The gardens are glistening with color at my Bedford, New York farm - so perfect for a spring day business meeting.
Last week, I hosted a breakfast at my home for a group of business colleagues and associates. The weather was perfect - sunny with temperatures in the 70s. We dined al fresco on my terrace parterre and enjoyed delicious croissants with apricot jam I made, and fresh fruit including strawberries just picked from my garden. Afterward, I showed them my blooming herbaceous peonies, the vegetables that are already growing so beautifully, and my living maze - so lush and green.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
This time of year is always so beautiful. All the trees and shrubs are so lush including the boxwood and the weeping katsura on the left just outside my Winter House kitchen.
Many of the ornamental urns are already planted for the season. This is an agave. Behind it is a golden barberry hedge.
Here is one of two hand-casted antique fountains. They provide such a refreshing stop for visiting birds.
Under the shade of the umbrellas, I put out our breakfast – croissants, fresh fruit, and homemade apricot jam.
Look at these gorgeous strawberries. They were just picked from my patch minutes before my guests arrived.
And of course, I cut fresh peonies from the garden to decorate our table.
After breakfast, I led a brief tour through the gardens. First, we walked past the peonies. Everyone admired the large boxwood surrounding the garden and the trees beyond.
Right now, there are still rows and rows of gorgeous peony blooms – it’s always a big treat for guests to see them.
When I first planted my peony garden, I focused on pink varieties, and planted 11-double rows of 22-peony types. I chose the varieties for their colors, their forms and their long blooming periods.
The garden features one crop of flowers for a couple of weeks only once a year, and then that’s it – until the next season when they bloom with splendor once again.
Then, I led the group to my half-acre large vegetable garden now in its second year. The brassicas are all growing so well already.
This is one of the many cabbages. To get the best health benefits from cabbage, it’s good to include all three varieties into the diet – Savoy, red, and green.
In this bed, I plant Chinese cabbage, or napa cabbage, which is slightly sweet and mild.
And look at the kale. Kale or leaf cabbage is a group of vegetable cultivars within the plant species Brassica oleracea. They have purple or green leaves, in which the central leaves do not form a head. I am so pleased with how well everything grows in this garden.
These are the leaves of our artichokes. Globe artichokes, Cynara scolymus, are popular in both Europe and the United States. Artichokes are actually the flower buds, which will emerge from the center of the plants. We grew so many artichokes last year – I am looking forward to this year’s bountiful crop.
Next, a quick visit with my peafowl. I keep all my birds in large, protected enclosures because of the predators that sometime wander through the property.
Adjacent to the peafowl pen is the goose pen. I’ve had Pomeranian guard geese for many years, but I also keep Sebastopol geese, Toulouse geese, African geese, and Chinese geese.
Here are some enjoying a little rest under the umbrellas.
The next stop was my maze. We walked from the bottom half of the paddock and between these London plane trees. The London plane tree, Platanus × acerifolia, is a cross between two sycamore species: Platanus occidentalis, the American sycamore, and Platanus orientalis, the Oriental plane. This very large tree with maple-like leaves grows to roughly 75 to 100 feet with a spread of 60 to 75 feet.
All our recent plantings are thriving. This is Gold Coast English Holly.
In this row, the white blooms of Lotus Moon™ Pearlbush – a profuse spring bloomer with dainty white flowers.
And then a walk past my long and winding pergola. It was the perfect morning for a business meeting and garden tour.
My large “iced terrace” at Skylands, my home overlooking Seal Harbor, is brimming with beautiful, green plant life once again.
Every year, I like to spend the Memorial Day weekend up in Maine planting all the large outdoor urns, pots, and planters. It is quite an undertaking, but it's become a fun tradition especially with the group that accompanies me. Many of the tropical specimens are stored in hoop houses at my Bedford, New York farm during winter, and then carefully loaded onto a trailer and delivered to Skylands for the summer months. As soon as I arrive there, I design the layout of where things will go, and we all get to work.
Enjoy these photos.
It’s always a busy, but fun weekend at Skylands when we fill the planters with beautiful specimens. Look at all the planters waiting to be filled. And this is not even all of them…
… There are more on the Western Terrace. These planters are new to Skylands. They were large terracotta planters we painted Bedford Gray and sent up here to Maine from my farm.
I decide where each plant will go before they are moved – staying organized saves lots of time and energy. This year, we brought alocasias, agaves, palms, and so many more.
We also had trays of smaller plants and ground covers to use as under plantings. Many of the succulent plants were grown in my greenhouse here in Maine. Propagating this way saves a lot of cost.
The plants are carefully placed around the terrace, in or close to where they will be displayed for the season. The stone trough I bought at Trade Secrets in 2013. It has worked perfectly here at Skylands.
Here I am adding nutrient-rich potting soil to the pot. This great mix is from Scotts Miracle-Gro.
And don’t forget to feed – I always say, if you eat, so should your plants. Here I am sprinkling Scotts Osmocote – an all-in-one plant solution containing essential nutrients and a unique resin that controls nutritional release.
Osmocote particles include a core of nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
During the busy planting morning, we stopped for a good breakfast. Yogurt made by my niece, Sophie, with apricot jam I made along with French toast made from brioche bread I also made.
Peter Grub is one of our hard working gardeners and outdoor grounds crew here at Skylands.
And this is Amos Price ready to pot up this evergreen. To protect the rather porous and fragile pots, I like to line them with garbage bags, so the pots don’t soak up too much water. The garbage bags have drain holes at the bottom and are neatly tucked inside the pot, so they are not visible.
All these pots on the Western Terrace are done. These will fill in so nicely over the course of the season.
The Western Terrace is among my favorite summer meal spots. The pergola is covered with kiwi vines that are original to the home.
For lunch on this day, we had crab cakes and a fresh cucumber salad.
The next morning, I made everyone waffles and bacon.
Kevin always creates the most gorgeous flower arrangements. Another tradition is seeing what stunning creations he comes up with every time he is here. He made several arrangements of lilacs – the fragrance is intoxicating.
Here’s another trio of lilac arrangements in crisp white vases. The lilac, Syringa vulgaris, is a species of flowering plant in the olive family Oleaceae. Syringa is a genus of up to 30-cultivated species with more than one-thousand varieties.
For dinner, we had smashed potato with Roe caviar and sour cream.
The charming town of Northeast Harbor, near my home in Seal Harbor, Maine, hosts its own Memorial Day Parade every year – I always try to attend. It starts on Memorial Day morning at 10:30. It’s a great opportunity to get reacquainted with the year-round locals and many of the summer season residents.
This is the Main Street of Northeast Harbor. Northeast Harbor is a village on Mount Desert Island. Lots of visitors come out for this parade. It was nice to see all the marching bands and cars of people commemorating those who died while serving in the country’s armed forces.
On this last day, I made asparagus velouté, A velouté is the French term for a soup traditionally thickened with egg yolks, butter and cream. I used asparagus grown at my Bedford, farm. It was simply delicious. And a great way to end a fun and productive weekend. See you soon, Skylands…
Tomatoes, Solanum lycopersicum, have long been one of America’s favorite garden vegetables. Those bold red, sun-ripened tomatoes bring on the taste of summer with every bite. And, they’re filled with excellent antioxidants and vitamins.
Just a handful of healthy plants can produce a bounty of delicious fruits within six to eight weeks. The best time to plant tomatoes is when daytime temperatures are consistently above 65-degrees Fahrenheit. This week, the weather here at my farm has been perfect, so my gardeners planted our tomato crop - 120-plants. Many of them were grown from seed right here in my greenhouse. I also have tomato plants gifted to me by a friend, and some from one of our trusted growers. They're all doing excellently in my new large half-acre garden.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Last month, my crew prepared the tomato beds for planting. They raked and mulched the beds and made sure all the bamboo stakes were in good condition.
The twine was replaced where needed, so the structures are tight and ready to support the weight of the season’s fruits.
Earlier this week, my friend Leslie Kim Williams personally delivered some of her tomato plants for my garden. She gifts me several trays of tomatoes every year. Her tomatoes are consistently lush and prolific.
I loaded all the plants in my Polaris off-road vehicle and drove them to my vegetable garden.
The plants are all divided among our tomato beds. I always grow an abundance of tomatoes – I love to share them with family and friends and use them to make all the delicious tomato sauce we enjoy through the year.
I also received many plants from Bonnie’s, a grower I’ve used for many years. In addition, we always start our tomatoes from seed in my greenhouse. We don’t use any pesticides or chemicals of any kind, so we know we’re nurturing the highest quality plants. We always grow an abundance of tomatoes.
Before anything is planted, the beds are given a generous amount of Performance Organics Edibles Plant Nutrition Granules from Scott’s Miracle-Gro.
Ryan sets all the plants in the rows where they will be planted, making sure all the plants are equally spaced along the bed. He takes into consideration how big each plant gets and how much room each plant needs to grow properly.
Our gardening intern Matthew starts planting. Each hole is at least eight to 10-inches deep.
Two holes are dug next to each bamboo stake.
Transplanted tomatoes that are kept free of weeds for the first four to eight weeks can usually outcompete emerging weeds later. Most tomato plant varieties need about 100-days to mature, but there are some that only need 50-60 days. One can also stagger plantings for early, mid, and late season tomato harvests.
Each plant is carefully placed into the hole and backfilled. Two-thirds of the plant should be underground, meaning all but the two top most leaf sets should be buried.
Planting deeply helps the plant to develop more roots, and more roots mean more ability to take up water and nutrients.
Keep in mind, the stronger root system also helps the plant better survive the hot weather. This applies to tomatoes planted in the ground, in a raised bed, or in a container.
Matthew continues to plant at the base of every bamboo stake. I grow determinate and indeterminate tomatoes. Determinate or “bush” tomatoes, are varieties that grow to a compact height of about three to four feet. Determinates stop growing when fruit sets on the top bud. Indeterminate tomatoes will grow and produce fruit until killed by frost. They can reach heights of up to 12-feet tall. And then he sets all the plants in the rows where they will be planted, making sure all the plants are equally spaced along the bed.
Josh works in another bed. 120-tomato plants is a lot!
Tomato leaves have serrated, or wavy and pointed, edging along the entire perimeter. Tomato leaves are compound with multiple leaflets growing along a common stem, called a rachis. These leaves are also slightly fuzzy to the touch, which is caused by the trichomes, or multi-cellular hairs, on the plant. Never use chemically treated wood or other material for staking climbers, as the chemicals would likely run off and go into the soil.
It’s a good idea to grow a range of varieties, including at least one or two disease-resistant types, since, of all veggies, tomatoes tend to be the most susceptible to disease. Early in the growing season, water plants daily. As temperatures increase, garden tomatoes typically require one to two inches of water a week. Some of this year’s tomatoes include ‘Genuine Beefsteak,’ ‘Rutgers,’ ‘Early Girl,’ ‘Big Boy,’ ‘Celebrity,’ ‘Better Boy,’ ‘Park’s Whopper Improved,’ ‘Red Beefsteak,’ ‘Korean Long,’ ‘Tangerine,’ ‘Livingston’s Stone,’ ‘Gold Nugget,’ and heirloom varieties such as ‘Brandywine Sudduth,’ and ‘Amy’s Apricot.’
93-percent of American gardeners grow tomatoes in their yards, and according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, most Americans eat between 22 and 24 pounds of tomatoes per person, per year – this includes tomatoes in sauces.
Once the tomatoes are all planted, Josh gives them all a deep drink.
Here at the farm, everyone gets so excited for the tomatoes. The garden looks great – moving on to squash, eggplants, and peppers next.
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