I am always so happy to have fresh, organic produce growing at the farm - everything I grow is shared with family and friends, used for video and print shoots, and saved for making my delicious daily green juice.
My outdoor vegetable garden is still producing lots of great foods, but we also use my vegetable greenhouse - a special structure inspired by four-season farming expert, Eliot Coleman. Planting is done in succession, so there is always something ready to pick. Last week, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, planted new crops of cilantro, basil, arugula, dill, and parsley. Some of the seeds came from a few of our favorite sources, including Botanical Interests, Kitazawa Seed Co., Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Seed Savers Exchange, and Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Enjoy these photos.
We always have a large variety of seeds to grow. I am always on the lookout for different seeds when I travel, but seeds are also widely available online and at garden centers. Ryan keeps track of what seeds do well at the farm – indoors and out.
We do a lot of prep work to get the beds ready. In this greenhouse we use a compost-based potting soil mix from the Vermont Compost Company in Montpelier, Vermont. This soil is specifically developed for organic gardening called Fort Vee potting mix. Ryan uses this bed preparation rake from Johnny’s Selected Seeds to create furrows in the soil.
Hard plastic red tubes slide onto selected teeth of the rake to mark the rows. The furrows don’t have to be deep. In general, seeds should be planted at a depth of two times the width, or diameter, of the seed. A seed that’s about 1/16-of-an-inch thick should be planted an eighth-of-an-inch deep.
Here’s Ryan at one of the raised beds. Raised bed gardening allows good drainage, prevents soil compaction, and provides protection for those plants that may otherwise get trampled.
These seeds are cilantro, Coriandrum sativum, also known commonly as coriander or Chinese parsley. Coriander is actually the dried seed of cilantro. Cilantro is a popular microgreen garnish that complements meat, fish, poultry, noodle dishes and soups.
Ryan sprinkles the seeds in the furrows. These raised beds were designed for easy reach from all sides. We always plant in succession. Succession planting is a practice of seeding crops at intervals of seven to 21 days in order to maintain a consistent supply of harvestable produce throughout the season. This dramatically increases a garden’s yield, while also improving produce quality.
The seeds are very small – it’s hard to believe these tiny seeds produce such beautiful vegetables within weeks.
These are Arugula seeds. Arugula is a lesser known cruciferous vegetable that provides many of the same benefits as other vegetables of the same family. Arugula leaves, also known as rocket or roquette, are tender and bite-sized with a tangy flavor.
Basil, also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae. Basil is native to tropical regions from central Africa to Southeast Asia. It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide.
In a nearby bed – some mature basil ready for picking. Basil is a hardy herb that grows extremely well both indoors and outdoors.
What is known as dill “seed” is actually the flat, brown fruits of dill weed. Similar to caraway in flavor, dill seed is widely used in northern Europe as an ingredient in pickling seasoning and to flavor breads, cheese, meats and vegetables, especially potatoes and cabbage.
Once all the seeds are dropped into their various beds, Ryan uses the back of a tine weeding rake, also from Johnny’s Seeds, to backfill all the furrows. This model is also good for working in tight areas.
And then everything is given a thorough drink of water. In several weeks, we’ll have gorgeous, nutritious vegetables to eat, share, and enjoy.
Other vegetables already growing in this greenhouse include the Swiss chard. Swiss chard colors are so vibrant with stems of red, yellow, rose, gold, and white. Chard has very nutritious leaves making it a popular addition to healthful diets. The most common method for picking is to cut off the outer leaves about two inches above the ground while they are young, tender, and about eight to 12 inches long.
Pronounced bee-KEE-nyo, the name of this pepper from Brazil means “little beak,” and adds great flavor to many dishes. The bright one inch pods taper to a point like an inverted teardrop. The pepper has the distinctive smoky flavor like other members of this species, but also a rich fruitiness that is enhanced by sugar or sweet-and-sour marinades. It also makes the perfect garnish for barbecues and pickles. My family loves these peppers.
Do you know… sweet potatoes are actually not grown from seed? They’re grown from “slips”—sprouts grown from existing sweet potatoes! The heart-leafed vine that produces sweet potatoes requires a longer growing season – 100 to 140 days. The young shoots and leaves are also sometimes eaten as greens.
The scallions are also growing wonderfully. Growing scallions is actually easier than growing onions since they have a much shorter growth period. Varieties sown in spring can be harvested just 60 to 80 days after planting or when transplants reach about a foot tall.
In one corner of the greenhouse, we planted this Star Fruit tree, or Averrhoa carambola. I’ve had it many years, but only recently planted in this bed and it is thriving. Star Fruit is a tropical fruiting tree in the oxalis family that’s native to tropical Asia.
There are so many fruits growing. Star Fruit is juicy with a delicious tart flavor. The yellow fruit is three to four inches long with a waxy skin and five prominent ridges. Star Fruit is low in calories and low in sugar. When it’s grown in the tropics, one Star Fruit tree can provide fruit for up to three families because of its prolific fruiting habit.
In the center of the greenhouse, I have a potted ruffled fan palm, Licuala grandis. It is an unusual and gorgeous species of palm. Ruffled fan palm is native to the Vanuata Islands, located off the coast of Australia. It is a very slow growing palm which can reach up to 10 feet, but usually closer to six feet when grown in a pot. They are grown for their gorgeous pleated, or ruffled, leaves.
And here is the Passiflora, known also as the passion flower – a genus of about 550 species of flowering plants. These flowers grow on tendril-bearing vines. They can be woody or herbaceous. Flowers come in several different colors including lavender, blue, white, pink, and red.
Here is another passion flower. The striking appearance of these flowers is admired by all who visit this greenhouse. I’m fortunate to have lots of wonderful vegetables, fruits, and other plants doing so well here. How have your gardens fared this summer? Share your comments below.
Maintaining a healthy landscape sometimes means cutting down trees.
I love trees and always feel bad when trees are cut down. Trees are crucial to our environment - they provide breathable oxygen, they absorb carbon dioxide and potentially harmful gasses, and they help create an ecosystem of food for birds and other animals. However, occasionally trees need to be removed and replaced. The pear trees behind my gym building have been declining in recent years. We already removed several and last week my outdoor grounds crew removed another. I decided to replace them with a selection of Stewartia trees - I love Stewartias and already had more mature specimens growing nearby.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
This latest project includes planting several Stewartia trees in an area across from my long winding pergola and behind my gym building. These trees originally arrived as bare-root specimens a couple of years ago. Bare-root trees are so named because the plants are dug from the ground while dormant, and stored without any soil surrounding their roots. I like to nurture them in pots before planting.
The first step is to place the trees around the garden bed – at least 15-feet apart. Because we also have bulbs planted in various sections of this garden, it’s also important not to disrupt any of them. If any bulbs are found, they’re gently replanted.
After placing the trees around the space, Brian turns each one, so the best side faces the road.
Then, Brian begins to dig the holes. He digs all the holes first in case the positioning of any trees needs changing.
Always have a good quality tree fertilizer on hand to mix with the soil of the new specimen being planted.
Brian removes the tree from its pot. Remember, a tree or shrub may be a bit pot bound before transplanting, that means the roots have started to curve around the shape of the pot with no where to go. If left in this condition the roots will continue to wind around and around and never spread into the new soil, so it is important to always scarify the root ball.
Using his hori hori knife, Brian scarifies the roots of this specimen. Scarifying stimulates root growth. Essentially, he breaks up small portions of the root ball to loosen the roots a bit and create some beneficial injuries. This helps the plant become established more quickly in its new environment.
When planting a tree or shrub, measure the height of the root-ball to determine the approximate hole depth. Measure the diameter of the root ball to determine the width of the hole. The hole should be no deeper than the calculated depth. The rule of thumb is that the width of the hole should be a foot wider than the root-ball diameter.
Once the tree is properly positioned in the hole, Brian backfills. “Bare to the flare” is the general saying when planting trees – the top of the root flare should always be above ground.
Next, Brian gently steps around the root ball to ensure there aren’t any air pockets.
I always like young trees staked to protect them as they develop. Brian hammers a bamboo stake about a foot into the ground a few inches from the young tree trunk.
Bamboo comes in a variety of lengths and is easy to find at garden supply stores.
Brian also trims any dead or poorly growing branches.
Next, Brian ties garden twine in three places – this will ensure the tree is well supported and directed as it grows.
We use natural jute twine for many of our projects around the farm. Jute twine is a vegetable fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is 100-percent biodegradable and pollution-free.
The knots used should be very simple. I always teach every member of the crew to twist the twine before knotting, so the tree or vine or cane is not crushed or strangled. I like to tie the twine in a figure-eight formation. Each piece is tied just tight enough to keep the tree secure, but not break it.
The ties are placed at the top, the middle, and near the bottom to fully support the tree. Even if the wind blows, it will be secure. This was important to do right away in advance of Tropical Storm Henri.
These Stewartia trees are planted just behind the younger new ones and are a bit more mature. Stewartia is a species of flowering plant in the family Theaceae, native to Japan and Korea. All varieties are slow-growing, all-season performers that show off fresh bright green leaves in spring, white flowers resembling single camellias in summer, and colorful foliage in autumn. Some of the varieties in this area include: Stewartia gemmata, Stewartia x. henryae, Stewartia pseudocamellia ‘Ballet’, Stewartia monadelpha, Stewartia rostrata, and Stewartia henry ‘Skyrocket’.
The leaves of the Stewartia are alternate, simple, elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, and five to nine centimeters long.
Stewartias produce woody ovoid capsules of seeds each of which has five seed chambers containing up to four seeds.
Do you know why I love Stewartia trees? Well, Stewart is my last name after all. However, there is no relation. “Stewartia” is named for Scottish nobleman and botanist, John Stuart, who had imported the plant to his personal London garden. He later served as British prime minister from 1762 to 1763. This is one of the Stewartia trees in the garden nearby. Soon, the new trees will fill out like this one, and next spring, they will bloom with gorgeous white flowers.
During my stays at Skylands, my home in Maine, beautiful flowers fill nearly every room.
I love decorating my homes with fresh, colorful blooms. In Maine, we grow all the flowers in a large cutting garden that's located in the same area as the vegetable garden. And every summer, we bring the outdoors inside by creating extraordinary floral displays that capture the attention of all who visit.
Here are some of this year's photos, enjoy - and always check out my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48 for more.
These lily arrangements are the first one sees upon entering Skylands. They’re on this long table in the foyer – so bright and inviting. Gorgeous arrangements don’t always have to be giant in size – the pair work perfectly here. I grow many different kinds of lilies at Skylands and at my farm in Bedford. This year, the lilies bloomed so beautifully. Many of the gorgeous arrangements this year were made by Skylands gardener, Wendy Norling.
Here is a beautiful collection of snapdragons. Snapdragons are great for arrangements as they last quite a long time. A palette of pink, yellow, white, and orange looks very pretty against the earth tones in this room. These snapdragons are in a giant faux bois basket.
The hydrangea is among my favorite of flowering plants. It offers huge bouquets of clustered flowers from mophead to lacecap from summer through fall.
Here are more glorious pink lilies. Lily flowers are large and come in a range of colors including yellows, whites, pinks, reds, and purples. These plants are late spring- or summer-flowering. They are native to temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere.
Along this dining room table, small vases of rudbeckia with their bright, showy flower heads. Rudbeckia flower colors include yellow and gold, and the plants grow two to six feet tall, depending on the variety.
The Living Hall at Skylands is always used during summer months. This grand faux-bois cement table is where I like to display large flower arrangements for my parties. On this day, we had an arrangement of delicate lacecap hydrangeas. The lacecap is very similar to the mophead, but instead of growing round clusters of showy blossoms, this hydrangea grows flowers that resemble flat caps with frilly edges.
This pretty arrangement is made using asters, snapdragons, and scabiosa. Scabiosa is also known as the pincushion flower. The easy to care for plant has interesting flowers with cushion-like centers and pin-looking stamens.
On another day, stunning amaranth decorated the Living Hall. Their velvety flowers are dense with drooping tassels. Blooms come in richly saturated harvest hues, and they hold their colors and shapes even when dry.
The sunflowers also bloomed very nicely this year. Sunflowers, Helianthus, are the popular and cheerful annuals whose round flower heads look like the sun. Sunflowers come in vibrant yellow, but they’re also seen in orange, red, bronze, and even white.
Here, gorgeous lilies are placed on the coffee table of my guesthouse.
I love faux bois, which means “false wood” in French. Faux bois refers to the artistic imitation of wood or wood grains in various media. The craft has roots in the Renaissance with trompe-l’œil. I have many faux bois urns at Skylands. This year, we planted them with natural elements from the woodlands and created miniature forests that last all season long.
Here’s another vessel filled with beautiful moss. Moss is a slow growing wild plant that should never be harvested in large amounts – in fact, it is illegal to take any moss from national forests without permission. Once the season is over, we always make sure the moss we harvested is returned to the forest where it can regenerate and flourish.
Some of the mosses that grow at Skylands include sphagnum moss, pincushion moss, Mountain Moss Leucobryum, plume moss, and bog moss. My gardener at Skylands, Mike Harding, created the woodland arrangements – I think they are very pretty.
On this outdoor table – colorful zinnias. Zinnias are native to Mexico and Central America. The Aztecs originally called them “plants that are hard on the eyes” because of their colorful flowers. Zinnia is named after Johann Gottfried Zinn, a German botany professor who discovered the plants and brought them to Europe in the 1700s. When cutting zinnias for flower arrangements, pick the flowers in the morning when they’re fully open. Unlike other cut flowers, zinnias do not continue to open once cut and brought indoors.
I have many lilies growing at Skylands. Some lilies can be quite tall – they can grow in height up to six-feet. My granddaughter, Jude, took a series of beautiful lily photos – the colors are so vibrant.
Here are some bright yellow lilies growing in the garden. Lilium is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs and all with large, prominent flowers. The flowers are often fragrant, and come in a wide range of colors.
When arranging cut lilies, handle them with care – they can bruise easily.
And don’t forget, lilies have heavily pollinated stamens, which stain, so before bringing them indoors, it’s important to gently pull the anthers with a tissue, or pinch them off with your fingers.
And on my birthday table, more bold yellow rudbeckia blooms are used as centerpieces. Rudbeckias are easy-to-grow perennials and include the popular black-eyed Susan.
This is my birthday cake – also decorated with bold yellow rudbeckia. My cake was spectacular – made by Chef Pierre Schaedelin from PS Tailored Events and his helpers Moises and Federico. It had yellow sponge layers filled with orange and lemon curd and then covered with a rich meringue frosting that was lightly browned. Jude also took this photo. It was a wonderful celebration and a wonderful time at Skylands.
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