A few years ago, Sofía found a peach pit in the garden (probably from our own compost.) She begged me if she could plant it and I said sure… thinking of course the thing wasn’t going to grow. I explained to her that even if it did grow and give fruit, that fruit grown from seeds half the […]
For the first time since 2009, I’ve overwintered 100% of my 3 bee colonies. (MD has the highest rate in the nation of colony collapse disorder.) As I checked mid-March, they were all three alive and queenright and even had frames of honey left. The two largest were churning out brood so fast I had […]
My favorite fruit is pretty much done for the year, alas. This time though – for the first time in 3 years – I managed to make it to the pick-your-own orchard for sour cherries before they were all gone. Cherry almond sauce, sour cherry jam, pie filling, cherry syrup (in lovely flip-top bottles), […]
We have strawberries, people! Boy, howdy do we have strawberries. When I made the big terrace on Backfill Hill two years ago, I ran out of Freecycled landscape blocks and was left with a fair bit of steep hillside. I planted a whole bunch of strawberries on the slope just as soil retention, not really expecting […]
Well, ok, not the kind you probably thought. I’m talking about my peaches. Six years gardening, and I have yet to eat a single one of my own peaches. The damn bugs get them every year – it’s a race between them and the brown rot. And yes, I’m aware that they’re just peaches, but […]
I’ve started a new pest prevention strategy in the orchard… …and I’m sure the neighbors are wondering just what the heck happened to my trees. Kaolin, that’s what. Ultra-fine sieved kaolin called Surround, sprayed in water solution and built up over multiple coats, is a physical pest deterrent. Its tiny particles get in the eyes, […]
While I was clearing out brush from around the garden – a task that needed to be done anyway, but that also gave me a lot of material for my latest hugelkultur bed – I came across what I think might be a wild blueberry. In fact, I found two. We do have wild blueberry […]
What with the garden rendering hauls like this just about every other day… It was time to start up the canner! Those are only 1/4 of the tomatillos I got, and boy howdy, my jalapenos are going like gangbusters. I have no idea what I’ll do with them all – try to sell them, I […]
The sunflowers have been so productive! They’re not toweringly tall, but that’s ok by me – I want them to put all that effort into making seed heads, not growing up to where I can’t reach ’em. I had been wondering when to harvest sunflowers, as the seeds aren’t fully ready yet when the petals […]
I’ve been meaning to follow in OhioFarmGirl’s footsteps and can my own beans for quite a while now… two years in fact! And finally my chance came. I had nothing planned for the day, and black beans were on sale at the grocery store. I took a deep breath and jumped in. There are detailed […]