After days of hot, humid weather with temperatures in the high 80s and 90s, we're finally getting a brief respite here at the farm - a noticeably cooler day in the 70s with a little less humidity.
My crew is always busy. Once a week, I create very detailed lists of all that needs to be done. Right now, the focus is on pruning the trees and boxwood shrubs, grooming the roses, weeding the garden beds, harvesting peaches and vegetables, mulching, and most importantly, watering.
Enjoy these photos.
It takes a lot of close monitoring to stay on top of our watering tasks this time of year. We’ve had sporadic showers and thunderstorms, but sometimes they’re just not enough to keep all the gardens well irrigated.
One of my favorite sources for watering is Gilmour, a Madison, Wisconsin-based company. I use several of their products at my New York farm and at Skylands, my home in Maine. Mornings are the best times to water – when water pressure is high, evaporation is low, and the soil can absorb the water before the sun heats up the ground.
I keep the sprinklers near the hoses, so they’re always readily available. And when not in use, they are neatly rolled up near the hose bib.
Among the many summer chores is mulching. Here is Chhiring mulching the tree pits under my majestic pin oak trees. The pin oak allée is the first allée guests see when entering my farm. These trees are tall and impressive.
And do you follow me on Instagram @MarthaStewart48? I’ve had such an excellent peach season – lately, I’ve been picking peaches every day. Here’s Enma picking more.
In no time – Enma and Andres pick trays and trays of sweet, delicious fruits.
Behind my greenhouse, I have a 68-foot by 30-foot rose bed that includes floribunda, hybrid tea, and shrub roses – all with gorgeous color, form, and fragrance. Matthew is pruning and grooming each bush. This time of year, I like to prune them lightly and selectively to shape the bushes and control any unwanted growth.
Not far, Phurba gets all his needed gear to prune the boxwood allée shrubs. It’s a huge task to prune all the boxwood. Phurba is my resident boxwood pruning expert. He has been with me for many years.
Here he is cutting and shaping one of the shrubs. One can see the newest growth. Phurba keeps the shears close to him with his hands midway down the handles. This allows the best control.
And occasionally he stops to sharpen the blades – it’s important to keep tools in their best condition to get the best results.
In the vegetable garden, Cesar helps to secure the growing tomato vines to the bamboo supports using jute twine.
Meanwhile, Ryan harvests some beans – it’s also a very good bush bean season.
There’s more pruning down behind my chicken coops. Pasang is working on the row of hawthorns. I planted these in 2020 and they’ve done very well here. Hawthorns, Crataegus, commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, May-tree, whitethorn, or hawberry, is a genus of several hundred species of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae.
But beware, this tree is also known as cockspur thorn because it sports numerous long, sharp thorns along its trunk and horizontal branches. A grouping of these trees makes an excellent protective barrier or living fence.
Here’s Chhiring spreading compost around the Little Darling® Lilacs recently planted from the wholesale nursery Monrovia.
I am fortunate to be able to make such excellent compost here at my farm – weed free and so nutrient-rich.
It’s also important that the animals are well hydrated in this warm weather. Here’s Truman “TJ” Junior taking a refreshing drink under the shade of the giant pines.
Here’s Jimmy walking my Friesian, Geert, back to the stable for grooming and a meal.
Clive is waiting patiently for his dinner. Don’t worry, Clive, it’s coming soon.
Around the farm, much of the detritus from the gardens is hauled away using the dump trucks or these Polaris off-road vehicles, always so handy and durable. it’s never a dull moment here at my farm, but my hardworking crew is getting it all done!
Here in the Northeast, temperatures today are expected to hit the mid 80s - a little break following this week's humid heat wave.
Despite the uncomfortable summer weather, the growing vegetables at my farm are thriving. The artichokes, eggplants, peppers, onions, carrots, and beans, etc. are all doing so well. With a garden this large, it's important to check it every day and keep up with its care.
Here are the latest photos, enjoy.
My gardeners and I have been spending a lot of time in this large half-acre space. In order to have delicious, beautiful vegetables, it’s important to always check on what’s doing well and remove what is not and then replant when needed. This garden has been so productive and all the vegetables look fantastic.
My tomatoes are growing beautifully, and every single plant is well-supported.
I grow an abundance of tomatoes to share and to make all the delicious tomato sauce I enjoy through the year. It’s a good idea to grow a range of varieties, including at least one or two disease-resistant types.
I prefer to pick eggplants early when they are young and tender. Picking early will encourage the plant to grow more, and will help to extend the growing season. These eggplants will be harvested soon.
Sweet bell peppers are popular in the garden – all grassy in flavor and super-crunchy in texture. I love making stuffed peppers – so easy and so delicious. It won’t be long before I’ll have a bounty of green, red, and yellow peppers.
My crew loves hot peppers, and I grow many of them to share. If growing both sweet and hot peppers, be careful when picking – keep the hot ones separated from the sweet, so there is no surprise in the kitchen.
And look at my onions. I’ve picked a few already and they’re excellent this year. I plant a lot of white, yellow and red onions.
These red onions will be ready soon and can be harvested on a dry day. After picking, they’ll be placed in a warm, dry area where they can cure.
This bed was planted with bush beans. My head gardener, Ryan McCallister, always keeps track of when to plant our crops and we always plant in succession, meaning we plant seeds every few weeks, so there is always something ready to harvest.
All the cucumbers are growing in the center of the garden along the fence-trellis. 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 tend to taste bitter.
Nearby is my bed of basil – both green and purple. 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 many cuisines. Since basil grows in tropical climates, it grows well in hot weather, and this season, we’ve had lots of it.
Globe artichokes, Cynara scolymus, are popular in both Europe and the United States. Artichokes are actually the flower buds, which emerge from the center of the plants.
The tomatillo, also known as the Mexican husk tomato, is a plant of the nightshade family bearing small, spherical, and green fruit.
These are birds beak peppers – they need a little more time. Birds beak peppers, also known as Pimenta Biquinho, are small, round peppers with a tapered tip that resembles a bird’s beak. They originated in Brazil and are known for their tangy, fruity flavor and mild heat level. Birds beak peppers can be eaten raw or used as a garnish – I like to pickle them.
This is sage. Salvia officinalis – a perennial, evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers. It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae and native to the Mediterranean region. It is popular in fall and winter cooking and baking.
Ryan occasionally picks a vegetable to see how it is doing. Here’s one of my carrots – looks really good! Most are familiar with the orange carrots, but they also grow in red, yellow, white, and purple.
In another bed – young Swiss chard. Swiss chard is a leafy green vegetable often used in Mediterranean cooking. The leaf stalks are large and vary in color, usually white, yellow, or red. The leaf blade can be green or reddish in color. Harvest Swiss chard when the leaves are tender and big enough to eat.
And remember my asparagus bed? After picking the last of the season’s stalks, it’s important to allow the fern-like foliage to grow through the remainder of the season. The foliage makes carbohydrates and sugars that get stored in the plant’s roots and crowns to help generate next year’s crop.
Everyone always asks what I do with all the vegetables I grow. I share them with my family, but I also share the bounties with friends, colleagues, and my hardworking crew here at the farm. I also provide fruits, vegetables, and eggs for photography and video shoots. And, of course, all my birds get vegetables too.
Across from my long and winding pergola is my Stewartia garden - it, too, is looking so beautiful this time of year.
My Stewartia Garden was once planted with rows and rows of ferns and lilies. Now, the garden still has growing tiger lilies and ferns, but it is also filled with lush Stewartia trees, Japanese maples, Cotinus, and thriving plants including Epimediums, Syneilesis, hostas, and more. It's matured so nicely over the last few years.
Here are some photos of this garden in summer, enjoy.
Many of the plantings in this garden behind my Tenant House are under the cover of the towering bald cypress. And right now, this garden is also dotted with gorgeous bright orange tiger lilies.
Earlier this year I planted a border of boxwood. I decided the space would look so pretty matching the boxwood across the carriage road along my winding pergola. Boxwood can grow in full sun and partial shade – they’ll thrive in this location.
Some of the ferns in this area include the Japanese painted ferns – beautiful mounds of dramatic foliage with luminescent blue-green fronds and dark central ribs that fade to silver at the edges.
Heuchera is a genus of largely evergreen perennial plants in the family Saxifragaceae, all native to North America. Common names include alumroot and coral bells.
Hostas have easy care requirements which make them ideal for many gardens. Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies and occasionally by the Japanese name, giboshi. They are native to northeast Asia and include hundreds of different cultivars.
The hostas are so lush with their varying leaf shapes, sizes, and textures. I also have a large hosta garden down behind my chicken yard.
Lady’s mantle, Alchemilla vulgaris, grows along one edge. It is a clumping perennial which typically forms a mound of long-stalked, circular, scallop-edge light green leaves, with tiny, star-shaped, chartreuse flowers.
In another area, the bright red berries of the Viburnum. These berries replace the creamy-white, flat-headed flowers that bloom in spring.
Cotinus, the smoketree, or smoke bush, is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, closely related to sumacs. The simple, oval shaped leaves range from deep purple and red to bright green. They offer such a colorful display throughout the seasons.
I have many Japanese maples at the farm. With more than a thousand varieties and cultivars, the iconic Japanese maple tree is among the most versatile small trees for use in the landscape. Some of the Japanese maples in this garden include Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Crimson Queen’, Acer palmatum ‘Shaina’, and Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Red Dragon’.
This is Syneilesis palmata. Over time, these plants form a sizeable patch of green umbrella-shaped leaves. Mature foliage can be more than a foot across with deeply toothed, narrow leaves – it is really an interesting plant.
Epimediums are long-lived and easy to grow and have such attractive and varying foliage. Epimedium, also known as barrenwort, bishop’s hat, and horny goat weed, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Berberidaceae.
And this is Asarum europaeum, or European Wild Ginger – a slowly spreading ground cover that is primarily grown for its glossy, leathery, heart-shaped, dark green leaves.
I planted the bald cypress when they were just a few feet tall, but look at them now! Bald cypress or Taxodium distichum is a deciduous conifer. Though the bald cypress is native to swampy areas, it is also able to withstand dry, sunny weather and is hardy in USDA climate zones 5 through 10.
The bark of the bald cypress is brown to gray and forms long scaly, fibrous ridges on the trunk. Over time, these ridges tend to peel off the trunk in strips.
The phlox is thriving in the garden. Phlox has superb heat and mildew resistance. It comes in a range of colors from pink to pure white to lavender to even red and grows happily in most parts of the country. If properly planted and sited, phlox is largely pest and disease free too – a perfect perennial.
This is a balloon flower, Platycodon grandiflorus – a species of herbaceous flowering perennial plant of the family Campanulaceae, and the only member of the genus Platycodon. It is native to East Asia and is also known as the Chinese bellflower or platycodon.
Balloon flowers get their name from the unopened buds, which swell up prior to opening and resemble little hot-air balloons.
I have several Cotoneaster plants in one corner of the garden bed. They have soft arching stems studded with leathery, glossy, rounded, dark green leaves.
Cotoneaster is a vigorous, dense, and evergreen shrub. These plants work well for low hedges.
And this is my Basket House, nestled under the shade of the bald cypress at the edge of the carriage road to my home. The weather has been extremely warm and humid, and today is expected to be another hot one with temperatures in the 90s. It’s been challenging to keep all the gardens well-watered, but these perennials seem to be doing just fine.
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