Saturday morning

Got my first two hours in the garden today under my belt, and it's only 9:00 am. The knees of my jeans will never be clean again, my fingernails will most likely have dirt under them until October, my back requires Advil and Ben gay each night, and I couldn't be happier!

Gloucester School Gardens

Hello, Backyard Growers! We (Grace, Erin, and Sarah) are FoodCorps garden coordinators who work at Veterans' and Beeman Elementary Schools. We collaborate with teachers to integrate the gardens into their curriculum, develop fabulous Cafeteria Events, and lead after-school workshops. Here are a few snapshots of us planting, cooking, and eating with the kids. Interested in learning more? Check out our Tumblr: http://gloucesterfoodcorps.tumblr.com/.

New use for old tomato cages

My shelling peas and sugar peas are growing so beautifully, and needed trellising sooner than I thought they would this year. Since I like to repurpose where I can, I was looking around the shed for materials when I came across some old tomato cages. The lightbulb went off in my head! My four year old gardening partner and I had a grand time flattening the cages. We just laid them on the ground, and then stomped on them to flatten them. Once flattened they slid perfectly right inside my raised bed, and the peas are gratefully climbing. I would love to hear others ideas on repurposing in the garden.

Cat poop denied

Here is my low tech solution for keeping the cats out of the beds - stretching netting (this happens to be aviary netting I use to keep the chickens from flying the coop) over the raised beds, securing them with nails...

Life on the Urban Farm

What do you think? Should we plant corn in the trench?

Or maybe dig up the whole road and plant a wheat field?

help! little c shaped wormy things in my garden

I found some little c shaped blackish worm type "things" in my garden. They are just under the soil. Are they bad? If so, what do I do about them? I would appreciate any advice! Thank you!

I know you have seen this before but i cannot get over how exciting this discovery was.Unearthing beautiful sweet carrots in February!!!! I wonder if this late fall planting would have worked so well if the winter had been colder.....

They are a little ghetto fabulous, but I think they'll look okay once they're covered with delicatas and sweet dumplings....

Here are some lovely little sprouts, which will be salad mix soon enough. I secretly want to roll around in it....

Rain.  My Brussels sprouts are happy, wet, lifting their leaves to it.  The grass unmowed and wild.  Lettuce thinned into an early lunch. 

Wild and Crazy Carrots?

Do you have carrots growing in your lawn? Like right where the random wildflowers were last year? I keep pulling up things that I SWEAR are angry little carrots, heavy on the extra root strings. Is this because my carrot seeds got swept out of the raised bed box and found homes in the lead-filled lawn soil? Or is this some weird hybrid weed that is going to take over the world? I guess what I'm wondering is if you guys have them too. Or if I'm alone. Oh, geez, tell me I ain't alone.

I love this weather, cool and reassuring after a too-warm, too-dry winter. It's nap weather. Soup weather. Cat weather. Cookie weather.

It makes me dream of what's coming to the garden:

   basil waiting to be whirled into pesto

   leeks to swirl across a chard tart

   French melons small and warm in the palm

   peas climbing toward heaven

   tomatoes for everyone: Sungolds that jump into my mouth, San Marzanos with their saucy 

     girly figures, Mr. Stripey to make kids giggle

Gardens in my dreams.