Tag Archives: garden

What’s Happening in the Garden– Early Spring Sunday

We’re having a beautiful day here so I spent some time looking around in the garden. Of course, I can’t just look, nor should I. There’s stuff  to do!

The pea and bean trellis is just about ready, but the snow still lurks. Maybe I’ll shovel it away so that the ground can unfreeze and we can get some peas started. While I’m at it I might want to clean the old vines off of the trellis.

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I don’t think the Rosemary made it. I should have covered it, my fault. I’ll have to plant a new one soon.IMG_0377

The girls look happy. They don’t love snow and cold weather. It feels like they’ve finally relaxed and smiled. We even got six or seven eggs yesterday. IMG_0349 It’s still really muddy out there!IMG_0353What’s this? a big, beautiful sign that spring is really here! IMG_0362Maybe it’s time to plant some lettuce? You just need a trowel and some seeds (and the soil of course)…IMG_0363It’s in! First lettuce of the season! You can see the leftover salt marsh hay from last year. Pretty soon we’ll add compost and turn it all in thoroughly. In the meantime, it will be fine.
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Lettuce is very hearty and can be planted as soon as the ground can be worked, just like sweet peas, carrots, spinach and radishes.

Hope your able to get out there and plant  something! It just takes a little bit of seed and it’s a great activity to do with kids, although I must admit that my kids were scootering and I treated myself to a few minutes alone with the soil.

Happy Spring!

Enjoy Everything!

Michele

Potting Benches, Daffodils and Crocus…

The other day  my husband saw that I had posted this photo here.
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A few hours later I looked out there and saw this…
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LOL, he’s a really good guy. That’s all I can say.

In other news~

My favorite daffodils are about to bloom down on Palfrey Court. I’ve been following this patch for the last twenty four years. I know from experience that even if it snows tomorrow they will be just fine.IMG_0268

And we officially have crocus here at The Salem Garden!  Photo by my little guy!
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Happy Monday!

Enjoy Everything!

Michele

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Here Comes the Garden Plan!

One of my very favorite things about winter is thinking about the garden plan.  Yesterday I spent some time poking around the internet looking at planning websites and found this great service at Motherearthnews.com. For a thirty day free trial ($25/year after the thirty days),  you can design your space using lots of cool features.  The site uploads a plant list for your climate, then you can determine your square footage and add all of the beds, structures and plants that you’d like. Whenever your ready you can share it, publish it, view it on your phone and/or print it.  The tutorials that are available helped me to get started and before I knew it I had created this complete map of my kitchen garden.

Here is the link to the vegetable garden planner which I happened upon by simply googling “garden plan.”  Somehow it’s a little tricky to get there from the main Mother Earth News website.  Just a side note about the Mother Earth News web site;  that’s a wonderful resource too! There’s lots of great information about gardening, sustainable living and health. I could spend days just reading and gathering ideas there.   Here’s the link  to the plan above that Mother Earth News publishes on-line. You’ll see the plant list that comes with it just below the plan. I believe that Mother Earth even sends you e-mails telling when to plant things.

As I finish typing I can hear the ducks down in the pond for the first time this year.  Spring really is right around the corner!

If you create a garden plan, let me know, and I’ll share here on The Salem Garden!

Enjoy everything!

Michele

***Just so you know, this is not a paid endorsement, I have no connection to Mother Earth News, I just liked it  😉  ***

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Who’d Have Thought I’d Become An Adaptive Gardening Specialist?

I’m sorry that I’ve been absent from The Salem Garden all week. Sometimes life gets in the way and I have to step back and take care of things. We are in a pretty big adjustment period here because last week I began a part-time paid position as an adaptive gardening specialist! Yes, I can now combine my passion for gardening and my love of and past experience in working with adults with developmental disabilities. The agency that I work for provides opportunities for the men and women whom we serve to work and to broaden their life experience in a huge variety of ways.  We have an amazing garden on the rooftop of our building (hmm, did I talk about rooftop gardens recently?  😉  ) and we will have lots of things growing at ground level for those who can’t get up to the roof. I believe that gardening is therapeutic and educational on every level. I’m looking forward to using that approach to help others develop an appreciation for nature and their food supply, along with self-esteem, patience, hope, the list goes on and on. Needless to say I’m really excited to be there!  I have so much to learn and I hope to share a few parts of my journey here. A special note from a blogger’s perspective is that my blog served as a sort of resume for my new employer. Reading it gave my supervisor a way to look at my work and see how I might fit in to the program. When I started The Salem Garden last May I never dreamed that it would help me in this way. You never know where your blog may lead you. Keep blogging! Good things will happen!

With lots of love from very snowy Salem,

Michele

Up On The Rooftop

I spent some time on Houzz this morning poking around and looking at beautiful rooftop gardens.  The caption for each is right under the photo. There just might be a rooftop garden (or two) in my immediate future~     Enjoy!

Mill Valley Cabins contemporary-landscape
TANK 2012 Client photographs modern-deck
Don Maldonado @ Chicago Green Design traditional-landscape
Green Roofs contemporary-landscape
NYC Roof Garden: Terrace Composite Deck, Planter Boxes, Container Garden, Plants traditional-deck
My Houzz: An Architect’s 1901 Home in Pennsylvania rustic-shed
Lake House Two - Exterior modern-exterior
Green Roofs contemporary-landscape

Help Me With This Poor Apostle Plant

Knowing that I absolutely love iris, my dear friend Luis gave me this Apostle plant several months ago.

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As much as I love to garden outside and grow things in pots I have this weird difficulty with houseplants. The light in my house is completely filtered almost everywhere and we keep the house on the cool side. I think it’s too cold (60 to 65 degrees) for most tropical plants that do well in filtered sun and there’s not enough sun for plants that would do well in cooler temps as long as they have lots of light.

So, getting back to the apostle plant. It’s also known as a walking iris and it can be grown as a perennial in warmer zones, up to zone 8, we are zone 5/6. The flat leaves are actually flower stems. I haven’t seen that yet but I hope to soon. As I read about them it sounds like it may become dormant in winter then bloom seasonally. I’m really hoping that happens! I’m wondering if I’m watering it properly. It’s in filtered light. Of course it is, it’s in my house.

This is it’s little sister, who I’m afraid isn’t doing well. When she arrived there were lots of leaf/stems. I’ve moved this plant around quite a bit trying to find a spot where it will be happy.

IMG_0549So what do you think? Has anyone grown apostle plant successfully? Do I just need to wait a little while?

Here’s what it will look like someday:

Neomarica flower (walking iris, apostle plant)
Neomarica flower (walking iris, apostle plant) (Photo credit: Joel Abroad)

Of course what you really want to know is, did I finish the financial aid forms from the other day? The answer is no, not yet, but I have made tremendous progress. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel so I treated myself to a quick blog post.

I’ll also treat myself to reading your comments and suggestions about what’s up with my plants 😉

Help me out!

Love,  Michele

What’s Happening In the Garden– January Thaw Edition

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a garden update.  It’s time to get out there and look around!

Our winter has been mild so far. We’ve had lots of warmer than normal days, with a little bit of snow and ice. Here in the Boston area a common saying about the weather is “if you don’t like the weather, wait an hour.” It’s true, we have dramatic changes year round, sometimes in the course of a single day.  The warm ocean is so close yet the cold air from Canada is right in our backyard. We never know exactly what type of weather the next week will bring. We’re officially in the middle of a January thaw right now so there’s some wonderful hints of green in the garden.

Here are a few things that I enjoyed this morning:

Lots of oregano…IMG_0537

Rosemary! It just needs to be covered  if  when it gets cold. This plant is getting big.  Maybe someday it will resemble my Mother-in-law’s beautiful Rosemary plant  in Delaware. IMG_0542

There are fresh, new thyme leaves, plenty of them!DSC01492

The foxglove is just thinking about spring..IMG_0539

And this garlic is confused. I’m confused actually. It died in the heat last summer, now it’s back? What to do? I’m not sure, I’m just thinking about it.DSC01494

And there’s mesclun! This will make a nice lunch today.DSC01495

Hi ladies, sweet little girls…DSC01497

The snapdragon is poufing up. I wonder if we’ll see blooms if it stays this warm.DSC01501

Creeping sedum… this always pops up when we have a warm day. It’s everywhere and I smile every time I see it.DSC01503

And the highlight of my photo tour, the snowdrops are coming up! These are real! Everything else is kind of a warm weather fluke/treat but the snowdrops really are a sign that spring is on the way. Yesterday I was enjoying gardening blogs from the United Kingdom and France and saw lots of snow drops in all of their glory. It seemed that I would have to wait a very long time for that but maybe not!DSC01507

Red twigged dogwood is so pretty in the winter. DSC01515

Lamb’s ear peeping through.DSC01521

And looking up at the gray sky, there are buds on the flowering pear that we planted last spring.DSC01512

I’m likely to be posting photos of my kids sledding over my buried pumpkins next week, but spring will be here before we know it!

Enjoy Everything!

Michele

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Here’s a great post about garden-based learning from a blog in Texas that I started to follow recently. Here’s to many more garden experiences for children in 2013!

Dallas Garden Buzz's avatarDALLAS GARDEN BUZZ

Happy New Year from

The Earth-Kind® WaterWise Demonstration Garden

 on Joe Field Road. 

We hope you will take steps in 2013 to cure Nature Deficit Order.

 Book a trip our garden!

Excerpts from the Great American Campout website and American Academy of Pediatrics: 

  • An “indoor childhood” hurts bodies & spirits.
  • Today’s kids are more likely to “tag” a friend on Facebook than outdoors in a game of “freeze tag.”
  • Kids today run from school to activities to sports w/ barely a minute to catch their breath.  Loss of free time can contribute to stress, anxiety, & depression in children. (American Academy of Pediatrics)
  • Studies show being outdoors is the perfect anecdote.  Time in green spaces reduces children’s tension levels & enhances their social interactions, helping them to feel more connected to self and others. 

Learning in the Garden 

Sources cited:

  • Growing Food LiFE Curriculum Series
  •  Botany on Your Plate (Univ…

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Winter Morning In the Salem Garden

Michael took these shots while I was still sleeping. I love the early morning but he’s much better at getting out there than I am…

Waiting for spring…DSC01421

The asparagus bed…DSC01422

A cold little girl…DSC01423

She’s not too happy…DSC01425

The rest of the ladies preferred to stay in the warm coop (kind of like their mama)  😉 DSC01427

Compost bin, still cooking (I hope)..DSC01429

The birds need some food. Michael sat down to eat breakfast and glanced out at the feeder.  As soon as he was reminded of it he ran outside to give them some seed before he ate. He really takes care of things, unlike me… I would have finished my french toast. DSC01431

The boys wasted no time… I’m not sure about why their using a wagon. We do have sleds??

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I just looked out and the yard is full of kids and sleds. I love these days!

Enjoy Everything~

Michele