Tag: garden

May planting

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, gardening

We planted the last bed on the last day of May. Tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squashes, peppers, spaghetti squash, various eggplants. I’m bummed out that I couldn’t find a purple and white striped eggplant variety this year, or a purple bell pepper, but what can you do? We did find and plant some blue potatoes, and that is our novelty for 2012.

We try to plant something new that we’ve never grown before every year.

I’m going to try one more time for the purple seedlings at the Portland Farmers Market next week, then give up and go with what I got. After we put the plants in, it rained for days. . . and days. . . and days. Not sure if that will turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing. I’ll keep you posted.

The strawberries in our garden still aren’t red. There are dozens of them, all white. I’m keeping an eye on those too, because if the chipmunks beat me to them, I may not get over it.

The asparagus is just about done, but we got several helpings before it went by, so I’m happy for that. Here’s hoping that we all have a long and prolific growing season!

We also snuck in a few straggler plants: watermelon, pumpkins…things that never do well for us. Maybe if we ignore them, they’ll surprise us this year.

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plant the “dirty dozen”

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, gardening, health
3 planted raised beds

What is the dirty dozen? they are the most pesticide-ridden foods at the grocery store, according to an article in the Portland Press Herald ‘s food section last week. if you’re a gardener, why not consider this a call to action?

if you have been contemplating planting vegetables, maybe this article will give you the nudge off the fence and into the yard for which you’ve been waiting.

for me, this is very motivating. scanning the list, i was happy to see that some of the plants are already in my garden: strawberries, spinach, cherries, grapes, apples. some i am planning to plant: potatoes, spinach, and bell peppers. some recommended vegetable varieties for maine gardens can be found on this website:

http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/2190.htm

a word of warning: we live in maine~wait until after memorial day to plant your seedlings outside. remember that night last week with the frost? you know, the one that came after those 70 degree days?  ‘nuf said.

have any of you gamblers put your seedlings outside already?