Tasty Tomatoes

Picked the first cherry tomato this weekend. I tend to forget over the winter and into spring just how much better a garden tomato tastes than any waxy, tasteless pulp you find in most restaurants or supermarkets.

5 Steps for Overwintering Garlic

In the sideyard garden space is at a premium, so I decided to try overwinter garlic late last year. Six month later I think it’s doing okay. This is my first go round with garlic so the whole process is a bit of a mystery. We’re still feeling each other out to see if we’ll date again next fall. So far, so good. I sunk three types of cloves into the ground around Halloween last year, covered it up with a good blanket of salt hay and then scoffed that anything would grow given the utter avalanche of snow we had in New England this year. But lo and behold, it did grown and it’s still growing (turns out cold stimulates the formation of the bulbs). Garlic is a hardy plant and given it’s preference or tolerance for cold, it’s a great way to extend the short growing season up here.

Make Your Own Terrarium Magnets

Quick-easy-DIY project: Make your own mini-terrarium magnets.

9 Gardening & Yard To Do’s for Spring

Yesterday was forty and frigid, but last weekend was nice and today promises to be warm enough to at least let my mind consider spring. Looking out the window right now, most trees have tentative buds and clumps of daffodils are risking blooms. The 18 foot slush pile in the driveway from the incessant winter snow plowing is down to mere inches and with any luck by next weekend will just be a melting memory. Spring in New England means the marathon, dressing in many, many layers for the fickle weather and shivering through those first few weeks of landscaping and yard work. It’s not a long growing season here, so every weekend counts, which means I have a list. A confession, I’m a big believer in lists. Need to get something done? Make a list.

7 Garden Goals for 2011

I’m sitting in the office writing this while the snow outside still sits just inches below the nearby window sill and my poor garden beds are shivering under at least three feet of snow and ice. Last year I planted the first peas the weekend after St. Patrick’s Day on March 20/21st. It seems hard to believe that I’ll be able to see bare ground let alone get a spade blade into the earth in less than a month. Still, the garden catalogs are pouring into the mailbox, so it’s probably time to take stock and plan out what I want to accomplish (or at least attempt) this year.

To go hand-in-hand with previous: Fall planting calendar generator.

For the gardener’s: Avg Freeze/Frost Occurence data for MA towns.

Related to the previous post. Find the closest farmer’s market to you.

That time of year again! Where to find pick-your-own fruit around Boston. Belkin, while expensive, had both exquisite fields and strawberries last Saturday.

The most profitable plants in your vegetable garden. I don’t care, I’m still growing my broccoli and beets.