Celeste in the Garden
July 16, 2012
Thinning Vegetables 2
Thinning vegetables in the garden is a chore that lasts for most of the growing season.
As the plants grow, there is a continued need to give them space. In the beginning, it can be difficult to take the smaller plant especially when looking for something to put in the cooking pot. However, the little guys will never get to be as big as the bigger ones so it’s imperative to thin out the spindly ones.
Again, I do this slowly as insects can decide to munch away on the... more
July 3, 2012
Thinning the vegetable and herb crops, I think, is one of the hardest jobs in the garden.
Once the plants germinate, it’s lovely to look at the hundreds of carrots or beets or lettuces. It’s easy to think, “Wow, I’m going to have hundreds of everything!” The only problem is, if you don’t thin them out and give everybody space to grow, you’ll end up with hundreds of teensy, tiny crops that won’t give you much good eating. So, thin we must.
I do like to thin slowly. You never know when some... more
June 10, 2012
I find that getting seeds to germinate properly is the most difficult aspect of planting the garden.
The temperature of the soil as well as the humidity has to be just right—and remain so—for a period of time. Sometimes, as with carrots, this can be ten days to two weeks. Sun, wind, rain and temperature are unpredictable and can vary greatly within the course of one day. The little seeds live in the uppermost ¼ to ½ inch of soil and this is where the sameness has to be. With our raised beds, a... more
June 4, 2012
May is always a hectic month for me. Here, in the northeast, the gardening season is short and intense.
If you don’t get your veggies planted in time, there will be no harvest. If your first planting (for whatever reason) doesn’t “take”, there often isn’t time to plant it again. “Next time” becomes next year.
So, I generally disappear from life in May. Bills pile up on the counter, dust bunnies proliferate and the laundry basket overflows. I can be found in the garden planting, planting and... more
April 29, 2012
Potatoes are a staple in our home. We don’t eat them every day, but when we do, we love them.
I like to grow Caribes for mashed potatoes and steamed ones. These are purple skinned with a beautiful white interior. Cooked, they are quite fluffy and light. You can’t bake them, though, so for this eating, I like to plant Kennebecs. With a turkey or a chicken or roast beef in the oven, I like to put extra potatoes along the side. These I cut up and fry in good quality (not hydrogenated) lard or... more
March 26, 2012
Planting Spinach
I love spinach. When I first began gardening, I looked forward to getting the spinach in the ground first thing in the spring.
I figured it was one of those “hardy” vegetables that could take a bit of frost or cold and it would be on my table in no time. It’s true, it did come right up but it also went immediately to seed. So I searched the catalogues for “bolt resistant” varieties and I planted them. Sure enough, though, these “bolt resistant” varieties seemed to go to seed... more
March 4, 2012
Now is the time to plant onions indoors. If you want onions that are going to keep through the winter, you need to plant a good “keeper” variety. Catalogues will generally have this information available. I always plant them either in late February or March. This year, there are four different days which are particularly ideal in the month of March. The 11th, 12th, 20th and 21st are all spectacular. The Moon is in a water sign (the best for germination) and—because the onions... more
February 16, 2012
While temperatures are still frigid and days remain short, it’s time to begin to plan the garden.
One of the first things to consider is placement: most vegetable plants need Sun. Eight hours or more are ideal, but six hours is manageable if that’s all you have. When choosing the site, check any trees to the south, southwest or southeast as these are sure to grow and could, in the future, shade your spot. If the trees are on your own property, the problem isn’t deadly, but if on a neighbor’s,... more
January 12, 2012
When you are as busy as I am in the spring, summer and fall, winter is a time to recoup, restore and rest in the dark nights and short days.
Last winter, however, it began snowing the day after Christmas and continued every three days for about six weeks. These were big, powerful storms that often took a couple of days to clean up. No sooner would we have all the paths and driveway clear, then it would snow again. It was exhausting.
So this winter (even though we got a 20 inch storm in October... more
December 7, 2011
I love this time of year. The garden is done, my pantry, root cellar and freezers are full and it’s time to begin enjoying some of this wonderful food. The old adage “we are what we eat” is quite true so it is important to always seek the best quality in the foods that we prepare.
This is the main reason that I became a gardener. Studying nutrition, it was apparent that plants and animals fed “extras” would provide additional nutrition for me and my family. This is the reason that I put kelp... more
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Celeste Longacre has been growing virtually all of her family’s vegetables for the entire year for over 30 years. She cans, she freezes, she dries, she ferments & she root cellars. She also has chickens. Celeste has also enjoyed a longtime relationship with The Old Farmer’s Almanac as their astrologer and gardens by the Moon. Her new book, “Celeste’s Garden Delights,” is now available! Celeste Longacre does a lot of teaching out of her home and garden in the summer. Visit her web site at www.celestelongacre.com for details.
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