Category Archives: gardening

Seeds

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In January of every year I look forward to busting out the various seed catalogs and ordering seeds for spring planting.  January may seem a little early but it is about right.  If something isn’t available an early order gives me time to order something else, or to order elsewhere.  Plus it just gets me fired up.  Thinking of fresh produce in the dark days of the year helps remind me of the warm days that really are not that far away.

This year I spread the catalogs and was planning what to order and from where to order it, when I serendipitously uncovered, buried on the desk, an order form for seeds.  It was for a fund raiser for my son’s school.  They were from a local company, High Mowing Seeds.  Their selection was more limited than I had been looking at in my many catalogs, but they had pretty much what I needed.  I don’t know why I hadn’t looked at this company before.  So I put away the catalogs and filled out the order form.

Yesterday the seeds arrived.  It took a while, of course, but I am still in good shape.  Next weekend is the weekend to start planting.  Not outside, of course.  The ground is still frozen.  I will take down the foam cells from the shelf in the garage and plant onions and leeks.  Last year I planted both of these and they grew well once I transplanted them.  I can hardly wait to get my hands dirty.  In the past the children have helped me and I hope they are just as eager this year.  It is a fun family project.  Plus, we can all get a little muddy together.

Last year about this time I did plant onions but not many.  The seed packet I got from Seeds of Change contained only seven seeds.  It was supposed to have contained about 100 seeds.  That wasn’t what I was expecting.  I wanted to plant right then and so I couldn’t wait to order more seeds.  So I went to the hardware store to find some.  They had seeds but no onion seeds.  Apparently no one plants onions from seed around here.  They buy onion sets, the mini bulbs, and plant those instead.  So I bought leeks.

That purchase was an accidental discovery.  We had lots of leeks.  They grew well.  The lasted a long time.  They were delicious (those grilled leek, summer squash, portobello mushroom sandwiches with melted cheddar were dreamy) and I want to plant them again.  I am hooked on leeks and I can hardly wait until they are ripe.

Seeds of Change did me right this time around.  I called and told them what happened and they sent me a fresh packet of onion seeds.  Their seeds have been great and now I know their customer service is great as well.  I will order from them again.  High Mowing Seeds have been great as well.  I planted some lettuce from seeds a friend gave us and it was the best lettuce of five varieties we have grown.  I am guessing I will have some good success all around.

I need to bust out the plant rack from the basement to set the seeds trays on.  I will plant fewer plants indoors this year.  Cucumbers will do fine if I plant them outside, maybe even better.  In a few weeks I will plant tomatoes, and maybe melons.  The rest can wait until the ground thaws.  I will also give some seeds to the kids.  They can have their own corner of the garden.  They won’t be planting onions in their plot, however.  I’ll let them grow something they might like.

March is here, baby.  Let’s get planting.

Fourteen Below and Thinking About Gardening

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Garden Beds Waiting for Spring

Garden Beds Waiting for Spring

That was the temperature this morning–fourteen degrees below zero. You might say it was chilly. I wimped out on going for a run. I had planned to do so today but I stayed inside, stoked the fire, got some work done and even read a book. So much for training.

I have been thinking about the garden lately. January is the month to plan it out, to figure out what to plant, how much of it to plant, and where to fit everything. The corn can’t go where it went last year, but it can be planted with the squash. I look forward to sitting down with the legal pad and sketching out the garden plan.

Of course, it is way too cold to do anything with the garden at the moment. It sits under the snow, waiting for spring. I am glad we have snow cover. The blueberries and strawberries will fare batter with the insulation. And the snow adds an element of beauty.

The circle I carved out of the lawn for our garden feels like a work of both labor and art. I want to grow food that is fresh and tasty and that I can’t get elsewhere (Striped Zebra tomato anyone?), but I also hope it adds some pastoral artistry. I want it to be beautiful. That takes work and luck and a willingness to let things grow as they need to grow. Seeing what the plants will do with what they have gives me joy.

So I wait it out and dream of warmer weather. I love this cold snap we are having, even though I chickened out of running today. Winter just isn’t satisfying if we don’t have some days below zero. I have seen the mercury rise to six degrees today and now it is back down to four. Once the sun goes down, I am sure it will break through the zero mark again.

Maybe some of those cucumber beetles will take a hit from the cold. I won’t count on it, but since I am imaging a perfect garden, I might as well dream that too.

Christmas Tree Still Up

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January 9.  The Christmas tree is still standing.  Decorated no less.  That’s 42 days it has been indoors.  Dead no less.  It will come down this weekend, tomorrow or the next day.  So it will get at least 43 days of glory, dressed in the best we could offer–shiny glass and steel and plastic.  But it will be a fire hazard soon, if it ever wasn’t one.

Now we will have a little more space in the house.  And we will use a little less electricity.  But it has been nice to have around.  Maybe we can put something else in its place.  A basket of fruit?  A cardboard cutout of Chewbacca?  A bean bag chair?  Maybe a pile of attractive rocks?

Nah.  Let’s just get this thing out of here.  Come spring it will fertilize the blueberries.  No need to waste a perfectly good untrimmed Christmas tree, no?

First Ski Day

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Brian Jenkins Burlington Free Press

Brian Jenkins Burlington Free Press

Today was opening day at Bolton Valley so we headed up there for some early skiing.  We had a blast.  We took only a few runs (the kids are still getting their ski legs on) but got the feel of it.  I even got a few turns in on my own while sliding down the trails with my daughter.  I had my first spill as I tried to take a small jump ( I landed it but ate white with my first turn).

We stayed warm enough and the place was not as packed as we thought it might be.  I had the impression that there were just as many people there as on opening day last year but somehow things ran more smoothly.  Everything just seemed to flow a little better.  We got our passes in just a few minutes, didn’t have to wait in line for the lift, found a place to park, even found a spot to put on our boots with no problem.

Once we had fun on the slopes we headed around the corner.  We lived up there for over a decade and we wanted to check out our old house.  We designed and built it one summer and fall, and it was an odd feeling to leave it.  It turns out that the new owners added a couple of touches we had wanted to add ourselves but did not–a large front porch and a small roof over the front door.  It looks great.  It looks better on the outside than it ever did when we lived there.

It was a great place to live and both of us felt we could be happy up there still.  Winter up there meant we were in the place to be.  We always had snow on Christmas, but we couldn’t have much of a garden.  One can’t have everything, but it sure was nice to put on boots and walk up the hill and take a few runs, all without driving.  Ah, but how about that popcorn we grew this summer?

Tomorrow we will likely head up there again, get the itch scratched for the weekend.  We will have to load the car and drive up there like everyone else.  For now, that’s what we’ve got.  Yesterday I was outside while my son stomped around on the frozen garden.  I started mentally planning what we might grow next summer.  Some days I ski.  Some days I pull weeds.  That isn’t easy to do all in one place.  As for tomorrow, I may spend some time thinking about gardening, but one should ski while the snow is on the mountain.

What’s Up, Winter?

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It was so in the twenties today.  And windier than a room full of bean eaters.  Except it was a cold wind.  It was like way too January.  What happened to Thanksgiving?  We haven’t gotten there yet and it feels like Christmas is long past.

My grandmother used to talk about ice skating on Thanksgiving when she was a kid.  Granted that was in the 1920’s, not exactly a long time ago in geologic time, but most people alive today were not around then.  It is pretty much never that cold at Thanksgiving here in Vermont.  And she lived in Connecticut.  Is this a freak year?  Or are we on the way to another “mini ice age?”

I have been reading Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower.  He mentions how the first winter that the Pilgrims spent in North America was relatively mild, even though most of the winters they would experience in their new home would be much colder than they are now.  And they didn’t have central heating.  Or, really, enough food.

What do I have to complain about?  Winter seems to be here already, but we wood stacked and beans in the pantry.  Plus popcorn ready for melted butter.  The only corn the Pilgrims had was what they stole during their first week ashore.  And that weren’t for popping.

The ground is frozen.  Up the road someone plowed the field today.  I’m not sure what that is about.  Frozen chunks of earth are splayed in a line up once and back.  I’m no farmer, clearly.  I just want to get the strawberries mulched, but they are now covered in snow.

We are headed down to Connecticut for Thanksgiving.  Maybe we will get a chance to go ice skating.  Or maybe we will have to be content to hang out inside, with central heating, enjoying a fine meal and, later, maybe lounging on the couch relaxing and listening to the wind.

Cold Lately

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It has been below freezing for a few days now.  Cold.  The wind chill was eleven degrees yesterday afternoon.  It has been chilly waiting for the bus.  We have it down so we do not have to wait long, but still, the wind cuts through the cotton pants.

i have been wearing my down jacket and it has been a good move.  The first day I wore it I forgot that wearing it while driving feels good for a short time but then I roast.  Luckily it is easy to slide off at a stop light.

Snow still clings to the ground from a couple of days ago.  The temperature will likely stay in the twenties until next week.  Even then it will get, at least as predicted, just above freezing.

I busted out my boots the other day.  The mud boots have been great for kicking around and walking as far as the end of the driveway in the rain, but they have no insulation.  Too cold for the toes.  The warm boots are the winner in that contest.

I never got to mulching the garden with the leaves that fell from the silver maple.  It may still be possible but at this point it may be moot.  I do need to toss something on top of the strawberries before the ground freezes too deeply.  Soon.

Our compost pile is starting to freeze at the edges.  It was still warm in the middle when I added to it tonight but soon it will freeze through.  I will add to it all winter but the freeze thaw cycle will do more to break things down than any bacteria.  At least until spring.

The wood stove is humming now.  I need to pull more wood in for tomorrow.  And it is dark early.  Winter is basically here.  I was remembering with my son how it was just a few months ago when we felt too hot in shorts and bare feet.  He fell asleep smiling about that.  Soon he will be smiling about sledding and tunneling through snow.

As long as the cold keeps up.  And at least for the next week, I expect it will.

Digging

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Garden Beds Prepped for Spring

Garden Beds Prepped for Spring

I spent a lot of time this weekend prepping the garden for the spring. I wasn’t as good as I might have been at weeding come late summer, and a couple of beds only got used for a short time, so there were some (read lots of) weeds. I dug, I sorted, I raked, I hauled. By the tail end of the last bed I was ready to be done, but I kept going. I’m glad I did.

I am still hoping to mulch the beds. We have cartloads of leaves to dump on top, which will clear the lawn of leaves and feed the dirt while it protects the dirt from the winter. I put that off, however. I was too tired and frankly, sick of it, by late afternoon.

I went inside and made a maple latte and helped my daughter run through a photo slideshow. That revived me. Then I made dinner. That topped off a day that included a hike up Mount Philo. It was a good day.

I am glad I cranked on the garden beds. When spring gets here I will celebrate my productivity. If I can get the beds mulched (and the strawberries for that matter) my future self will give my current self some big fat kudos. But, then again, I’m not in it for the praise, especially from that guy.

Popcorn Ready at Last

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Back in June I planted some popcorn. I planted it later than I wanted but the turkeys, and then the crows, had pulled up all of the sweet corn. I was playing it safe. I hung some old CD’s to blow in the wind and that kept the fowl away. At the end of September (the 22nd) my daughter and I picked it and shucked it. It has been hanging to dry since then.

I tried to pop some last month but it did not work well. It was not dry enough. Today I tried again, heating about ten kernels in hot oil. Every one popped. My son helped me peel the seeds from the cobs. He stripped a few of the mini cobs before declaring “I think I’m done doing this now.” I love his honesty.  I picked up the ones he scattered across the counter.

We did not get too much, just over half a jarful, but it is enough for several batches this fall and (if it lasts) winter.  Here are some visuals of the process this afternoon:

What they looked like before removing the kernels

What they looked like before removing the kernels

Naked cobs

Naked cobs

Off the cob

Off the cob

Storage vessel until time for popping arrives

Storage vessel until time for popping arrives