Zone 4 Dirt Chronicles

Calm After the Storm

2010-05-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

Five days ago: Snowstorm. Yesterday, 80+ degrees. My bones say that winter is over. So....

Potatoes in today.

Onion bulbs in today.

Basil sprouting in the greenhouse.

Phlox and PJM rhody starting to bloom.

Tomatoes VERY happy in the greenhouse.

And it looks like I'll be picking an asparagus in the next day or two.

Really, now. Why does this all make me feel so content?

Melt Down

2010-04-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

We ended up with around 15-18 inches of wet, heavy snow. Lots of big, broken white pine branches on the lawn. A big, uprooted white pine itself across the driveway. Bent birches. And a power outage for about 15 hours.

Today, sun is shining. Thermometer reads 47. Snow is melting fast. Thankfully, the temps throughout the storm never dipped below 30 degrees, so the fruit trees shouldn't suffer any damage.

I can't seem to think of any upside to it all. More water for Lake Champlain, maybe? Mother Nature reminding us that it's not yet time to plant? Pruning for the white pines? Time to stay inside and do laundry?

By Saturday, in the high 70s, it surely will all be forgotten. Bring on the pansies.

The Day the Birds Were Quiet

2010-04-27T15:53:00.000-07:00

I didn't hear many songbirds chirping this morning when I walked out to get the paper. Why? It was snowing big wet, heavy flakes. Yesterday, we admired the new lambs and piglets while hiking in 67-degree weather at Shelburne Farms. Today, we're homebound with at least six inches piled up outside.

Worried about what this means for the apple blossoms, of course. Just knocked a bunch of snow off the peonies.

I'm not really surprised by the snow, but I am surprised by the amount. It will be gone by the weekend--60s forecasted for Friday and possible 80s on Saturday. But still...

Ferns Unfurling and Other Spring Surprises

2010-04-26T05:47:00.000-07:00

I took the photo above a few weeks ago--proof that heat mats make a big difference in Zone 4 seed starting. Last year, I struggled with a cold greenhouse and lack of family support for my seedlings; this year, with seed mats and no travels, I've never had such seedling luck: 34 thriving tomatoes, 8 hollyhocks, and 2 hot peppers. Yesterday, I added peas and basil to the program.

We've had a tricky spring. During Easter, temps rose into the 80s, which caused many plants to sprout prematurely. We've also already had a fair share of days in the 60s, so our apple farmers are on pins and needles, as they're planning for trees to bloom 2-3 weeks earlier than normal. And snow in May is not out of the question...

Of apples, I've sprayed my old tree with hort oil before the bloom. I've also rescued five trees from a friend's yard, where they were living in bog-like conditions. I think three of the trees will make it; one lost most of it's roots during the replant, and one seems like it's dead already. Nevertheless, they're now in a drier place with a little fertilizer and compost, so we'll see if they can pull through.

I mowed the backyard on April 24th. Early? I think so. It smelled nice, though.

I surprisingly saved two rose bushes through the winter. I usually grow roses as annuals in a couple pots flanking my garage. This year, I took the plants out of the pots and put them in the vegetable garden for the winter. Lo and behold, they're sprouting.

I noticed purple asparagus peeking through for the first time yesterday.

The garlic is already about 8 inches high.

Dandelions.

Daffodils.

Peonies and bleeding heart growing tall.

A vegetable garden full of weeds.

And during a hike yesterday along a river, trout lilies, purple trilium, and ferns unfurling.

This is what grows on April 26th, 2010, in my Zone 4.

2010-03-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, March 28, I moved the tomato and hollyhock seedlings to the greenhouse. On sunny days, it's warmer in there than in my house. On dreary days, not so much. But they'll sit on heating mats under florescent lights until the time comes for planting.

No action from peppers and other flowers. Once again, I suspect old seeds may be the problem.

I also planted lettuce in my hydroponic growing system. Pics to come if/when something grows.

Weather report: Steady rain, 49 degrees.

Sprout report: Garlic and peonies are pushing through. Lots of buds on the peach tree.

Sap report: We visited a sugarmaker over the weekend who said he expects to make about 2/3 the syrup he made last year.

Seed Soaking

2010-03-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

The seed soaking process is a keeper. Seven hollyhocks and 23 tomatoes seeds have responded beautifully to soaking and planting. The hollyhocks took about four days to sprout; the tomatoes, six or so. I started the seeds indoors on March 7, and I'll be moving the sprouts to heated mats in the greenhouse in the next couple of days.

No luck (yet) with peppers, columbine, morning glory, and coleus. I usually don't have much luck with these seeds though, so no surprises here.

Another benefit of seed soaking: Many of my seeds packets I've had around the house for who knows how long. During the soak, about three cups of seeds turned to mush--a solid clue that the seeds were old...

Our March has been a mild one. Maple sap has been running strong for a couple weeks now. Day temps are inching up into the upper 40s and 50s. (Will wore shorts to school today.) Night temps aren't quite cold enough to make the syrup farmers ecstatic, but I think they're still having a stellar season.

Husband let the hens out of their coop yesterday for the first time in 2010. They seemed pretty happy pecking around the yard, and even found their favorite dirt hole--dry--near the woods in which to take a bath. I think three chicks are in the plan this spring.

Finally, this morning, I tossed two greenhouse mags in the recycle bin, reminding myself that I just don't need any new plants. Except for maybe a cherry tree, a weeping something or 'nother, or a Japanese maple (if I can find one for Zone 4).

Happy spring! Still waiting to see a robin!

Spring Planning

2010-03-01T06:23:00.000-08:00

Seed catalogs are piling up on my desk, waiting to be circled and tagged. The greenhouse is covered in a layer of snow this morning, waiting for a few hours of sunlight. And I'm buried in scarves for Special Olympians, the big spring school fundraiser, another day off school for the kids, and any number of other things that distract me from spring planning.

Next weekend. That's when it will start to happen. March 6 is tax-free day in Vermont, so I'm planning to order apple trees from a local nursery during their pre-season sale. I'm also determined to see if I can grow those apples without pesticides. A tall order, from what I understand about apple growing.

While I'm at the nursery, I will pick up a bag of growing medium in which to start my seeds. Last year, I had good luck sprouting tomatoes, but no luck with flowers or peppers. This year, I'm going to add a new step to the process: soaking the seeds. In a "Starting From Seed" special edition magazine by the publisher of Fine Gardening, an article claims that a "good overnight soaking is all many seeds need to begin growing." I've never done this, but it makes complete sense; gives the seeds a little embryonic push. No longer than 24 hours, though, or the seeds may rot, advises the author.

So from a snowy place, where 30-degree days and the trusty calendar are promising the spring that will come, I diligently begin another Zone 4 season...

November In Pics

2009-11-28T10:46:00.000-08:00

First egg after molting--a small one:

Pretty bird after molting:

Ornamental grass plumes:

Sleeping garden:

Old nest:

Lone leaf, mirrored branches:

Lavender:

Still colorful perennial geranium leaves:

'Autumn Joy' sedum:

Get Your Garlic in the Ground

2009-10-26T04:53:00.001-07:00

I'm probably a week or two late this year in getting my garlic in the ground, but I think it will forgive me. Last year, I planted about 3 dozen organic cloves; the results were small but powerful. This year, I might plant a mix of those same cloves and some larger ones from the grocery, as La Familia goes through a lot of garlic in a year, so I would like some larger heads.

The happy sight of garlic shoots in the spring rivals those of crocus and asparagus. Harvest in July, when the leaves/stalks start to turn brown, dry for a few weeks, wipe off the dirt, and store in a dark, dry place.

Little work for a big return.

2009 Grade -- Just Average

2009-09-09T05:23:00.000-07:00

Vegetable Garden is on the other side of her hill now. Thing is, I don't think she ever really hit a peak this year...

Two thumbs up: Lettuce, chard, zucchini, basil, potatoes, peaches

Thumbs to come: butternut squash, peppers, cantaloupe

One thumb: cukes, green beans, asparsagus, corn

Thumbs down: beets, peas, soy beans, tomatoes, apples

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Overall grade: B-
So much time and sweat for a B-...

Notes for next year:

Try bush beans instead of pole beans.
Use Park Seed's 'Marai' corn seeds.
Get peppers form Arcana nursery again.
Don't bother with broccoli. It bolts too fast.
Bring seeds inside for the winter; don't leave them in the greenhouse.
Don't bother with melon. Use the space for cukes.
Easy on the chard. A little goes a long way.
Plant parsley.
Chop down old apple tree; plant four new ones.

Corn and Zucchini Salsa

2009-08-29T16:30:00.001-07:00

Made this tasty little salsa with zucchini, corn, and peppers from the garden. Found it in The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest, which suggests serving it with chips or grilled chicken breasts. I enjoy it in warm corn tortillas with black beans and a dollop of sour cream. Also dee-lish on a taco salad.

Corn and Zucchini Salsa

3 medium zucchini
1 1/2 t salt
2 ears yellow corn, husked
4 T olive oil
2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 c fresh lime juice (8 med limes)
1/2 c cider vinegar
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
1/4 c finely chopped scallions with tops
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper

Toss zucchini with salt and "sweat" for 3 mins in a nonreactive colander. Rinse and dry on paper towels.

Coat the corn with 2 teaspoons of the oil and roast on a cookie sheet in a 400-degree F oven for 30-40 mins. Cool. But off the kernels and scrape the cobs.

Combine the zucchini, corn, remaining oil, tomatoes, lime juice, vinegar,jalapenos, scallions, garlic, and pepper in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 mins.

Ladle into hot, clean jars. Cap and seal. Process in a boiling-water bath for 15 mins, adjust for altitude, if necessary.

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Notes:

I took the kernels off the corn first and sauteed them.

I will use more than 2 jalapenos the next time I make this.

I froze instead of canned, so I didn't heat up the mixture at all.

Damn the Late Blight

2009-08-28T05:39:00.000-07:00

After all my nurturing -- 22 tomato plants from seed -- I've been defeated by the late blight:

This disease has been running rampant throughout Vermont this season, affecting both potatoes and tomatoes. I thought I had beat it. My potatoes were fine, and there were no signs of blight on the tomatoes until about two weeks ago...

Late blight is the same disease that caused the Irish potato famine of the 1850s. It's airborne, serious, and thrives in wet weather -- the first half of our summer. The newspapers are telling us all to destroy the plants to help stop it from spreading next year. It apparently doesn't overwinter in the soil, so that's an advantage, but it can overwinter in infected potatoes left in the soil.

I'm so reluctant to pull up and burn the plants. Tomatoes are always the glory of my garden; canning salsa is my gateway to fall. I've harvested a few unblighted fruit and am I've been waiting to see if I can get any to ripen before they turn. But I think the battle is over. I'm going to need to buy a bushel or two.

A sad season indeed.

Harvesting...

2009-08-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

Pole beans. First pick last night, and I got a couple pounds. Funny how they sneak up on you like that.

Zucchini. Funny how these grow like four inches overnight. Going to slice, blanch, and freeze.

Cherry tomatoes. Only about a half a dozen so far. Love 'em.

Lettuce. Enjoyed many a salad this summer. Starting to bolt because of the heat.

Cukes. Picked about six pickling cukes and two Straight 8s. Will surely be pickling this year.

Peaches. All picked. About 20 in the first year. Small but very flavorful.

Potatoes. Need to dig up Round 2.

Beets: Late, small, few.

Chard. Highly productive. Can't keep up with it.

Peppers. First jalapenos last night. Also a small Spanish hot pepper that we sauteed and salted and ate with tortilla chips and tacos. Nice and chipotle-y.

Tomatoes, corn. Not yet.

August in Pics

2009-08-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

July = A Wash

2009-08-03T05:04:00.000-07:00

From the July 25th Burlington Free Press:

-3.9: The departure in degrees from the average temperature on July. Twenty of the first 23 days this month were cooler than normal.

82: The high temperature recorded this month.

13.8: Inches of rainfall that has fallen since May 1. There has been at least a trace of rain in 22 of the past 28 days.

6: Days in the start of June that have been classified as "clear" by the National Weather Service.

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There's not much more to say about this. July has been cool and wet. One of the reasons I haven't written much this summer. (The other reason is that I traveling two weeks of the month.) And if you don't spend much time in the garden, you don't have much to write about.

In the past week, however, I've meandered out there whenever I had a chance. The weeds have tried to take over, but most of the plot looks great. The plants seem a little behind schedule, but as long as the frost holds off, they'll eventually produce something, right?

A couple days ago (July 27th) I dug up the garlic, and it was disappointingly small. Too wet? Bad seed cloves? Soil issues? Who knows?

I've also been cutting lettuce for a few weeks. Lettuce has had a very happy season. The chard also looks beautiful, and we braised some for dinner the other night (with some red pepper and a splash of red wine vinegar.)

The corn is about waist high. The tomatoes are tall but seem light on fruit. Same for peppers. They all need some warm, dry weather, I presume.

Peas, beet, and soybeans had a lame season. I replanted the soy beans three times, but only a few plants survived. I think something may have been eating them down as soon as they sprouted.

Potatoes: We dug up about 30 a few days ago. Most are bigger than I would've preferred.

Blueberries: Picked a couple quarts yesterday. Some sour, some sweet. Can I do anything to make them all sweet?

Peaches: Reddening beautifully, but I don't know when to pick them. Am waiting for them to soften a bit, then I'll try one.

Weeds: I've railroaded about 3/4 of them in the past few days. I love weeding. Mostly for the pride of the finished product. But also because it gives me a reason to crawl between the corn and peek under the plants. When you weed, you know what's goin' on out there. You can talk (to yourself), and nobody argues or disagrees with you. And you can practically feel the plants grin with gratitude when you remove their competition.

Anticipating a dryer and warmer August...

Les Jardins

2009-06-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

Everyday I inspect the vegetable garden. And most days, not much changes, so I just pull out little weeds here and there. The big action of this week was that the corn and pole beans sprouted. The rows of soy beans and hills of cukes, winter squash, and zucchini, however, were vacant of sprouts, so I replanted those seeds yesterday. Too wet? Old seeds? Hens?

The 22 tomatoes and 12 peppers are healthy, but I think they could use some warm, sunny days. The potatoes are going great guns and should be mulched today. A visual tour:

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In perennial land...

...peonies, my favorite summer flower, are finally opening:

The Japanese iris are in full bloom:

And my always confident and reliable hostas aren't disappointing, as usual:

Lots if purples blooming right now. Is this a nature thing? That purples attract certain insects, or that the weather is conducive to purples right now? I wonder...

Fruta

2009-06-14T06:19:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago, I ordered and planted a 'Reliance' peach tree and a 'Mount Royal' plum (both Zone 4 and self-pollinating). The plum came with no blossoms, but the peach was loaded, and it looks like we may eat pick some fruit in another couple months.

I rubbed off quite a few buds so as not to overload the tree after transplanting. I love this tree for both its fuzzy little fruit and because it already smells peachy.

As I've mentioned before, my blueberries are loaded this year -- their third in my yard:

Over in the apple orchard, my one tree is growing plenty of little apples...

but causing me plenty more consternation. First, I don't like spraying it with pesticide, but I'm determined to harvest something edible from this tree, and I can't find an alternative to spraying. I sprayed pre-bloom and again about 10 days after the blossoms dropped. I was hoping to stop there, but careful observation [obsession] uncovered borings into my tine apples. I don't know much about apple pests -- other than there are a lot them. But this looks like it could be apple maggot. So I sprayed again yesterday. I'm also going to order a couple sticky apple traps (fake apples covered in something sticky that attracts pests).

Beyond my own yard, local strawberries are starting to show up. The u-pick places should be open in a week or two, provided we dry out. (Last year, the strawberry seasons was all but non-existent due to too much rain.) I can taste them already...

First Week in June Status Check

2009-06-04T07:19:00.000-07:00

What's blooming: Bridal Veil spirea (a Vermont early-summer classic), allium, something that looks like a wild phlox, perennial geranium, dwarf Korean lilacs, rhodies, iris

What's almost done blooming: creeping phlox, bleeding heart, PJM rhodies

What's definitely done blooming: Lilacs, tree peony

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I sprayed my apple tree with pesticide yesterday. Everything in my head was against this, but I know no other solution to having a productive tree. I could justify this only by knowing that most other apples I've eaten in my life were likely sprayed diligently.

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Today, I drove our riding lawn mower down the street about 1/2 mile, towing a trailer, to ask a neighbor if I could have his grass clippings from a field he had just mowed. Grass clippings are my favorite vegetable garden mulch, as they stop the weeds then can be tilled into the soil or added to the compost pile when all is said and done.

A few years ago, I tried to mulch with straw, but it sprouted, so my efforts at mulching about doubled my efforts at weeding. That was the year I gave up on straw.

At any rate, my neighbor gladly shared his grass clippings. He went on to tell me a story about how he had been hit by a pickup truck while out riding a bicycle a few years ago, followed by a coma for a month. It was a chilling story and one of those out-of-the-blue reminders of the potential fragility of it all. Here today; gone tomorrow. Unless some sort of random luck blows your way after you've been hit by a truck. I told him I was glad to meet him, glad he was still alive, and glad to take his grass.

Hens and Seeds Don't Mix

2009-05-31T06:25:00.000-07:00

Last week of May = lots of rain.

In a break in that weather yesterday, Mia, Max, and I planted seeds in the damp dirt: soy beans, beets, green onions, lettuce, spinach, cukes, zukes, watermelon, peas, winter squash, sunflowers. Later in the day, I went out back to close up the hens and discovered that one had promptly scratched up the melon, zucchini, and squash seeds. Anyone craving chicken stew? So they're staying in their pen until the garden is completely closed off. We have a fence but not a gate yet.

I need to harden off my tomatoes, so they won't go in for a few days. Still to plant: hot peppers, basil, corn, and pole beans. I'm going to wait a week on the corn so the soil can heat up just a little more. Today, I'm heading up to Arcana Gardens and Greenhouse, an organic farm in Jericho, VT, in search of some interesting hot pepper plants.

Above the soil, the asparagus is done for the season. I left a few stalks to grow tall and bring energy to the roots for next year. The three-dozen garlics are at least a foot tall; we should see scapes in a few weeks. And the potatoes have finally broken through. It also looks like we're going to have a good blueberry year, as my bushes are loaded with blossoms.

The forecast isn't working in a gardener's favor: possible showers today and for the next four days, at least. Such is Vermont in the spring.

Memorial Weekend 2009

2009-05-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day 2009: A perfect gardening weekend. Breezy, 60s, and where are the bugs?

Thanks to Husband, the fence around the vegetable garden is nearly complete. The tiller didn't want to work today, however, and we wanted to till up a swatch of dead grass (four weeks under a dark tarp) that will add about 33% more space to the garden. It wouldn't start, and I even saw him kick it. The machine belongs to Husband's uncle, but we keep it in our barn and are the only users anymore. It must be 50 years old, is as heavy as a small tractor and as temperamental as a old cow.

I should've planted the garden this weekend, but I've been waiting for the digging of the fence post and the tilling of the dead grass. Another week won't hurt. The seeds will still grow, and the plants will still produce. Patience, once again.

I spent most of the weekend cleaning up a perennial garden along our front walk. Moved some peonies that weren't getting enough sun, and so far, they don't seem to have skipped a beat. Will be interesting to know if they bloom.

My tree peony is blooming. It grows three giant white flowers with pink inside edges every year.

Finished off a 1.5-yard pile of hemlock mulch. I'm a big fan of this shredded wood mulch. (The hens are too, as they've already dug up the mulch I put on a coral bells garden.) Keeps the weeds down, the soil cooler and more moist, and makes the gardens look nice-n-tidy. I don't like the price of the mulch, however. We paid a whopping $48 a yard this year, and I need another three yards or so.

I have about 10+ perennial beds around my yard, and I started another today. Our front porch has been hidden behind evergreens and a huge, round cedar shrub, and today, Husband cut out and dug up the cedar. It left a huge hole, of course, which I now need to fill. I'm thinking something colorful like hydrangeas or rhodies. Or sweet smelling like a daphne. Any suggestions? Morning sun, and I'd like to keep it under 4 feet.

My body aches. A good ache. A productive ache. Tonight I go to sleep happy with what I got done instead of fretting about what I didn't.

Let the Blooming Begin

2009-05-17T17:15:00.000-07:00

A great week to live in Zone 4...mostly because the lilacs are blooming! I spent the better part of today clearing weeds from the vegetable garden, listening to "This American Life" podcasts on my iPod, with wafts of lilac breezing over me. The second highlight of this coolish, windyish day: no black fly bites!

All over the yard, lots of spots of color, including bleeding heart, apple blossoms, creeping phlox, forget-me-nots (which grow profusely in my woods), new rugosa roses, and blueberry blossoms...

Goals for the week: Plant peas, spinach, lettuce, kale (probably a week or two late); start mulching the perennial beds; support Husband in his effort to build a fence around the vegetable garden.

Jealous of Jenson

2009-05-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

Husband and I visited our friend Lucas Jenson's new pigs today. He has three that he's raising to butcher. Cost him $65 each, and he built the pig house and pen himself, so the price is right.

Still, I'm not sure I could raise something then look it in the eye, send it to the butcher, and cook it for dinner. (Babe is one of my all-time favorite movies.) I guess I'm just a gentleman farmer after all.

Husband looked at them, smelled them, then looked at me and said, "I don't want any pigs."

Lucas is also getting bees. His boxes are ready; he's just waiting for the combs and bees. Now this fascinates me, given that bees need a little extra boost in the species survival department these days.

Husband is allergic to bee stings (not deadly allergic), so his comment on bees was, "That's one project you won't get any help with." I don't think I'd really become a beekeeper, but it is an interesting idea. Maybe if it turns out to be effortless for Lucas...

Cherries. Now here's a way I might be able keep up with the guy. He loves his cherry trees and has inspired me to consider a couple. You can grow only sour cherries here -- not sweet. I can't match him on apples yet. He has about a dozen; I have one. I did pick up my peach ("Reliance") and plum ("Mount Royal") trees yesterday and will plant them this week. Maybe I should take a drive out to Elmore Roots this weekend and check out their cherries.

I asked Lucas to be a guest blogger here. He hemmed and hawed, but I'll nudge him along so we can follow his progress with those bees, pigs, and fruit trees, a sizable vegetable garden, and hens and chicks. Not to mention his zip line, tree house, and pond. The guy's got everything but a teepee. Maybe I should get one...either that or a goat. Or a wind turbine. That'd get him.

Early May Status Check

2009-05-09T12:32:00.001-07:00

A good week for nature. The brown of winter is gone, and everything is green -- fields, leaves, weeds. We've already cut our grass twice.

We're stuck in a rainy spell. Heard what may have been the first thunder of the season today, and the dog has remembered that he's afraid of thunder.

My apple tree hasn't blossomed yet. Others in town have, but I'm just a bit higher than town.

I planted potatoes today. Felt good to finally put something in the ground. I bought seed potatoes a month or so ago and experimented with cutting them into pieces to see if they'd "greensprout". They didn't. Instead, they shriveled. So I spritzed them. Then they molded. So I put those in the compost pile and bought more seed potatoes.

In the greenhouse, about 25 tomato plants that have sprouted. They're much smaller than what the nurseries are offering, but I'm pretty confident they'll eventually give fruit. Nothing else has thrived. The peas seem to have rotted in the soil, so I'll just plant new ones in the ground as soon as it stops raining. The lettuce in the hydroponic system is half-heartedly trying to gain some momentum. One broccoli came up, and no flowers or surviving peppers. Old seeds, maybe?

Needing extra days in the week to get ahead of the happy weeds...

Priming the Compost

2009-05-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

I applied compost starter to my compost pile and bin today. Both need it, as the pile is trying to process all the sticks and garden waste raked up from last fall, and the bin is full of a winter's worth of kitchen waste. I probably won't get much dirt from the bin this year; if not, next year I'll stike dirt gold.

I did spread two wheelbarrows of garden-ready compost on the garden today. A nice little boost for the tomato patch.

Read here for more thoughts about composting. I wrote this on my other blog a couple months ago.

Railroading the Weeds

2009-05-03T05:51:00.000-07:00

I wanted to spread mulch yesterday -- to smell the hemlock (which makes a yard seem so organized and well tended) and keep the weeds at bay in the beds I've cleared. But there is a bigger priority back behind the barn: the vegetable garden, where weeds love the lack of competition in the spring. If I don't tackle it now, they'll be a foot high when I'm ready to plant in a few weeks. I know because this has happened the past two years in a row.

I have four can't-do-without weeding tools:

1) A hori hori knife. This thing readily removes weeds and rocks. While I've never timed myself (because that would be weird), I'm sure this thing cuts hours off weeding time:

2) A tubtrug. In this, I carry the weeds to the compost pile. I have about five of them and use them for any number of things. Max uses them to pick up pine cones from the yard. (I pay him $1 a bucket.) My friend Michelle uses hers for laundry. I purchase mine at the Gardener's Supply Company.

3) and 4) Gloves and a kneeling mat. These go without saying.

So I weeded Phase 1 of the vegetable beds yesterday. Satisfyingly so. We made this bed about three years ago. I've mulched it with wood chips and straw over the years, which we've just integrated into the bed, and the soil is rich and loose. I'll probably plant potatoes (soon) and corn in this section, with cukes and possibly squash and melons under the corn.

Once the weeks are pulled, I have a small, handheld electric tiller that I run through the top five or so inches of soil to discourage any other weeds from setting up shop there, like in this bed, Phase 2 of my spring weeding challenge:

Phase 3 is an overwhelming work in progress. It's a five-foot wide swath of thick, healthy grass between Phase 1 and Phase 2. I'd love to spray it with Roundup, but I'm sure that will somehow contribute to the honeybees' Colony Collapse Disorder. So we're going to do this the natural way:

I'm not sure we'll use this section this year. It may just be a work in progress.

At this point in the season, very early May, it's hard to have patience in terms of planting when your dirt is ready. I will likely put a few hearty spring seeds in soon -- peas, lettuce, beets. But everything else needs to wait until Memorial Day -- the when threat of frost is usually/finally over and the real gardening begins.

Walk Around the Yard

2009-04-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

88 degrees yesterday...close to that again today...

This can't be good for the plants -- it's not summer yet. Seasonal temps are more like in the 60s, and we're supposed to return to that tomorrow. I even heard something about overnight temps in the 20s in a few days. So plants pushing their blooms due to the warm weather may be in for a bit of a shock.

Nevertheless, a walk around the yard finds some asparagus, blueberry buds, woodland daffodils, Autumn Joy sedum sprouts, the hens taking a dust bath, and a lazy dog:

Springing of Spring

2009-04-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

April 25. Temps are supposed to hit near 80 today -- the first time this year we've seen such weather. I have a whole day of nothing ahead of me, which translates into a whole day of poking around the yard -- if that's what I feel like doing. And somehow, I think what I feel like doing may involve pansies.

So what's happening out back? I sprayed my apple tree yesterday with horticultural oil with the intent of killing off any scale on the tree (see above). I didn't really find scale on the apple tree, but I did find some (I think) on it's pollinator, a crab apple tree. I've lived on our homestead for nearly six years and have never sprayed the gnarly old Cortland tree. But neither have I eaten a nice apple from it. So this year, I got off my "organic apple" horse with the intent of enjoying the tree's fruits. It's just one of those things that needs a little help, I guess. From what I've heard at the greenhouse, no apple grower worth his/her salt can grow an edible apple in Vermont without some level of spraying.

So yesterday, on went the dormant oil -- to be applied before the buds pop. I thought I would be overcome by the fumes and toxicity of it, of course, so I armed myself with long clothes, sunglasses, and a bandanna around my mouth. But the spray didn't smell or kill me. It's just an oil, after all. Think of spray-on sunscreen.

The next application -- of a more organic pesticide (pyrethrum) that I think is derived from chrysanthemums -- gets sprayed on the day the tree drops its blossoms. I've heard that you can apply this spray every month or so, but I'm not sure I'm going to take it that far yet. Baby steps for me and this spraying business.

In other news: The garlic is about six inches high. The asparagus hasn't poked up yet. New shoots on my three roses. I wasn't able to save but two pepper plants from the Attack of the Family. And a few tomatoes have re-sprouted. I'm definitely going to be visiting a greenhouse for plants this year.

Question of the Day: To mulch or not to mulch yet? Is the ground warm enough? I read an advice column this morning that suggested you need to give the ground enough time to really thaw out before you mulch, or the mulch will insulate the cold. So I'm going to wait a few weeks. I still have plenty of beds to clean out anyway.

Question of the Day #2: When should I plant potatoes? I've acquired the seed potatoes and split them up. They're staying warm in the greenhouse, but I'm not sure when they should go in the ground. I've heard when the soil hits 50 degrees. How do you test that? A meat thermometer in the ground?

Funny how I've been experimenting in a garden for more than half my life, and I still have a ton of questions about it all. Maybe that's part of the appeal of it all. It's never boring and always challenging.

With that, out with this blog today and in with some warm and windy sunshine...

Good Thing I Don't Do This for a Living

2009-04-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

I've been in California for work all week. Before I left, I had 8 pepper seedlings and a handful of tomatoes germinating. I came home last night, and I have only a couple half-dead little peppers left. The family let us down. They told me while I was gone that not many of my seeds had sprouted. Because when you don't WATER sprouts in warmish weather, they die back to nothing.

Funny thing is that Mia said Dad told her not to water earlier in the week. "Oh, you don't need to water. Mom just did that," she said that he said. He tried to deny it, but Will threw him under the bus: "Yeah, Dad. You did say that," he ratted.

Additionally, I was hoping to come home to daffodils in bloom, and it looks like I have at least another week to wait. The grass is turning green, but that's the only outward sign of spring life out there.

So Max and I got busy this morning and replanted the tomatoes and peppers. It's late to plant seeds, but what the heck. We added melons, broccoli, peas, and marigolds to the mix.

This afternoon, I'm going to prune my apple tree. Once again, I'm probably a little late with this too, but better late then never.

Boy, this gardening business sure is a live and learn proposition, isn't it?

Losing Hope

2009-04-08T07:59:00.000-07:00

My seeds are in there trying hard to grow. Vermont in April sure can be a challenging time for a gardener.

And for garlic:

They're cold, and there's not a lot of weather hope in store for this week.

Makes me think I should just resign myself to buying plants.

Early April Status Check

2009-04-04T10:55:00.000-07:00

Six peppers have hatched -- indoors -- and a few spinach leaves are showing in the hydroponic system in the greenhouse. The garlic is also two inches above the soil in the garden itself, and the blueberries, with lots of buds, look like they're going to have a good season.

I planted tomatoes, some coleus, and flowers in a flat today, and to help them along, I broke down and invested in heating mats. Without direct sunlight (which you can't count on around here), both my house and my greenhouse are too cold for seeds to happily sprout. So I've resorted to gadgetry and have set it up in the greenhouse. Also turned on the grow lights. Will be interested to see if it all pays off.

Tomorrow, I'm going to see about ordering a pear and a peach tree. I also need to look into spraying the old apple tree. Since we've lived here, I haven't had the nerve to spray the tree because the process just seems so toxic, but we've never had an apple we could eat due to scale either. So I may break down here too. After all, I'm sure the apples we pick in the orchard have been sprayed.

It's early April and still damp and chilly. Still, I pulled a tick off the cat yesterday.

At the First Caw of the Crow

2009-03-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

We've seen our first robins and red-winged blackbirds, but in Vermont, there's no more faithful sign of spring than the smoke rising from the chimneys of the sugarhouses where our celebrated maple syrup is made.

This weekend is Open House weekend for all our sugarhouses. I visited the Isham Family Farm with Max's Kindergarten class this afternoon, where we toured the sugarbush (aka the maple tree grove), ran through meadows, learned about the sugaring process, and tasted the sap, syrup, and donuts covered with maple glaze.

A trip to a sugarhouse is a rite of passage for our kids every spring -- especially if donuts or "sugar on snow" (warm syrup drizzled cold snow and finished with a sour pickle) are involved. They've heard over and over the legend of Woksis, the Iroquois chief who put a gash in a tree with his tomahawk, and from the gash, sap dripped into a vessel beneath the tree. Woksis' wife used what she thought was water in the vessel to cook their evening meal, but the water evaporated and turned into a thick, sweet syrup that the Indians enjoyed as a sweetener. Thus, the story of how maple syrup was discovered.

Today, the process uses more equipment, but the basic process is the same. Collect the maple sap, boil it down, and bottle it. At the first caw of the crow -- usually in early February -- the Ishams install 800 taps in their sugarbush, all connected to a series of tubes that are eventually pumped into the sugarhouse. When the weather warms to above freezing during the day (but still colder at night),the sap starts to run. Once the Ishams collect a few hundred gallons in the sugarhouse, they load it into an evaporator fueled by a wood fire and boil it for the better part of a day until the syrup reaches a 66-67 percent sugar content at a temperature of 7.1 degrees Fahrenheit above boiling. After it cools, the syrup is filtered, graded (Light Amber, Medium Amber, Dark Amber, and Grade B), and canned. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.

Sugaring operations smaller than the Ishams' still hang steel buckets from trees and collect the sap manually using horse teams. I thought I might tap a few trees this spring but didn't get around to it, and given that the flow of sap is dependent on certain weather conditions, I've probably missed the window. Besides, we really have only one or two maple trees that are large enough to tap, so the sap I'd collect would probably make about a cup of syrup. Maybe next year...

I didn't taste my first real maple syrup until I met Husband, who has roots in Vermont (I was a Mrs. Butterworth's child), and I can't imagine ever using anything but the real thing ever again (despite it's high price this year). Even our new IHOP has made arrangements with "corporate" to serve real syrup at the restaurant here. (Honestly, they'd probably be run out of town if they served a substitute.) Our trees, sap, and syrup are a treasured part of our state culture -- and economy -- and if you try some on vanilla ice cream, you'll know why.

Sunday Morning Review

2009-03-22T05:21:00.000-07:00

Awoke to a yard covered with snow this morning. "Why does it have to do that?" asked Daughter. It's light and fluffy and won't stay, but still. I was raking pine cones yesterday and the kids set up a baseball diamond in the yard. Now everything's buried, and that sucks.

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On pine cones: I have thousands of them in my yard this spring. We must have had good conditions for pine trees last year following by a windy winter. Wonder what makes for better-than-average pine cone production? Whatever it was, it also made for some serious spring raking.

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The Vermont Fish and Wildlife office is reminding everyone that it's time to bring in bird feeders because the bears are waking up hungry, and they love those seeds. I haven't seen any bears in our yard, but I do have neighbors with a few bent and twisted feeder poles.

I didn't feed the birds much this year because my dogs also love those seeds -- the ones the birds thrown on the ground. The dogs subsequently develop some supremely offensive gas. I'm going to clear a bird-feeding spot outside the dog's zapper fence next winter because I like to host cardinals in particular in the winter.

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My seeds in the greenhouse froze the other night, so as my friend Rosemarie says, "I guess that experiment's over." I brought the seeds inside.

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I wanted to blog about the White House planting the First Garden, but even People Magazine picked up that story, so I'll pass. But I do have a couple notes on the subject...

The Obamas have to buy their own groceries, so of course they should have a garden. I appreciate that they're making it big enough that they can donate extras to a local food shelf.

On "60 Minutes" last weekend, Alice Waters, queen of sustainability and chic Berkeley dining, said that she has been working on getting a garden at the White House for, like, the past 10 years. I wonder how much influence she had in the project. No doubt that she couldn't get her message heard during the past 8 years...

Spring Workshops in Williston

2009-03-19T05:35:00.000-07:00

I went to a gardening workshop at the Old Brick Church in Williston village last night. It was hosted by a gardening group that wants to teach gardening neophytes how to plant seeds -- in the spirit of spreading the green.

I was familiar with most of the material covered, but I did learn a few things:

**Eggplant is difficult to grow in Vermont. It likes warmer weather than we can provide. It's also prone to pests, so if you're going to give it a go, potting it is the recommended approach. The soil in a pot will stay warmer too. I think eggplant might like living in my greenhouse for an extended period. On the other hand, nobody in my family really likes eggplant, so why bother? If I carry my seeds through to the end, I'm going to needs some creative recipes.

**The general consensus among the workshop leaders is that my seeds are unlikely to germinate in my half warm/half cold greenhouse. So today, I'm leaning toward an investment in heating mats.

**Don't till a garden -- it breaks down the soil structure. This discussion rears its head every spring when my husband wants to till the spring weeds under, and I want to pull them. My argument is that if you till a weed under, it has the potential of sprouting again. His argument is that I have a lot of weeds to pull. So this year, no deep tilling. I have a small electric hand tiller that I'll use to work up the top couple of inches, but that's it.

**Peppers like to be warm while sprouting then a little cooler for awhile before going into the ground. Curious.

**Self-watering pots are the pot of choice for patio gardening. They don't dry out like a traditional clay pot, so the plant isn't subject to the stress of being wet then dry over and over.

One of the impressive things about the workshop is that the organizers brought peat pots and cowpots, soil, and seeds for everyone to take a few planted seeds home with them. I didn't take anything because I already have seeds in progress. But I thought that was a generous offer.

Next month's workshop will tackle potatoes, broccoli, and kale. I plan to attend because my broccoli always bolts quickly and I'd like to find out why, and I'd like to try some potatoes for the first time this year.

Happy day before the first official day of spring!

Old Roses

2009-03-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

I'm reading this book, penned by Robin Chotzinoff, who also writes a People With Dirty Hands blog:

It was a gift from my friend Michelle 12 years ago. I read it then and am revisiting it because (a) it's nearly spring, and (b) it's a captivating book of stories about curious gardeners and their pursuits.

The first chapter follows the trials and tribulations of rose rustlers -- people who track down antique or old roses and steal cuttings. The story takes place in Texas, where you can apparently find some great old roses in cemeteries and pueblos. The appeal of the old rose is their strong and unique scents and their ability to grow anywhere in almost any condition. When the rose rustlers in the story find an old rose, they take a cutting, put it in dirt, and the roses seem to take root. Just like that.

This idea intrigues me. I've never started a rose cutting, but it seems like an interesting challenge. I'm not sure Vermont is the place for old roses though, as winter often takes it's toll on roses. I have a few in-ground bushes that are sheltered (and mulched) in the winter, but I can never be certain they'll survive year to year. I also grow roses in two pots every summer -- as annuals.

But I'm going to keep my eye out for any rambling, scenty, thorny bushes that look like they've been around a century or so, and see what I can do with it.

The chapter ends with these words to live by:

"Old roses, by example, are full of instructions on how to live right. They stand for certain things I like to consider true. Such as:

1. There is more than one way to be beautiful.
2. Survival is a noble goal.
3. Good climates are in the eye of the beholder, not the tourism board.
4. If you are attacked by disease, abandonment, or a bad chain of events, do not necessarily despair. There is always the chance you were bred to be tough.
5. Everyone should not smell the same. "

First Seeds of the Season

2009-03-16T18:35:00.000-07:00

It's mid-March. Temps in the upper 40s, sun shining the past few days. Makes the maple sap run and the seed companies busy. There's still a pretty serious chill in the air and snow in shady spots, so it's not quite warm enough for a full-blown spring fever. But I think it may be warm enough in my greenhouse to start some seeds.

I recently picked up a list of when to plant specific seeds at the Gardners' Supply retail store in Williston. Following their advice, I planted 4 eggplant and 20 bell and hot pepper seeds this past weekend.

I also planted some lettuce and spinach in a hydroponic growing system. And some cat grass just for fun. Challenge is that I'm not sure the greenhouse will stay warm enough for the seeds to germinate. During a sunny day, the greenhouse is warmer than my regular house, but at night, outside temps are in the 20s and 30s, so I'm not sure how much of the day heat will hold at night or when cloud cover is heavy.

I have electricity in the greenhouse, so I could use heat mats, but they're a bit on the spendy side. I also have fluorescent grow lights, but Husband isn't interested in "heating the outside" all night. (I tend toward agreeing with him, which I why I haven't turned the lights on.) I will need to turn them on for a few hours each day once the seeds sprout, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

In the past, I started seeds in the house and moved them into the greenhouse when they germinated. This year, I'm trying to use the greenhouse as it's intended. So I'm chalking this year's seeding up to an experiment. If I'm too early, then I'll obviously be purchasing my vegetable plants this year.

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Over in the hen house, we've let our three hens free range in the yard the past few days. Husband let them out because one is being pecked, so he thinks they're bored after a long winter in the coop. Letting them roam is a bit risky for them; we have quite a few predators that hang around our neighborhood -- fox, fisher cats, owls, hawks, bobcats. But the hens do seem happy wandering around, and they're good bug and weed control.

As far as the hens earning their keep, their egg laying has been rather prolific after a dry spell this winter; we get 2-3 a day, giving us more eggs than we can use. One of the hens is laying strangely oblong eggs right now -- they're even too tall to fit in an egg carton. I don't know what makes that happen -- or how long it will continue, as the eggs seem to change shape and color over time.

So with a few seeds and a long egg, I inaugurate the Zone 4 Dirt Chronicles.