Port Potager

It’s been a tough stretch of weather, with blizzards, power outages and freezing rain, even though spring is officially here. There are a few signs, of course: But most of the garden looks more like these tree peonies, buds curled tight and waiting out the cold: So in the meantime, I decided to switch up the look of the blog to brighten things up. This June will be its sixth anniversary, so it’s definitely high time for a makeover. Let me know what you think!

March has it backwards this year. Our lamb-like weather was all at the beginning of the month, when we actually hit ~80 degrees and had to prop open the cold frames so as not to fry our early spring spinach salads: We are also pleased to have some kale to eat until we need that bed to plant something else later in the spring:   But then, if you wait a day or so, the temperatures will plummet and send you squarely back into lion territory: That’s the same kale, this time with several inches of snow on top. The snow came down so hard on Monday that the kids had a snow day: It all melted by the afternoon, but since then it has been much cooler. Seasonable, I guess, but I’m looking forward to April, when spring can begin in earnest and we can start getting some peas and more early greens going.

In addition to the orchard damage from the ridiculous Winter of 2015 , I am also planning a more complete damage report on the other areas of the garden that got trashed by all the snow. But it can wait. Because, I mean, look what happened today: That, Dear Reader, is an open window.  (There's also a rhododendron with a pretty big hole in the middle thanks to some branches broken beneath the weight of the snow, but never mind that for now.) It got well and truly warm today. Warm enough to do the garden chores (feeding the chickens and gathering sap at this time of year) without a coat on.  And warm enough to notice that the garden is finally starting to grow.  Tulips have broken the soil. They seems to be growing more quickly that the daffodils so far, but that might just be a function of where the snow melted first. Even more exciting, this tiny Siberian squill is starting to show actual petal color. Woo hoo! But best of al...

We've been on a springtime weather roller coaster here the past several days, bouncing from balmy to brisk and back again. It was another big weekend in the garden, with lots of bed prep and planting (leeks, onions, carrots, parsnips, radishes, Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, and potatoes). My hamstrings and hands are still sore, but we got a lot done. It would be a shame, though, to focus only on the to-do list without enjoying all the little changes that spring brings to the garden. Here's what's blooming: Bulbs are up in the perennial border, and these blue glory-of-the-snow get better each year. We inherited them and they have naturalized nicely. There are also some darker blue Siberian squill, which are just starting to come up. We removed the spills from the sugar maple now that sugaring season is done. The wound should heal over by autumn. More blue! These sky blue muscari bulbs are in the cutting bed, but I never actually cut them down.  ...

Although it is much warmer this weekend that it has been — dare I suggest that winter has finally loosened its grip? — we weren't able to make much headway out in the garden. It just would be too much to hope for to jump right into a sunny, 60 degree stretch of days, right? We're squarely in the midst of some cold, soaking rain. Not that I'm complaining. After all, it's not snow. The rain has washed away almost all of our last bits of the white stuff, and I imagine the rest will be gone by Monday. Things are starting to thaw, and the soaking rains will definitely help bring things back to life as we ring in April. We did manage to get our week's worth of sap boiled and also opened up the cold frames to catch some of that free water falling from the sky (before closing them up again to protect delicate seedling and as-yet unsprouted seeds from the downpours we're meant to get over night and tomorrow). Still, we had to give up on our planned planting of ...

The past two days were just too beautiful to do anything but go for long walks in the sunshine on Plum Island: I don't think it's possible to overstate what an incredible gift this week has been. I guess if you live below the Mason Dixon line it might be hard to understand, but an 80-degree day in March in northeastern Massachusetts is nothing short of miraculous. Anyway, while I was dipping my toes in the ocean with my kids, stuff happened while I wasn't really looking, including the following: Our granite steps finally arrived! We never got around to ordering them when we finished all the bricks, but now that they are in place, it looks like they've always been there. Kirk muscled them into position while I was at the beach, so that was a doubly nice surprise.   Along with the delivery of our back steps came another giant pile of dirt from Landscaper's Depot . This is another mixture of half loam and half compost, and we need it to fi...

With all the unusually warm weather, tidying up the front garden meant that we came across lots of green shoots popping up in the perennial border. Of course there are daffodils and other bulbs coming up, which is normal for this time of year: In addition to the bulbs I planted last fall , there are also some rogue crocuses getting ready to open: I remember there being some crocuses in the border when we moved in, but I thought I probably dug them all up when I overhauled the plantings last summer . There are two clear patches of crocuses now--one near the climbing rose by the back gate, and one (above) in the front yard section of the border. I'll let you know what color they are when they open. Next, when I took the mulch off of the old climbing roses, I saw this: These are buds on our clematis vine. We transplanted this from a terrible spot along the fence in the driveway (where it managed to bloom despite being planted in pebbly, sandy "soil...

It is 61 degrees this afternoon in Newburyport, and tomorrow it is supposed to be even warmer. Spring! It's sometimes hard to jump into gardening tasks in just the couple hours of daylight I have left when I get home from work (especially when there's an activity to drive a kid to in the middle of that time period), so today I just took a quick tour around the garden. Tomorrow I should be able to actually get something done. In the meantime, here's what there is to see: Our fruit trees are starting to bud! This is one of the apples, but they are all looking good. As you can see, there is a bit of snow from last week left in the yard, but I expect that to be gone tomorrow — it's not supposed to drop below 40 tonight. In the perennial border, we have our first official flower: a little Siberian squill. Only one of its several flower buds has opened, but I say it still counts.  I also came home to an open cold frame. Good thing Kirk remembered to open...