Port Potager

We’re missing a lot of big-ticket fruits and veggies in the garden this year: no peaches , nectarines or pears, thanks to pests last year and a badly-timed cold snap in late February. No cucumbers or green beans, thanks to a voracious (but since removed) groundhog. And everything is suffering from the drought, which is still a major player in the 2016 garden.  Despite the issues, our grapes are doing relatively well, since they tend to prefer drier conditions (not this  dry, of course, but they’re holding up). We have two vines each of four different varieties, and Himrod is the first to ripen:   Himrod is a white grape bred to do well in the Fingerlakes region, so it makes sense for our northern garden. It’s sweet with a musky-tart skin, and it’s a variety made for eating, not winemaking . Ours are seedless. Because they ripen so early — and because all  our grapes are green at this point — we haven’t timed the harvest properly in the past, ...

According to the U. S. Drought Monitor, our corner of Massachusetts is officially in a severe drought .  This is a classic application of Murphy’s Law, since we actually planted grass in the front yard this spring. Those efforts were doing reasonably well a few months ago, but we haven’t had a good rain in what feel like forever, and now things look like this: In case you were wondering about our garden irrigation habits, I aim to make sure that the productive food areas get an inch of rain per week, while ornamentals, herbs, and the grapes get a half inch. I keep an eye on the rain gauge and make up the difference with water from the rain barrels or the hose.  Things are so dire right now, though, that I will have to start watering the flowers more regularly as well. To wit, the hydrangea I planted last summer: And that’s in a shady  spot. Did I mention that we are also on something like Day 5 or 6 or a heat wave? (Well, Boston is. Newburyport gets th...