Port Potager

Our new fruit trees arrived really early this year (March 18, actually). Like anything else, they come in a box: The trees are cushioned in some bubble wrap and come packed with a bunch of damp, shredded paper around their roots. As long as that stays wet, you don’t have to plant the trees right away. Good thing, too, since it promptly snowed .  I get that the ground is technically warm enough to dig in and plant these trees, but because we got them so early from the over-zealous nursery shippers, the snow — combined with our still-partially-frozen compost pile — has made it nearly impossible to plant them in a timely manner.  They can’t stay in a box in the basement forever (if you want them to survive, anyway), so I decided to heel them in while we wait for better weather and a more convenient day to plant. All you do is dig a wide, shallow hole: And then you pop in the tree at an angle so it’s mostly lying down. That protects it from the cold and...

About a month ago I planted tomatoes in seed-starting trays. This was new for us because in the past we would always buy transplants from a local nursery. Now that our big, giant garden plan calls for something like 80 tomato plants, we decided it would be much more cost-effective to start them from seed. We chose four varieties from Johnny's : bush variety romas Monica and Bellstar , and vining heirlooms Rose and Moskvich . After four weeks of growth indoors, they are getting big: By the way, that's just one tray. I have another half a tray with tomatoes that aren't in the photo. Anyway, they are outgrowing their space, and they still have at least 10 days to go until our frost-free date — maybe more, since I need to harden them off, and we aren't about to take any  chances with our favorite vegetable (fruit, if you insist) of all. So it is time to transplant them not outdoors, but into bigger pots. This is where that collection of plastic pots from...

And, most dear actors, eat no onions nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath; and I do not doubt to hear them say, it is a sweet comedy. ~A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 4, scene 2 With any luck, our family of actors will not be following Bottom's advice this summer. This past weekend we transplanted our onions and leeks, adding them to a C-shaped bed where they join the garlic we planted last fall . In the photo above you can see the garlic in the distance and the onion seedlings in the foreground. These are the Copra onions that we grew from seed we started indoors back in February . Having learned a lesson from the near-death experience of our broccoli and cabbages seedlings, I was much more careful with hardening off our onion flat. Here's how I did it: Day 1: 1 hour outside in the shelter of our screened-in porch Day 2: 2 hours outside in shelter Day 3: 4 hours outside in shelter Day 4: 8 hours outside in shelter Day 5: 11 hours out...