Ah Sunflowers

Margaret Fuller's sunflowers are progressing quite nicely.

New Raised Bed

Three gardeners, working together on a plot, created these raised beds...They are stunning!

First Eggplant Blossoms

Here are the first eggplant blossoms...so purple!

Blast from the past

Apparently, Squirrel Brand candies are still being sold on amazon. Here's a picture...Who remembers these?

:-)

On Deadly Nightshade and Other Dark Portents

Since I discovered the deadly nightshade growing in our garden, I've done a lot of research on this fascinating plant, with which I've been intrigued for a time.

In Vermont, this was growing near my garage (loads of it). It came in as a wildflower/weed. Finding it enchantingly beautiful, I allowed it to live until it was near berry stage. A relative identified it for me--and urged me to pull it up. I had a baby (Aidan) at the time. The plant irritated my skin where it touched me.

The consensus seems to be that we should kindly ask our gardener to remove the deadly nightshade and replace it with another companion plant to deter pests, something like marigolds or catnip. He is out of town now, but I will try to reach him when he returns. I have sent him emails as well.

For now, I labeled the plant "This is toxic. Do not handle."

Liz had wonderful ideas for creating a fence around it with skull and crossbones on it. I love that idea but wonder what kind of fence we could build? She also said it would be a good education opportunity to teach people about these kinds of plants. Foxglove, for example, is poisonous, but the plant is used by drug companies for heart conditions (do not try this at home though as Foxglove really is powerful)!

Liz also mentioned this wonderful garden, created by Jane, Duchess of Northumberland: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/apr/05/martinwainwright. It is worth the web visit. She grows cocaine, belladonna (of course!), and scores of other poisonous things. It is like something out of a story book--really fascinating and cool. However, she has a staff to educate people, and the garden (I imagine) is locked at night. Fascinating topic though.

And lest we sell belladonna short, check her out when you are in the garden. As her name (Italian meaning beautiful lady) indicates, she is quite stunning. Black widow style.

Cold Frames

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone was interested in building a cold frame for this coming winter? We just got an old cold frame that needs work (which we plan to do this summer)...But we plan to use this on our plot in the late fall/early winter months.

Is anyone else interested in building cold frames? Tim has expressed interest, and I thought that maybe a bunch of us could come together to plan, discuss, and construct them! There are always building materials on Freecycle (there is some free landscaping lumber there now for instance), and I think we'd be able to get some old windows at an area junk yard.

Take care and let me know!

Linda

Updated wait list

1. Gross, Daniel 04/14/2008
2. Zether, Leila Hooper 04/14/2008
3. Fountain, Clayton 04/14/2008
4. Stewart, Emily 04/14/2008
5. Cosel, Gabrielle 04/21/2008
6. Appapillai, Anjuli 04/24/2008
7. Parks, Shaheen 04/24/2008
8. Sterrett, Hatch 05/22/2008
9. Kiely, Tim 05/22/2008


First for next year:

1. Pollack, Robert 04/04/2008
He had to voluntarily give up space this summer due to traveling and is therefore first in line for next year.