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I keep a variety of beans around here, including bush and pole beans. For growing purposes, I prefer bush beans, and that's generally what I plant for dried beans. Easier to take care of, and I only have so many poles and fences I can put up, and then I have to start worrying about shading...

Some pictures, just for practice: The storm cellar the blocks came from My raised vegetable bed...and the last of the snow. I took these pictures on sunday. The most robust of the tomato seedlings... a small variety called minibel that is new to me this year And an amaryllis that I...

Today I went out and made another raised bed! The retaining wall on the 110 year old root cellar collapsed in a storm last week, and it was made of cinder blocks. I took all of them I could safely retrieve and made a bed, roughly 4 by 6. Lined it with cardboard, tossed in some pieces of...

The past few days have been gorgeous, for the most part. Almost 60 and breezy. The ground is still super soft, but I was able to get out and work today. The rain starts monday though....

Beautiful! A bit too dark for a good picture here, will take one tomorrow

60 tomorrow, partly cloudy and highs from 50-60 all week, and nightly lows above freezing. Still more than a bit early to start chanting spring spring spring, but I'm feeling it. This should really wake the grass and trees greening up here, and hopefully thaw more than the top inch or two of...

I am glad sentry is doing well after his surgery! I hope he continues to recover well!

It's beautiful, Collector. Great job!

Happy Birthday!

Went out and picked up sticks under the trees this morning, with the dog's "help." Have enough of them I may add some old rotten firewood and make a small hugelkulture bed. Also took my pruners and did some experimental snipping on my grape vine and peach tree. Both are still alive! I think...

Almost everything I have this year is new to me. Only thing I have sown before are the brandywine and dark galaxy tomatoes, and my calendula. Everything else is new. The thing I am most excited for are the golden midget watermelons. Little individual melons that turn yellow when they're ripe!

I'm so jealous....I can just hear the tiller running in my dreams! Way too wet here to work soil....and the state of our tiller would horrify you, lol. It's older than I am, and in sore need of some TLC. There's also half a tiller dad salvaged from an older friend's estate that has all the...

The last warm day we had I watched one of the local squirrels pull an ear of corn off the feeder and plant it, one kernel at a time, into the mud. I mean, I wanted to grow corn this year....just not in the lawn! Hopefully it rots or the squirrel comes back and eats it before it gets warm...

I actually threw away most of my saved seeds a few years ago, because moisture had gotten into the jars and nothing germinated when I tested. Some of them were more than ten years old too. Usually I save seeds from my favorite peas, beans, and tomatoes, as well as some radishes and herbs, but...

margali, i have been experimenting with a pruning method to keep fruit trees very small without having to keep them in pots or buying expensive dwarf trees. The book I found it in is called Grow A Little Fruit Tree by Ann Ralph, but you can find the basics in this article ...

Today I started tomatoes, alpine strawberries, thyme, and yarrow. Everything but the ancient rhubarb seeds and the white sage in the previous batch has sprouted and is doing well...my next tray will be peppers and kale. I am running out of room on my starting shelf...I need a unit for my...

WElcome!

The last of my seed order came in this week, and my first round of seedlings sprouted! I have starts of chives, marjoram, sage, and globe basil. Waiting on greek oregano, zaatar, and some old rhubarb seeds. I have bad luck with herbs direct-sown from seeds, the birds get to them before they...

I used lightweight shade cloth in my garden at first (keeping the birds and chipmunks out more than the cats, but), then as the plants outgrow my hoops I planted a lot of flowers at the base of my veggies. I had two barn cats that loved to use my garden as extra shade...they would still lay...

I have a pack of sweet peas to plant, but I haven't decided where to put them yet. We are kind of in the middle between cooler northern summers and hot humid southern ones here. I have seen the 100 degree high humidity bits start in May and not slack off till October, and sometimes we just...