Every summer, I try to spend as much time as possible at Skylands, my home in Seal Harbor, Maine. I always enjoy my visits there with my family.
Fortunately, we were able to harvest another sizable amount of delicious vegetables just in time for my trip. This harvest included some of the season's eggplants, cucumbers, squash, peppers, and lots of beans.
Enjoy these photos. And, be sure to tune in to HGTV tomorrow, Friday, July 31st at 10/9c, for the premiere of my new series "Martha Knows Best" - I'll be sharing lots of gardening tips and offering my best pointers for planting and maintaining home gardens.
We’ve had such a bounty of beans this year – in green, yellow, and purple. Beans grow best in full sun and moist soil. Here in the Northeast, we’ve had both. Bush beans grow on shrubby plants and are very prolific producers. They can continually produce throughout the season with the proper care. In general, bush beans should be ready in 50 to 55 days.
Enma harvested this Savoy cabbage. Cabbage, Brassica oleracea, is a member of the cruciferous vegetable family and is related to kale, broccoli, collards, and Brussels sprouts. The leaves of the Savoy cabbage are more ruffled and a bit more yellowish in color.
And here is a nice red cabbage ready for picking.
This year, we planted the tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers on this side of the garden – opposite from where we planted them last year. It is important to rotate crops every season. By rotating crops from one spot to another, one can preserve and even boost nutrients in the soil.
Our tomato vines are growing nicely and some fruits are already developing, but they’re not ready just yet. We should be picking our first red tomatoes in another week or so.
Most tomato plant varieties need between 50 and 90 days to mature. Planting can also be staggered to produce early, mid, and late-season tomato harvests.
We also harvested several eggplants. I like to pick them when they’re smaller. This one is a perfect size.
These eggplants will be ready in a couple more days. Pick eggplants when they are young and tender. Picking a little early will encourage the plant to grow more, and will help to extend the growing season.
Some of the sweet peppers are also ready for picking. Enma harvests this perfect green pepper.
And sweet peppers don’t come in just green and red. Yellow, orange, and even purple bell peppers are popular and flavorful.
Allowing the bell pepper to remain on the plant and continue to ripen before picking pepper fruit, will result in sweeter peppers.
These peppers are ready too. Be careful when picking peppers – always keep the hot ones separated from the sweet ones, so there is no surprise in the kitchen. Sweet peppers, such as these sweet banana peppers, have a long shape that tapers down to one to three lobes at the bottom.
The summer squash is planted next door, where there is a lot more room for the vines.
Ripe squash will be firm, fairly heavy for its size, and vibrantly colored. Some are already too big, but still delicious. The larger squash will go to my chickens.
The cucumbers look great this year. Cucumbers require a long growing season, and most are ready for harvest in 50 to 70 days from planting. The fruits ripen at different times on the vine, but it is essential to pick them when they are ready. If they are left on the vine too long, they will taste bitter.
Remove the fruit with a sharp knife or pruners to prevent injury to the vine from twisting or pulling. These trellises work great because they keep the cucumbers off the ground.
Look at our bounty of squash and cucumbers. Everything is growing so fast – it is so important to check the garden every single day.
All the produce is loaded in trug buckets and bins and then brought up to my flower room and stored in the refrigerator. I am looking forward to many meals with all this wonderful produce – the fruits of our labor.
There has been so much growth in this vegetable garden in the last couple of weeks – there’s always something delicious to pick. Many of you often ask what I do with all these vegetables. I share them with my family and friends, and my staff at the farm. They are also used for photo and video shoots for television shows and my magazine.
And remember, “Martha Knows Best” premieres tomorrow, Friday, July 31st at 10/9c on HGTV!
My Winter House is filled with gorgeous, bright, and fragrant lilies.
If you follow my blog regularly, you may have seen yesterday's post on my beautiful white lily garden just outside my main greenhouse. Last weekend on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48, I also showed some of the lilies that are currently flowering around my home in East Hampton. Lilies are at their peak here in New York - it's the perfect time to cut some of the lovely blossoms to make cheerful arrangements.
Enjoy these photos.
If you are cutting flowers from your garden, the best time to do it is early in the morning before the sun and wind have a chance to dry the flowers. One can also cut late in the evening after they are rehydrated. This day was especially warm and humid, so we cut our flowers as early as possible.
Lilium is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with prominent flowers.
My housekeeper, Elvira, carefully walks through the lily bed to cut flowers from the back, so that the garden still looks pretty from the front. When selecting flowers, always consider appearance as well as condition.
My housekeeper, Enma, is in the flower garden, She also picks those lilies growing in the back or behind taller plants. Here she is with a bunch of light yellow blossoms.
Choose buds that are just about to start opening or have recently opened. The flowers will continue to mature after they’ve been cut, and by choosing the young blooms, one can extend the lifespan of the lily display.
Lily flowers are large, often fragrant, and come in a range of colors including yellows, whites, pinks, reds, and purples. These plants are late spring- or summer-flowering.
Rose lily flowers are pollen-free Oriental Liliums and have at least a double amount of petals. They also have a sweet fragrance and an excellent vase and pot life.
Here is another rose lily flower in a lighter shade of pink.
This bin of lilies is just enough so they are straight and snug but not crowded. There is also a bit of water at the bottom, so Enma and Elvira make sure every stem reaches the water.
Enma begins stripping the leaves of each stem – this makes it easier to create arrangements. She carefully grabs the stem from near the top and then strips the leaves to the bottom.
This process is done to each and every cut lily.
Then she gently pulls the anthers off of each flower. Pollen is notorious for staining flesh and fabric. Removing the anthers prevents any pollen from getting on the flower petals, which can eat away at the delicate flower parts and shorten the life of the blooms. Enma’s hand is already stained. When handling lilies, it’s a good idea to wear gloves and clothes you don’t mind getting dirty. If you happen to get a pollen stain on your clothing, do not rub! Instead, reach for a roll of tape and use the sticky side to gently dab the area – the particles will adhere to the tape.
Enma and Elvira carefully carry the bin of lilies to the Winter House for arranging.
Enma places a stem into the vase to see if it needs any additional trimming. Each vase will account for about one-third of the total arrangement height. When cutting flower stems always cut at a 45-degree angle. Cutting the stems at this angle, rather than straight across, allows for greater surface area and increased water uptake.
Lilies are one of the top cut flowers in the world because of their long vase life and flower form. Enma arranges them, so they look full from all sides.
Lilies are beautiful in small, simple arrangements as well as large, regal centerpieces. This is the first finished arrangement for my servery.
Enma makes an identical arrangement for the other end of the counter.
Next, the rose lilies are placed into a vase. While arranging flowers, it is always a good idea to periodically take a step back and look at the display to decide whether any adjustments are needed.
A smaller vase is used for these gorgeous yellow lilies.
Finally, Enma fills the vase with water. Remember to change out the arrangement’s water on a daily basis to prevent the buildup of bacteria.
And always place the vase in a cool area out of direct sun and drafts. This arrangement will look pretty in my green parlor.
This arrangement sits on a dining table between my servery and my foyer. It looks great on this silver platter.
And here are the two large white lily arrangements on the counter in my servery. Every arrangement is so pretty. If you don’t already, I hope this inspires you to grow your own lilies. What are your favorite varieties and colors?
My Bedford, New York farm is overflowing with lilies.
Last year, we transformed the area in front of my main greenhouse into a more formal garden with hostas and white lilies. The beds were planted in a grid pattern, framing squares across the entire area and then filling each square with about 25 lilies in each, organized by height from back to front. The lilies came from Zabo Plant, a wholesale bulb supplier in The Netherlands. Some of the varieties include: 'Severn', 'Saronno', 'Kayenta', 'Maxima', 'Crystal Blanca', 'Zambesi', 'Nova Zembla', 'Seine', 'Castellani', 'San Christina', 'Serena Madonna', and 'Roselily Angela'. They bloomed so beautifully last summer, and this year the flowers look even more vibrant.
Enjoy these photos.
In the spring of last year, the two garden beds in front of my main greenhouse were completely transformed. These areas used to be home to my currant bushes, but I wanted to create a more formal garden. Here is one side just before we planted a border of hostas.
This is what it looked like after the hostas were planted and all the lily bulbs were in the ground. Symmetry is a very important aspect of any formal garden.
In late June of last year, the stems had grown to waste-high and all the hostas were established. My gardens grow so well because of the great soil I use. Every year, I amend it with rich compost made right here on the farm.
By last summer, we had dozens of beautiful white lilies. In front of the two beds, we planted a row of boxwood. These boxwood shrubs were grown here at the farm from small bare-root cuttings.
Look how much fuller everything is – the boxwood, the hostas, and the growing lilies. This photo was taken in mid-June.
The boxwood shrubs are filling the spaces so nicely, and so quickly.
And the hostas are also looking vibrant and lush.
By the beginning of July, the buds of the lilies are already beginning to open.
In this photo taken a couple of weeks ago, many flowers are blooming. Lilies need at least six hours of full sunlight daily. This sunlight exposure is what enables the lilies to produce their vibrant flowers.
And then by last week, look at all the stunning white lilies growing in the beds. These lilies have stronger stems than some of the other lilies in my gardens. They are also a bit shorter, so they don’t need individual staking.
Oriental lilies are known for their fragrant perfume and gorgeous blooms. These lilies have a fast growth rate and should be planted in well-drained loamy or sandy soil.
All the lilies in this garden are white, but vary in form and have large flowers.
Here is a double flower form lily that is more than six inches across.
We’ve had several days of 90-degree weather here in the Northeast. Fortunately, lilies can withstand these temperatures.
The perfect spot for lilies has morning sun and late afternoon shade because it protects them from the burning hot mid-day sun. They will hold their flowers longer and the color is better when they receive some shade during the day.
Many lilies have six tepals each. The tepals are free from each other and bear a nectary at the base of each bloom. When cutting lilies, to avoid any pollen issues, pull the anthers off of each flower. Pollen is an important part of a lily’s anatomy, but it is notorious for staining flesh and fabric. Removing the anthers also prevents any pollen from getting on the flower petals, which can eat away at the delicate flower parts and shorten the life of the blooms.
These lilies have a lot of pollen, so If you happen to get a pollen stain on your clothing, do not rub! Instead, reach for a roll of tape and use the sticky side to gently dab the area – the particles will adhere to the tape.
And when cutting lilies, only cut the length you need for the vase, nothing extra. Any foliage or stem that you leave on the plant will feed the bulb for the next year.
The hostas around and in between the lilies are also looking fuller this year. Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies, and occasionally by the Japanese name giboshi. Hostas are widely cultivated as shade-tolerant foliage plants.
Behind the beds, I decided to plant a hedge of hornbeams in front of the greenhouse windows and bordering the gardens on two sides. These were planted last fall and are also thriving. It will be a lovely backdrop for these gorgeous lilies.
I have been so pleased with the way this garden has grown. I am looking forward to making many, many flower arrangements with all these pretty blooms. And be sure to see more lily photos on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48.
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