@richrollgardener@toot.wales

Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 3w ago

I can't remember where I got this information, but I heard that it's best to leave as much of the stem as possible when harvesting winter squashes. Here can be seen that small pieces of the vine were left attached so that the entire stem is intact. I believe it's supposed to help with long-term storage. BTW, this is a mini variety of butternut called "Butter Baby". We like them. #Gardening #Allotment #NewEngland #GYO #GrowYourOwn #Squash #Harvest

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 1mo ago

Got out and did some more picking this morning and set out some more surplus for the passers-by. Found a very lovely note in the box later. Made my whole summer. There must be smoke in the air again, my eyes are all runny again. #Gardening #Allotment #NewEngland #GYO #GrowYourOwn

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 2mo ago

We DID pick a few other things today to put out for the neighbors, but mostly worked on getting the onions out on the drying rack, which is really just a ladder and some bamboo canes on horses in the garage. This was our best onion harvest in a long time. Didn't count or weigh anything but they're mostly huge. 😀 🧅 #BeetBear #Onions #Gardening #Allotment #NewEngland #GYO #GrowYourOwn

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 2mo ago

I found the old recipe for what my father called his "Chili Sauce" but always seemed to me to be a type of chutney or relish. The measurements for tomatoes and onions are by size not volume which seems odd but here's the image of the recipe card if anyone is interested. I think the origin goes back to our roots in Yorkshire in late Victorian times... #Onions #Gardening #Allotment #NewEngland #GYO #GrowYourOwn

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 2mo ago

Day number two of CornFest. Good eats all around! #BeetBear #SweetCorn #Gardening #Allotment #NewEngland #GYO #GrowYourOwn

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 2mo ago

After all the picking and sorting this morning, and setting aside "the best" for our own use, we have set out the surplus for the neighbors. #Gardening #Allotment #NewEngland #GYO #GrowYourOwn

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 2mo ago

BeetBear has declared the 2026 sweetcorn fest OPEN! First 10 ears to the table tonight! This is going to be a great summer for corn.... 😀 🌽 #BeetBear #SweetCorn #Gardening #Allotment #NewEngland #GYO #GrowYourOwn

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 2mo ago

The eggplant (Aubergines, if you will) are looking particularly strong and vigorous this season. I put this down to a complete absence of any flea beetles this year. This is the first year in as long as I can remember without all their leaves being full of holes. Got to go pick some more. #Gardening #Allotment #NewEngland #GYO #GrowYourOwn #Eggplant #Aubergine

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 2mo ago

We are fortunate enough to be enjoying another VERY NICE summer day. Here's a look at what's going on in the veg. patch today and the surplus pickings out for the neighbors. I think we're going to have a lot of butternut squash this year... #Gardening #Allotment #NewEngland #GYO #GrowYourOwn

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 2mo ago

Tornado warning has expired with no drama here, all ok. Before retiring for the day here is a further Update on the pot-o-carrots. They're coming on just fine. Close look shows some good shoulders in there. Will pull a couple soon to check them out. reminder: It's a large planter, about 19 inches in diameter and 15 inches deep, holding about 12 gallons (43 liters) of potting mix. Planted 14 April. #BeetBear #Gardening #Allotment #NewEngland #carrots

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 5mo ago

Our Trilliums have returned. They're hard to photograph because they're deep under the base of a large Azalea. They've been happily living here for years and we are happy to see them each spring.
#Gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
#BloomScrolling

toot.wales

Tŵt Cymru | Toot Wales

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 2mo ago

BeetBear found another thank-you note when we went to bring in the wagon from the road-side. We appreciate hearing from the neighbors. 😀 ❤️ #BeetBear #Gardening #Allotment #NewEngland #GYO #GrowYourOwn

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 5mo ago

OK, back to work. Since it's nearly apple-blossom time AND a nice day, we got busy and seeded up the "Pot-O-Carrots" for the season. It's a large planter, about 19 inches in diameter and 15 inches deep, holding about 12 gallons (43 liters) of potting mix. We use pelleted seed and plant in concentric circles with about ½ inch spacing. Pictures are an attempt to show what we do and what the scale is.
#BeetBear
#Gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
#carrots
#Spring

toot.wales

Tŵt Cymru | Toot Wales

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 5mo ago

I have an area at the bottom of the garden lot that is my rhubarb bed. The area is about 50ft.² (4.6 meter²) and contains about 8 plants. It was planted well over 50 years ago by an older generation. This was enough to supply the needs of at least 4 large households in the neighborhood and was by no means the only garden with rhubarb. The old folks are all gone now, and these days the demand is almost nil, but the plants still carry on. I let them flower now for the bees, etc. #gardening

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 2mo ago

Is anyone out there really buying this crap? Let's all go get antennas for our tomatoes... This is NOT an endorsement. https://kleone-copper.com/products/pure-copper-electro-culture-antenna?campaign_id=120243510297000495&ad_id=120248714133120495 #Gardening #Allotment #NewEngland #GYO #GrowYourOwn

kleone-copper.com

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 5mo ago

We got the new trellis materials in place today. We're using a jute netting with 6 inch square openings tied to the old metal frame with garden twine. Now we'll be ready to plant the beans when the soil warms up some more. BeetBear says "Don't talk to me about jute netting ever again..."
#Gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
#Beans
#RunnerBeans
#BeetBear

toot.wales

Tŵt Cymru | Toot Wales

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 6mo ago

I now assume that I started the tomato plants too early & am forced to move them to the greenhouse & get them potted on. The spring weather has still not arrived (it was 27F/-2.8C this morning with heavy frost. My ability to keep the greenhouse warm enough at night will be sorely tested if spring does not arrive soon. Peppers & eggplant are still happy to continue under the lights for a while yet. I've got to go wake up #BeetBear for some help.
#Gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b

toot.wales

Tŵt Cymru | Toot Wales

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 7mo ago

A look at my seed starting set-up. 4 shelves, each with room for 4 trays. Each shelf has it's own 4-bulb, 4 foot light fixture. I use the light fixtures as heat mats for the shelf above & adjust spacing as needed.
Today we planted tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage,viola, jalapeño, and bell pepper. Previously we winter-sowed cleome and butterfly milkweed, which is outside under the snow. More planting tomorrow.

#BeetBear
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#zone6b

toot.wales

Tŵt Cymru | Toot Wales

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 5mo ago

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Won't you be my neighbor? It's 75F / 24C degrees this morning with a clear, blue sky. BeetBear is luxuriating on the "lawn" with our friends, the dandelions and violets. Also to be seen are the peonies and lillies. Back to work later, but for now... BLISS!
#BeetBear
#Gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
#BloomScrolling
#Spring

toot.wales

Tŵt Cymru | Toot Wales

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 7mo ago

What a change two days makes. Pictures show Saturday versus today regarding the snow melt. We reached over 70°F (21°C) this afternoon and now most of the snow cover is gone. The chipmunks are all racing about again and I saw at least two robins hunting on the open ground. This has lifted my mood considerably.
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Winter
#Zone6b

toot.wales

Tŵt Cymru | Toot Wales

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 6mo ago

We send greetings to all of our gardening friends, both north and south, on the equinox. For us it means more sunlight and warmer days ahead. BeetBear is taking the time to clean off his sign on our tool shed door. Two years ago he was posing with his violets and dandelions in the orchard, but this year we're a long way from that yet - it's been way too cold.
#BeetBear
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#zone6b
#Equinox
#gardeningau
#gardeningNZ

toot.wales

Tŵt Cymru | Toot Wales

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 6mo ago

It's hard to see, but if you zoom in on the center of this image you can see something interesting. This exemplifies the kind of spring we're having. In this River Birch, the high winds have snapped some branches and with all the moisture in the ground the heavily running sap is dripping profusely from the break. HOWEVER, it's so cold that it's all freezing and forming icicles which the wind then breaks off to fall on passers-by. Words fail me...
#Gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b

toot.wales

Tŵt Cymru | Toot Wales

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 2mo ago

Here we go! The first planting of sweetcorn is probably about a week to 10 days away from readiness. Almost time to begin our cornfest! 😀 🌽 #Gardening #Allotment #NewEngland #GyO #GrowYourOwn #SweetCorn

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 7mo ago

We got some more planting done today: more lettuce, Verbena bonariensis, beets (VERY IMPORTANT says BeetBear), and parsley. Each set of lights is the heat mat for the tray above and the stuff with the warmest requirements is on top, the shelves get gradually cooler as we go down.

Inside: warm and toasty. Outside: not so much, but at least it's melting back gradually.
#BeetBear
#Gardening
#allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b

toot.wales

Tŵt Cymru | Toot Wales

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 6mo ago

@Broadfork@mastodon.green put me on to this a while back and it got my attention. The idea is to provide "Hoverfly Lagoons" to help support those Hoverfly species that have aquatic larvae. I did a little checking and one of our most common species HERE, the Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax) DOES have aquatic larvae so I followed this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFprOsoHowE&t=72s
and made a couple to try. Will be watching for mosquitoes too. We'll see...
#Gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
#Pollinators

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@redcrew@mstdn.social I still have the actual one that was used (by me in the 50's & 60's) when helping my dad with the canning. Here are some pictures.

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@redcrew@mstdn.social I no longer have a website/blog and no plans to publish. You have my permission to do whatever you want with the recipe. One further note: all of the peppers and onions used for this were run through one of those old-time hand-crank meat grinders.

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 7mo ago

Now that BeetBear has come out of his winter nap, he shares my overwhelming urge to get out and get going! If only all this rotten snow wasn't still covering everything. Time to melt already!
#BeetBear
#Gardening
#allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b

toot.wales

Tŵt Cymru | Toot Wales

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 5mo ago

RE: @richrollgardener@toot.wales

We spent some time this afternoon setting out some of the Apple Maggot Fly traps, in the hopes that we will actually have some apples this year. Trees are done blossoming and it LOOKS like some fruit is setting. Hoping for better weather during the June drop this year. Fingers crossed. Anyway here's my report from last year at this time.
#BeetBear
#Gardening
#Orchard
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
#Apples

toot.wales

Richard Rollinson: "Now that the apple blossoms have mostly dropped (…" - Tŵt Cymru | Toot Wales

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 6mo ago

"Let's get busy and prune the rose bushes" says BeetBear. It's on the sunny side of the house and out of the wind. They were out of control and overgrown so we gave them a good trim and will make them tidy as they leaf out later.
#BeetBear
#Gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Spring
#Zone6b

toot.wales

Tŵt Cymru | Toot Wales

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@SunnJax@tech.lgbt Good to hear you are ok!

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Here's a look at the crippled ones from earlier. I potted most of them on just in case, but the growth on them is not normal...

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@transitionalaspect@fnordon.de Yay! corn! Our favorite. 😀 🌽

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 5mo ago

Replying to

I should probably explain that there are 12 of these cages, each having about 10 openings cut into them and each opening has 6 spots that needed grinding making a total of 720 sharp edges to grind. At least it's a "sit-down-job" 😀

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@clew They taste vaguely of mild disappointment. No sweetness. 😃

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@keefeglise@mastodonapp.uk Lots of people will say "Ooo, I like rhubarb!" and I'll say " Please come and help yourself!" but no one ever bothers to show up and at my age I'm not pulling it for them.

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@IcooIey I don't save many seeds myself but I agree with @Broadfork on giving away and/or guerilla sowing. As for putting in the compost, I think that would depend on what you use the compost for, due to the germination possibilities. 😀

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Florapis This was the result caused by overwatering making the original growing tip wither away. My negligence. This was all indoors under the grow lights.

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Broadfork Yes, I hope to do that. Just have to keep track of which is which very carefully...

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@Broadfork Thanks. Soon, we hope. Even the daffs are saying "nope, not yet."

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Broadfork Yep! Just hope we don't overshoot on the temperature like we did last year.

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Richard Rollinson @richrollgardener@toot.wales

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@PokiLoki I haven't used that, but I do cover things with regular garden fleece if I have to. There is a small electric heater in there that can just about keep most of the stuff above freezing at night as long as the temp doesn't drop too much below freezing outside overnight. Very costly to run too much....

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