needed 36 gallon for I barely used one gallon a day for the last five weeks. That is about the demand for hot water normally needed. Today's nearly zero temperatures did prompt me to also turn on the furnace though. Wood cutting and splitting are my winter's physical activities alone with the anticipated snow blowing of the 300 foot driveway. Those activities should keep me fit!

Merry Christmas to all and I hope you can look forward to an exciting and prosperous New Year in 2010!

Activities other than gardening in retirement

2009-11-16T09:25:00.006-05:00

I am tired of talking about the falling leaves here and showing pictures of piles of leaves. Not much is happening in the yard and garden right now except continuing garden mulching, manure spreading and wood stacking. So I thought I might talk of some of my other retirement activities that have been significant for me in the past first year plus of my retirement. There are two social and community involvements that have brought me much satisfaction and take up a good portion of my non-gardening time and attention: The Saco Bay Garden Club and the Union Church of Biddeford Pool.

I joined the Saco Bay Garden Club prior to my retirement but rarely could attend the monthly Thursday evening meetings. Now I am an active member of the club and enjoy the people and activities of it. Each meeting usually brings on 25-30 of the much greater number of dues paying members. Usually there is a speaker making helpful and interesting presentations on everything from growing roses to the most recent incredible presentation of dozens of 3D slides of close up images of flowers, insects and plants, complete with each of us wearing the necessary special glasses in a totally darkened room at the Dyer Library. The presenter was a professor of architecture that developed this incredible hobby to better teach his students of the beauty and space that can result in buildings if you understand what is there in nature. The rose specialist has worked at nearby Moody’s Nursery for ten years and offered loads of helpful advice.

The Saco Bay Garden Club sponsored a “garden walk” last July to view some of the garden club members gardening efforts. My vegetable gardens were included and approximately 40 members showed up. Even though the gardens were looking poorly in my opinion it seems that most viewers were impressed and probably thought I was crazy for tackling such large gardens. This viewing might occur again in the summer of 2010. I certainly hope many improvements as a result of my efforts after another year of work and more importantly, a much different weather summer in 2010 will bring a nice new look for the repeating visitors to see.

The garden club maintains several local public areas such as the flower beds of the Saco and Biddeford libraries and one special to me, the new Saco Island Amtrak train station. I am on a small committee focused on the train station landscaping and even contributed some hydrangea and black eyed Susan plants to a new flowerbed we planted at the station. See below…and also the club’s website at: http://www.sacobaygardenclub.com/

The Union Church of Biddeford Pool was discovered on Easter Sunday in 2008 when Julian, Roxi and I sought a church with “good music” for grandson Cotton’s first Easter. Well, music is a centerpiece of the services at this classic, small New England Church and has an inspiring woman minister in Pastor Jan Hryniewicz. Cotton was baptized there in the fall of 2008 and we all have become members of the church. The church community is very active in local community charitable activities and I am a part of the Mission Committee that leads those efforts. A local food pantry, after school focused program for local kids needing some positive activities and a meals program for the homeless are some of these projects. Also, I have become part of the “Green Team” that is trying to make the church building more energy efficient and to offer church members advice and information about smart home environmental “green” activities. We persuaded 37 people to buy composter for their gardens that I spoke of in the blog last June. The church’s website posts its monthly newsletter and occasionally I have added an article on “green topics”. See: http://www.unionchurchme.com/greening.html

No idle time in the fall.....

2009-10-28T22:08:00.006-04:00

Most of the harvesting and canning is done now for 2009. Only a few hardy, frost resistant crops remain in the ground now. There are endless hours of hard work to face at the end of the season here in Maine. First of all I must face the onslaught of falling leaves that begins in mid-October and can last until December! I count nearly 25 trees on on near my property that will all drop their leaves over these many weeks. I must gather them all. I have an electric leaf blower with a very long extension cord. Piles are made all over the place and then dragged via a blue tarp to the driveway to be mulched into small pieces with my trusty Toro mulching mower. Thanks to a snow shovel and deep wheel barrel the remaining mulch is carted to the garden beds, flower beds and mulch piles near the compost bins. All of the leaves will find there way back into the soil around here over time. At least the lawn mowing is over for 2009!

A local dairy farmer has now delivered two truck loads of cow manure to my Field Garden. The picture below shows one pile. It should take me weeks of labor but the plan is to spread this over the recently plowed garden beds for the "nourishment" of the soil over the winter. My back hurt after the first five wheel barrel loads! The farmer also sold me some hay to cover my strawberries and asparagus beds for the winter.

One other big task is almost completed though. The wood piles have been moved close to the house for easier access when the snow comes and deepens. My three cords of wood are ready for the cold, long winter. Actually I have used my wood stove steadily for the last few weeks as October has had below normal temperatures almost every day. The stove work well and the oil furnace has yet to be turned on.

The remaining picture shows the dahlia tubers now all dug, wash off and soon to be in basement storage. Both dahlias and gladiolas are flowers than can't survive the winter here if their tubers are left in the ground.

Hopefully the first big snowstorm won't arrive until all these tasks are completed. Then it will be time to relax and curl up by the wood stove and start thinking about next year's gardening plans.

Putting the Garden to Bed for the Season

2009-10-19T16:22:00.005-04:00

A very cold fall has come to Maine but unlike other parts of New England, no snow yet! The sudden weather change has spurred me to busily prepare the gardens for winter. Everything vulnerable to a frost has now been harvested. The remaining veggies still in the ground are: Kale, Turnips, Carrots, Swiss Chard, Arugula, Beets, Italian Parsley and Brussels Sprouts. The only fall planting that is done here is the garlic as previously described. Now is the time for removal of all plant debris and any garden bed preparation I hope to do.

I hired a young man to bring his tractor and tiller here to plow the Field Garden. the grass/weed growth was so extensive this year I felt plowing was needed. Some pictures below show the very nice results of his work. Some garden paths remain and you can also see the unploughed areas with strawberries, asparagus, some perennial flower beds and garlic planted spot. Later this week a dump truck load of manure from a local dairy farm will arrive. It will be a big job spreading in on the prepared beds but worth the work. Finally a coating of ground up leaves will be added.

I had to buy a pumpkin to display but did have some short corn stalks (but no corn harvested) and some gourds to put on the front porch. The fall colors are getting better and better but some trees, especially some of the maples are still green. The leaf falling and gathering process will go on until late November, I suspect.

Much of the firewood has been moved close to the house for easy access after snow fall. The wood stove is in fairly constant use now as the night time temperatures have drifted below 32 degrees for a few nights. I am not sure how much of an Indian summer will happen this year since the cold has come so early. I will continue with the "putting the graden to bed" work well into November and then gather some additional firewood if snow doesn't block that option. I do have a solid three cords already cut and split so should have enough for the Winter.

The tally of jars of jams, pickles, salsa, etc. has now hit 115 with only a little more to do. This is a far cry from last season's 350 jars! There are many potatoes and a few onions in storage but no winter squash this year. I did manage to squeeze a few pounds of dried pinto and cannelini beans from the garden and certainly have beans and things in the freezer as well.

What's under the ground?

2009-10-08T10:16:00.006-04:00

Harvest continues in the garden. The meager onion harvest has been done but the leeks are still in the ground as they can withstand frost and are still growing bigger, hopefully. The leeks don't look very fat but they should yield a decent crop and will be pulled as needed until the ground starts to freeze hard. I pulled some carrots and they were huge as the picture below shows with the pencil in the shot for a comparison. Many more carrots are in the ground. They store very well in the refrigerator so I will wait to harvest more. I planted the garlic next to the leek bed as the 2nd picture shows. I save about a fifth of my garlic crop of approximately 100 plants each year for replanting for the next year. The individual cloves in each garlic bulb gets planted separately and so I just planted 115 individual cloves. I have achieved "garlic independence" for it keeps well, giving me a full year's supply. The beets are so plentiful that I better can some more. I pulled a large batch last week and gave some away as well as cooked enough for several meals. The beet greens yielded enough greens for three meals. There are still more turnips "under the ground" as well.

The endless challenge of falling leaves has now begun. Enough are on the ground that it is time to leaf gather before the grass can be cut. Mowing will continue for probable 2-3 more times this Fall but the challenge of leaves last until snowfall. I have an electric leaf blower with 300 feet of cord! I make piles and bring tarp loads to the driveway and then mulch them with the lawn mower. The ground up leaves can be put on top of the garden beds as a good mulch for the winter. Worms love the ground up leaves and slower they break down over time. Often in the spring I simply pull off the leaf mulch and plant the seeds and either return the leaves to serve as a weed barrier and mulch around the growing plants or leave them in the garden paths. The leaves especially serve as a path mulch in the raised bed garden. I will post some pictures of my leaf efforts later in the fall.

Fall Colors in the Garden

2009-09-26T19:02:00.007-04:00

The leaves are just beginning to change colors in Saco, Maine but the flowers still blooming in the fall are bursting forth with their beautiful colors. So many of the spring blooming flowers have short lived blooms but that is not the case as the fall approaches. Some of these flowers can even be dried to prolong the enjoyment of their beauty. Every year I bring in some hydrangeas to save for a winter's bouquet. I guess it is finally time to part with those saved from last year and replace them with this new harvest.

The mystery squash reported several postings ago ended up simply being a two-toned gourd on a very prolific plant that emerged from the compost added to the asparagus bed. I now have a basket full of then to enjoy as decorations.

I have pulled all the gladiola tubers for winter storage but will leave the dahlias in the ground until after the first hard frost for they are still blooming vigorously.

I continue to pick tomatoes even if the plants look terrible and have vastly under produced this year so I will have a supply of red salsa and might even end up with some tomato sauce for pasta meals. I have purchased cucumbers at the local farm stand so a few batches of pickles are canned. The beets are a big success though, and I am about to pickled some for the canned goods storage shelves. The cabbage was just picked and will be turned into sauerkraut after six weeks of fermenting in the old crock

Harvesting continues & the weather is perfect

2009-09-16T12:38:00.008-04:00

September in Maine is considered the best month of the year by many Mainers. Cool evenings, sunny days in the 70's and gardens to harvest. I can't argue with this viewpoint even if I am still a new Mainer. As you can see below I now have broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and chard to enjoy. I am eating my own potatoes regularly as well as garlic. The beans are done but many are in the freezer. Zucchini are still growing as well as lots of beets, carrots and turnips. I have managed to harvest enough tomatoes to make two large batches of red salsa, 19 pint jars. All the peppers in them came from the garden and the garlic and cilantro as well. My onion crop is weak this year so store bought onions went into the salsa. I bought some farm stand cucumbers so I could make at least one batch of bread and butter pickles. I will have to buy more to make any other variety of pickles I want to can.

The sedum flower bed is showing its fall color and the marigolds, hydrangeas, sunflowers and dahlias are also adding color all around. Some mums have returned to bloom again. The sunflower plants should be six feet tall but are only three feet tall! The Martin bird house attracted the usual families of sparrows but this year a bird's nest appeared near it.. .for visitors or in-laws... I'm not sure.

The White House Veggie Garden...an Update

2009-09-01T21:45:00.004-04:00

An update on the Obama White House Garden...nice video on You Tube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVpEr3kfWjc

The Summer is ending......

2009-09-01T10:36:00.004-04:00

August was a great month filled with sun and hot weather and it made it possible to salvage some crops in the worst gardening year of my seven so far in Maine. Now, as September begins with cooler days and cooler nights I hope for no frost before late October to enable the veggies growing ever so slowly to reach maturity. My cucumbers are a total bust and I don't expect to harvest ANY. The same goes for winter squash and melons it would appear. The few, tiny ears of corn won't even be enough for the raccoons let alone leaving some for me to enjoy. I have only picked a few tomatoes so far and of very poor quality. There are many green ones on the vines but who knows if enough decent ones will lead to my usual many batches of salsa let along tomato sauce. I usually only can jars of veggies and jams from crops I have harvested here and not from purchased ones, but this year may be the exception. I probably could take a year off from pickle making as I do have several 2008 jars remaining but life would not be the same without many jars of salsa on the shelf! The good news is that many of the rest of the salsa ingredients like the hot peppers and cilantro are doing just fine in the garden.

I continue to enjoy an abundance of green and yellow beans, turnips, beets, carrots, lettuce, zucchini and yellow summer squash. Soon I will be picking some cabbage, eggplant and more cauliflower and broccoli. Hence I really cannot complain too loudly about the harvest in 2009. The life of a gardener/farmer always has its disappointments along with the joys. I must say that many flowers continue to add beauty to the gardens here as some of the photos show. The black-eyed Susan's are big and amazing this year and spreading all over the place. It is hard to imagine that the hydrangeas were tiny little plants just four years ago when purchased. The pond now sports many floating plants as well and continues to be a focal point of admiration for the many visitors I have had of late. Life is good ... even without cucumbers!

Helper --Hot weather = Harvest

2009-08-24T12:09:00.012-04:00

August has been a great garden month with HOT temperatures every day and little rain. The garden is finally benefiting and flourishing. Check out a few harvesting efforts with my special little helper, grandson Cotton. Also note the mystery squash plant that suddenly grew fast after I added the compost to the asparagus bed from the bin near the back door that gets the winter's kitchen scraps. The morning glory that self seeded from last year now fully covers the garden trellis, the dahlias are in full bloom and some herbs have now been harvested and are drying in the garage thanks to son, Julian. Lastly, note the new view of the front door and new porch with the final view from the inside looking out. The evergreen tree next to the door has now been removed to open the view.

The first tomatoes have arrived, the zucchini is a steady item and the green and yellow beans seem endless. Three bean salad and simple steamed beans coated in lemon juice and olive oil are regularly served now. The first carrots and beets have made it to the dining table. Many, many green peppers, hot peppers, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant and broccoli are forming nicely. The jury is still out on the quality of the tomato and cucumber harvest, but I am now more hopeful.

The Garden's Bounty

2009-08-13T21:51:00.009-04:00

The August weather continues to be a "normal" summer in Maine. Unfortunately much irreversible damage was done in July, the coldest on record and the 2nd wettest. My fingers remain crossed that a hot August and nice September can mitigate the crop failures as much as possible. The forecast for the next five days calls for near 90 degrees and lots of sun and no rain...maybe some hope!

The basket full 0f green and yellow beans sitting on the new front porch is nearly8 lbs. worth. They were just picked and many more will follow from the prolific bush beans and pole bean vines. Beans are being eaten daily now and have been turned into a fresh three bean salad and many frozen packages.

Below are some images of the "White Hull Pink Tip" heirloom pole bean I planted for the first time thanks to the mailing of these special seeds from my cousin Betsey from Knoxville Tennessee. I plan to enjoy eating most of them and to save some seeds for next year.

The blueberries are getting picked every three days and several quarts have already been turned into jam, scones, muffins, a blueberry Buckle coffee cake and a frozen supply. That harvest should continue for a couple of weeks. The blackberries are just beginning to ripen and look equally promising. My memory of the poor strawberry harvest is fading now.

There is hope for the 2009 garden after all!

2009-08-05T20:44:00.009-04:00

If you have been a regular reader of my blog you have had to wait THREE weeks for a new post. My apologies for that! I can report that the summer weather finally arrived in Maine and I am a happy gardener again. Also, after a visit to Richmond VA to help my uncle, Ralph celebrate his 90th birthday, I returned to Saco with my son, Julian and we tackled a huge project. We finally tore up the hated railroad ties and sinking bricks at the front door entrance here and built a new front porch. It was a major undertaking and took us three days. The first pictures below are the before and after images of it.

Thanks to some summer-like weather the garden has really taken off and is growing well and also producing results. The 100 garlic plants have now been harvested. The first batches of green and yellow beans are harvested. One plus from all the rain and cool weather has been my best lettuce crop ever for daily salads. The blueberries are now ripening on a daily basis and I am about to make my first batch of jam. The tomato plants are thriving and many small green ones are emerging. The first zucchini and yellow summer squash are nearing harvest size. The flowers are bursting forth everywhere as the pictures below indicate. I can now harvest some carrots, chard, beets, and more turnips as well these days. I am starting to feel confident that the garden will be okay after all in 2009. It is about a full 3-4 weeks behind the normal schedule so I am hoping for a warm August and September and a late frost to let the harvest be very successful.

Skunks are digging small holes in my yard on a nightly basis to find grubs to eat. I don't mind because the Japanese beetles are at a minimum this year thanks to the skunks! My priority is the veggies and also the flowers so I can tolerated the lawn abuse.

I have seen the first cucumbers forming as well but the plants are small and not running very far along the ground yet but I am hopeful about the "pickle harvest" now as well.

During this past three weeks I also hosted a garden walk vist from members of the Saco Bay Garden Club. I think about thirty showed up during the hour that was for this stop on a three house tour. I receive many accolades and good advice and gardening tips. I do think many people touring thought I must be crazy to have such big gardens for a team of one!

So that is my July story... a good one. No travel in August for me so a lot of time to devote to garden work and harvesting and canning the results.

Here comes the sun! .... sort of

2009-07-14T09:51:00.005-04:00

I try to add positive and interesting news to this garden blog so I have been silent for awhile as the worst weather year in my six gardening season has greatly dampened my spirits, figuratively and literally. The month of June was nearly an entire month of rain, cool days and nights and almost no sun...and this weather continued on into July for the most part until a week ago. Even now with pleasant sunny days , it is more like September weather for Maine than July. The nights are cool in the 50's and the day time temperature never seems to even reach 80 degrees. This in not tomato growing weather!

I gladly left Maine on July 3rd for a five day trip to New York City for the holiday weekend in an attempt to lift my spirits. All I had been doing for the previous few weeks was watch it rain and watch the garden suffer. Seeds never sprouted and plants that were visible simply sat dormant awaiting sun. Below are a few pictures from New York. My grandson, Cotton, and I had a nice visit in the community garden in Brooklyn he and his parents visit regularly. Julian's office overlooks the Hudson River and we all enjoyed a spectacular fireworks display from their roof top deck. The Lab threw a big party for the 4th and if you go to my son's blog you can see a video of the fireworks: http://thelabnyc.blogspot.com/2009/07/video-of-fireworks.html

So now that I am back in Maine and the sun is shining even if not very warm for July, I am working again in the garden. The weeds sure loved the cool rainy weeks so while I await some long overdue vegetable growth I have plenty of them to contend with. I have bought any new bedding plants I could find, to replace the failed seeds and seedlings planted in early June, in hopes of a successful late garden. So I am still hoping for lots of pickle canning in September and some winter squash and pumpkins to enjoy. The tomatoes are starting to perk up and many pepper plants and other things have been added in hopes of a successful fall harvest if no frost happens until well into October.

I should report that I have been enjoying the turnips and their greens, lettuce and the garlic scapes taken from the plants a few weeks before the garlic will be harvested. The peas are finally ready as well. The strawberry and rhubarb harvesting was far below par due to the weather but the blueberry and blackberry harvest should be just fine in August.

Summer is finally here...maybe?

2009-06-27T07:57:00.011-04:00

The rainy, cool Maine weather continued here until this past Thursday prolonging the anguish for us gardeners! The tomatoes looked sad, craving heat and other plantings from seeds did little, if not simply fail to germinate at all. The strawberry harvest began though and they tasted great This is late June and "normal" garden growth would be different but gardening is always full of surprises both good and not so good ones. My attention switched to other projects while I awaited the arrival of real summer weather. The partial family gathering for the Father's Day weekend yielded more help with weeding and pruning of the flower beds, which by the way, all seemed to love the rainy cool weather. A second hazelnut bush was planted near the grape arbor so that the two could pollinate each other, hopefully triggering a yield of nuts in a few years. A new Honeycrisp apple tree was planted near the pear tree that was now gone from disease and added to the wood pile. Ever though the rain finally yielded to the sun and some warmth on Thursday the ground was too saturated for plantings of replacement seeds so it was time to cut the long grass and do other things. A burning permit was obtained and the large brush pile was burnt, a five hour project! The tomato plants began to smile!

Even More on the Obama Garden

2009-06-19T07:51:00.005-04:00

On Wednesday, the 17th I was in Washington DC and had a chance to look through the White House fence for a long distance glimpse of the Obama Organic Vegetable Garden. Below are some images from that moment. I came back to Saco and saw my son, Julian's, posting about the recent media coverage of the garden as well. While in DC I had seen Politico's press stories and had planned a similar post when I returned! Thanks, Julian for doing it for me.

In addition to the positive value by this vivid example of organic gardening, the Obamas are definitely going to have a important impact on the nation's great need to return to healthy lifestyle habits beyond gardening. President Obama is making some important appointment to key agency positions that will start to turn around the laxed regulatory efforts that have led to many food safety failings, consumer products and drug safety concerns. The Obama family examples of morning workouts, limiting their kids TV/video games access, involvement with gardening and food preparation and Michelle's commitment to work with local school kids are also serving our country well. We don't just have a financial crisis and global image crisis to overcome. The neglect of good habits and overindulgences in the typical American lifestyle are getting some desparately needed attention thorough the Obamas' leadership.

Obama Garden (In The Media)

2009-06-17T17:00:00.004-04:00

Guest Post by Julian:

we've been following the Obama Garden here @ schlaverseedfarms, and i thought i would post a couple of pieces that popped into the media today about it.

Starting with the worst, Drudge has this running across the top of his site today:

maybe someone should tell him that you can grow a head of lettuce in 40 days - apparently he doesn't know what us Mainers can do with a 3 month growing season.

Today, the more respectable org, Politico posted this article about the industry getting upset for Michelle's choice to go organic (something that we've been praising here on schlaverseedfarms).

Lastly - for your humor, here is a piece from the eminently respectable, The Daily Show entitled "little crop of horrors"

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Little Crop of Horrors

thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Jason Jones in Iran

The Sweet Potatoes Planting Completes the Garden.

2009-06-14T12:35:00.008-04:00

The mail order sweet potato slips arrived on Saturday and in the ground they went. See the first picture below. The question is: Will these slips turn into a nice harvest like last year's result picked in October as the 2nd photo shows? I have done well with sweet potatoes each garden year so far so hope the streak continues. Virtually the entire garden is now planted. I finished the day by planting the tiny cucumber plants from my greenhouse and added some additional hills of cukes planted from seed. Some okra seedlings were planted along with more cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli. I still have many tomato and tomatillo seedlings simply too small to plant yet so hope they grow more to add to the garden soon. The lack of warmth even on sunny days, continues to be frustrating.

Strawberries are now turning red on many plants growing in the sunnier Field Garden for the first time. I believed the first picking can occur next week. Strawberry harvest is always an exciting garden moment here and will continue through the 4th of July. I purchased two dozen additional canning jars in anticipation of the upcoming jam making.

The first rose has now opened and many buds of various colors are poised to follow. The orange poppies always make for a good picture image as well.

One further news note worth a mention. This past week I was interviewed by the local newspaper as the reporter and I toured my gardens: http://blog.biddefordsacooobcourier.com/2009/06/12/getting-by--from-garden-to-dinner-table--june-11-2009.aspx

Home Composting is Simple and Beneficial

2009-06-10T09:56:00.010-04:00

As I drive around town I wince when I see that people are bagging their leaves for trash pickup or dumping their grass clippings and other plant waste “over their fence” or in the nearby woods etc or even carting it all to the transfer station for disposal. Unfortunately many of these neighbors do not realize how simple and beneficial it would be to set up a composting system at home and turn this into food for their vegetable and flower garden plants or their trees and shrubbery. Money would also be saved in the process!

A purchased compost bin like this “Earth Machine" bin is all you need to start:

http://www.earthmachine.com/

This sleek looking piece of “yard furniture” can be located near your kitchen door or out right in your garden so you can easily add material to it frequently. A nice instruction booklet comes with the composter as well.

Another possibility would be to make your own compost bins from old wood pallets often found for free. This image shows some of my compost bins. They might not be pretty but are easy to load with grass clippings, weeds, ground up leaves and kitchen waste. Also, the bins’ openness lets me turn the pile easily with a pitch fork to speed up the composting process. At least once a season, I visit a local dairy farm with my pickup truck and purchase, for $15, a load of cow manure. I back right up to the bins and add some manure as well as put some manure directly on the garden in the fall after the harvest of vegetables.

Another variation of composting is to add the waste materials directly to the gardens around the base of growing plants. There is no reason that you cannot simple put the coffee grounds, grass clippings or ground up leaves right on top of the soil around the plants or on top of the garden throughout, especially at the end of the season. Some decomposition will occur over the winter and this blanketing help to kill off weeds. Some gardeners even buried their kitchen scraps directly in their garden throughout the season. I prefer the bin method but do use some plant materials for mulch in the garden to stifle weeds and retain moisture for the growing plants.

Lastly, I should mention something called “lasagna gardening.” If you want to start a new flowerbed or vegetable garden spot in your yard currently a portion of your lawn, the task of digging up the sod is quite daunting. A smart and easy method to prepare the new garden spot would be to use this lasagna method. Start with a layer of cardboard and/or newspapers several layers thick, wet it down and then pile on some compost, ground up leaves, grass clippings or whatever you have on hand. Periodically add more layers of materials to this pile as the weeks go one. To your great surprise in a few months or if started in the fall, next spring you will find that a shovel easily goes through the composting materials and the sod is now soft and full of worms. You can simply insert bulbs, plants etc. into the individual holes you easily dig. The weeds and previous grass doesn’t have a chance to survive either. I have even found that by the second season you can plant rows of seeds in this new spot because by then all the “lasagna” layers have turned to soil.

So my advice is to get a kitchen scrap bucket and place it on the counter near the sink or under the counter. Put all your fruit and vegetable scraps in it (no bones or meat scraps) and take it outside regularly to your new compost bins and get busy putting back into the soil this waste instead of in the garbage can!

Early June in Maine: sun but no heat!

2009-06-07T07:32:00.010-04:00

No rain all week so it was time to do serious gardening work. Unfortunately even with sunny days the temperature rarely even reached 70 degrees so there was little veggie growth even in the greenhouse! I soldiered on though and focused on endless hand weeding in the Field Garden so more seeds could be planted in anticipation of eventual summer heat. Two large beds of various beans were planted including Edamame (edible soybean) and pinto and kidney beans anticipating a winter dried bean supply. About 150 leeks and yellow onion plants were put in as well. The potatoes are growing steadily and the strawberries are looking great. I gave some attention to the Raised Bed Garden with a full morning of bed prep and seed planting including more green and yellow beans, carrots, beets, lettuce, arugula, kale, Brussels sprouts and radishes. Most of that garden is now planted.

Since there is not much to show in images of vegetable growth I thought a few images of some beautiful flowers was in order. The first poppy is quite a site and the irises are doing well...Enjoy!

Much progress in spite of the rain!

2009-06-01T12:31:00.020-04:00

Julian and I had grand plans for the five plus days he was here to work on “The Farm.” But 2.5 inches of rain fell slowly, but for most of daylight hours of three of those days, added greatly to our challenge. Yet two major new construction projects were completed in grand style and lots of weeding and planting occurred as well. The new grape arbor and planting of four varieties of grapes vines purchased down Ferry Road at Moody’s Nursery have to take the visual prize for the end of May. The eight foot cedar posts are solidly in the ground and three lines of wires for the vines to climb on are in place. The four varieties planted are: Concord Seedless (purple) and Reliance Seedless (red) will be especially tasty for jams, jellies, juice and eating; Marquette (red) and Edelweiss (white) will be potential wine grapes.

The next big construction project was to stabilize and re-roof the Sanborn shed so we can use it for equipment and tools needed for the Field Garden and keep fewer things in the garage like the riding mower and snow blower. Julian worked especially hard, spending much time on the roof nailing the OSB boards in place and then covering and securing the rolled roofing paper. The finished effort is of great benefit already for so much gardening activity now occurs on the Sanborn farm land in the orchard, and Field Garden so now equipment is handy. The shed also offer a shelter place to sit and relax and watch the garden grow.

The first twenty tomato plans are in the ground! Many, many new plants including peppers, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, herbs and perennial and annual flowers are now in the ground as well. The first planting by seeds of sweet corn, sunflowers and many marigolds surrounding the tomatoes was also accomplished.

Enough words… enjoy the pictures!

Almost Memorial Day & Finally Some Warm Weather

2009-05-22T13:55:00.007-04:00

A two-day heat wave landed in Maine and the plants are loving it. I will be in Chicago for the holiday weekend but will return with Julian for almost a week's work on the homestead following the holiday so major projects might be revealed in the next post around June 1st. More flowers and perennials are now in full bloom as these pictures show. The wood stash for the winter of 2009-2010 is now just about complete. Approximately three cords are cut, split and stacked as the picture below shows. Each covered pallet holds a little less than a cord. There is only a little more to split and stack to finish this process as the warm weather prompts a refocus on just gardening work now for the summer season.
The strawberries are in full bloom and the picking should begin in about three weeks or so with an expected great harvest. The first oven full of strawberry-rhubarb pies will happen then as well.

Familiar blooms & plants return

2009-05-16T06:29:00.010-04:00

May brings back some of my favorite blooms and plants in the gardens. The lilac bed is maturing and should offer more blooms this year as will the bleeding hearts near by the nestled under the trees bordering the east side of the property in what has been called the Mulch Garden. The creeping phlox is taking over its spot in the Peace and Joy Garden, surrounding the St. Francis of Assisi statute. The Lillies of the Valley transplanted from Cambridge are spreading okay after all in front of the house and soon the hosta there will overwhelm as usual.

Ah the strawberries! They are beginning to flower now and all are healthy; how far away can strawbery jam and strawberry-rhubarb pie be now? The rhubarb as always is faithfully offering itself for a first sampling in May. The picture of a part of a highbush blueberry gives you an idea of what appears to be a bountiful year. Nearby in the Raised Bed Garden are peas bursting forth.

I continued with more wood gathering, planiting and garden preparations this past week. 45 tomato cages are now in place in the Field Garden and support for a dozen cherry tomato plants are set up in the Raised Bed Garden. Pole beds are in and so is the first planting of green and yellow bush beans. More lettuce was planted as well. All the gladiola and dahlia tubers left their basement winter storage and entered the ground in various location to add their significant visual splashes in both vegetable gardens. How could I forget...the relentless annual task of cutting grass has now begun in earnest!

More Veggie gardening prep work & planting

2009-05-09T22:09:00.006-04:00

The green house is now full of seedlings. I moved all indoor seed plantings from the house to the green house in the Field Garden and planted several more trays of flower seed plantings and more veggies. The weather has been great and the May full moon has now occurred so there is almost no chance of another frost. It is now time to plant directly some corn, sunflowers, the first bean plantings and the 2nd planting of lettuce, carrots, beets and more peas.
I constructed a couple of new trellis structures for the pole green beans and pole Lima beans. I prepared the large tomato bed in the field garden with 40 tomato cages and did my grand experiment with cardboard/paper and compost to suppress weed growth between the tomato plants. I will surround the tomato bed with a thick planting of marigolds. I do not believe in rototilling the soil and so hope that this works. Tilling adds to one's carbon footprint and also destroys the worms tunneling in the soil. The cardboard/newspaper and composting/mulching encourages even more worm activity. Tilling also stirs up weed seeds that are always lurking in the soil.
I was able to have the first meal of delicious asparagus and noted that the recent potato plantings have already shown signs of growth. The dwarf peach tree is full of blooms so it might be that this tree, the newest of the mini-orchard, might yield the most fruit this season!

Early May Rains

2009-05-07T09:29:00.005-04:00

The first week in May in Southern Maine is proving to be a wet one. I am not complaining at all for the rain is coming gently and stops for part of the day allowing for some outdoor work. For the last few springs the homestead has face an annual torrential storm triggering destructive garden flooding but this year may well be the exception. The relentless task of mowing has begun though, but only around the Field Garden and in Midge's Orchard so far. By this weekend the entire place will need mowing and this will mean the beginning of adding grass clippings to the compost piles. The rain also makes the weeds flourish and they always grow faster than the flowers and veggies plants so this means a lot of time will be spend on hands and knees communing with nature in weed form.
More seedlings are emerging, especially peas, turnips, radishes and beets. More and more asparagus shoots are appearing in the Field Garden but none yet in the Raised Bed Garden. I notice that tons of blueberry buds are forming on the 18 bushes. I think a bumper crop will be the 2009 blueberry story! I noticed the first buds on one of the dwarf apple trees so some first apples should happen this year. Many blooms are emerging on the lilacs as well. All tulips are now in bloom in their many locations and the three circles of grape hyacinths in the lilac bed are blooming as well. There is nothing like a burst of spring flowers to trigger great gardening excitement each spring!

The White House Vegetable Garden

2009-05-07T08:58:00.006-04:00

Here are two photos I found of the garden so far. I thought the blog readers might enjoy some images from the Obama Vegetable Garden. I was one of the petition signers urging that the White House add a garden and lead by their example this movement of growing one's own food as much as possible and buying local, organic produce. Here is a website that was one of the movers in this lobbying effort. It has a lot of good information so might be worth a regular visit to check its blogs and additions: http://www.kitchengardeners.org/

Here also is a PDF of the schematic plan listing what varieties are to be planted and where: http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/documents/WH_Garden_Diagram_040909.pdf

A Cool, cloudy Sunday

2009-05-03T20:46:00.002-04:00

No planting today, but late yesterday I planted two new rhubarb plants from Moody's Nursery to increase the amount planted here. To my pleasant surprise I noticed a lot of asparagus emerging in the Field Garden. I had planted 50 free plants from a neighbor last year in two long rows. My attention turned again to more wood cutting and splitting. I only have a bit more than two cords stacked for seasoning for next winter so far but want at least three on hand. That's good work for cool weather!

The View on May 2, 2009

2009-05-02T11:18:00.015-04:00

I thought it might be nice to have an overview of the property and gardens as the growing season begins. Some of these image views will be updated as the season goes on showing the changes that will occur.

The Field Garden Cam

2009-05-02T07:52:00.005-04:00

I should have added this to the last post. There is a garden camera that is pointing over the fence behind my place toward the Field Garden. You can watch this garden grow and any farming action that might be happening at the moment you are looking. Hopefully you can figure out the various settings to watch it live or capture images. go to: http://saco.schlaver.com:90/

The Field Garden

2009-05-02T07:25:00.005-04:00

The Field Garden is much larger than the Raised Bed Garden and has only experienced one season. It is on my dear neighbor's property; Midge Sanborn generously has allowed me to expand my farming operation here. Historically much of this large field was planted in vegetables but has not been farmed for 20 years. Hence I am having a real battle with weeds that will continue for a few years as the raised beds (without frames) are developed. The dimension of the garden is 120 feet by 85 feet.

The Raised Bed Garden

2009-05-02T07:03:00.007-04:00

I thought I would post a few images from the 2008 mid-summer Raised Bed Garden and will soon post some images of its current state with little visible plantings as yet. This Raised Bed Garden is the primary veggie garden that was started in a very modest way the first summer here, in 2003. There are now 20 wooden framed raised beds. Two beds in the middle are permanent herb beds; two others have strawberries and one other bed has rhubarb and asparagus. The remaining 15 beds are planted each year with a mixture of veggies and flowers. On the border of the garden are two rows of high bush blueberry bushes, 18 in total. On the back side there are six dwarf fruit trees that may well produce a bit of fruit this year on some of them. The last image I am posting is the grand view of the garden taken a few years ago on a misty day.

The Weeping Cherry Tree

2009-05-01T17:36:00.000-04:00

Spring in Saco at the fish pond

The Blog Begins

2009-05-01T17:10:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the SchlaverseedFarm Blog. I will try to add pictures and keep you inform of activities here at the Farm in Saco Maine

Today's activities

2009-05-01T14:31:00.002-04:00

Today more strawberry plants were added to bring the total in the new Field Garden to 200 in two beds. Various seeds have emerged in the Raised Bed garden including peas, turnips, green onions and Broccoli Raab. Maybe tomato, tomatillos and cabbage plans have now emerged in the in-house plantings. Yesterday 200 feet of potatoes were planted: Yukon Gold, Red Nordlands and fingerlings