Last year we prepped part of our backyard for planting by tilling the grass in and planting a cover crop. This year we are actually planting in this area! We planted potatoes (thanks to generosity of farmer friends), butternut squash (saved seed from last year’s crop) and cukes. This weekend we will plant tomatoes in […]
The sun is shining and the snow is melting. It’s been a long, cold and snowy winter and today we went over to take a look at how things survived the polar vortex and other gems of this season. The hoop house was balmy and smelled kind of like cabbage due to the overwintered kale […]
It’s November 11th and we are yet to have a hard frost, but it’s definitely on its way. Got the garlic planted a couple weeks ago, mulched and tucked in for the cold winter. After attending an awesome workshop by Dan Kittredge of the Bionutrient Food Association, we also applied chopped up leaves and grass […]
I’ve been a bit negligent in posting pictures of everything growing at the plot, so here are a few taken the first weekend in August. Lots of vertical growing going on!
In early July we plowed a portion of our back lawn and planted a cover crop of buckwheat. It grew magnificently, making a nice canopy over the ground crowding out most of the weeds (with the exception of persistent purslane…argh). Last weekend it started to flower, so we tilled it under. In another week we […]
If you’ve been reading along, you have noticed that our backyard is a giant lawn. Well, no longer…at least one portion of grass (~2000 sq ft) will not need to be mowed any more. Phase 1 of our backyard transformation is underway as Spink spent the weekend doing some primary tillage, putting Bertha back to […]
Purslane has taken over many of our SPIN beds. The weather has been incredible, bouts of rain mixed with warm, sunny days. Of course, we love this combination and so do the plants. Plus, we do not have to irrigate. Unfortunately, the weeds love it too and they are growing like mad in a few […]
Well, it’s that time of year again. The mailbox is flooded with colorful seed catalogs and we start getting excited about spring (despite the cold, frozen ground!). Last weekend we attended the OEFFA conference and got a good nudge in the direction of getting started with planning. Usually the winter months are spent relaxing, though […]
The chilly fall weather has hit us suddenly with temps dipping into the 40s and 50s at night. We have closed up the hoop house to try to retain some heat for the spinach and ginger that is growing inside. We planted a bed of parsnips a few weeks ago and are hopeful they will […]
August has arrived…well, it’s already mid-August actually. With the help of a WWOOF volunteer we turned over 7 beds yesterday (thanks Erika!). I counted the number of beds devoted to beets: 11 beds!! That is an impressive number. The market goers seem to love beets, so is it nice to maintain an ample supply. We […]