It's all a mess. Such a mess. I planted my cold-weather greens (spinach, lettuce, beets) when I normally do, but the weather here in Southern New Jersey warmed up much faster than I thought it would, and I think the heat stunted the growth. Those two underperforming rows at the top half of the bed below should have been lush and, frankly, harvested multiple times by now. The plan to have big tomato and pepper plants in May by planting them in February did not work. I raised these ...
The 2023 return of Angry Man Farm
We call our backyard garden Angry Man Farm. It's because of a long running joke between WM and me that so many farms are named pleasant names like Fox Run and Sunflower Hill that we ever owned a farm, we'd name it something humorous and realistic. Thus, Angry Man Farm was born in 2018 when we moved in and started an herb garden. What I'm learning about gardening is that the more you do it, the more confusing it gets. Take last frost date, for example. For the last few years, I've been using ...
Monday, Monday
It was a pretty good weekend! On Saturday I spent some time with Nephews A & B. A is 8 now (whaaaat?) and very much into Youtube and video games. B is 4 now (whaaaaaaaat?) and is very much into imaginative play. I am very much into A&B, even though I don't have a Youtube channel. And I baked another loaf of no-knead bread. Sunday found me digging in the garden beds so I could send a soil sample out to be tested. I've been using the same soil for years now and I'm pretty sure ...
Angry Man Farm 22 – the deep freeze
Of course, of course, as soon as I felt cocky and thought "hmmmm....I can plant some cold weather crops like garlic and lettuce outside!" on Sunday we plunged back into temperature lows in 20s and snow squalls. Of course. will I ever learn? WILL I? So on Sunday we scrambled to cover up the lettuce and garlic with a bed of leaves and a plastic cover that we kept down with branches from the yard. Not doing yard work all winter paid off! It's not going down past freezing for at least ...
Sprouts!
While I was illing, my seeds started to sprout. They're a bit leggy because I didn't get the overhead lamp on in time, but I think they'll be okay. ...
Angry Man Farm 2022 – IT BEGINS
In case you happen to be new to this old blog, Angry Man Farm is simply our garden. Many years ago WM and I noticed that farms have such lovely, bucolic names like Lone Pine Farm or Running Horse Farm. If we had a farm, it would be Angry Man Farm. But we don't have a farm, we have a vegetable garden that seems to be more work than yield but every March I dive in as if I have forgotten the aphids, rabbits, drought, rot, frost, and wind that conspire against me every year. And it is ...
February 2022
Here are some things we did in February that didn't warrant their own post because I wasn't posting much in February! Mom had a birthday and I bought her a ticket to go see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. I bought myself the other ticket but I always wonder about how to present gifts like that. Do I give her both tickets and wait for her to ask me, even though I believe part of the gift is getting her there and that's usually my job and she really ...
Angry Man Farm – Movin’ Outside
In March, I started some seeds for this year's garden. Out of everything I planted, I emerged with: One sage plantOne lavender plantFive moss roses that look barely viableTwo cauliflower plantsFive jalapeno peppersFive sweet pepper plantsEight regular tomato plantsEight cherry tomato plants (two varieties) Last weekend, I transplanted most of the above seedlings into individual pots and put them into my little greenhouse. The cauliflower went right into one of the beds with some lettuce ...
Angry Man Farm 2021 – The beginning
Like many of the things 2020 brought us, last year's garden adventure was a bust. The squirrels (possibly a raccoon?) ate almost all of the corn before it fully ripened. Our herbs were hampered by a very late frost and struggled to recover. I tried growing tomatoes from the previous year's seeds and while the plants grew plentiful, most of the tomatoes stayed green and then rotted. The carrots didn't grow very long at all. We had an aphid infestation which was disgusting to say the least. And ...
Angry Man Farm 2020
(celebrating one year of success!) In the middle of all of the abnormality and fear, the days grew longer and springtime returned. It seemed weird planning for a future in a world that seemed so dire, but I'm not going to prematurely lay down and die from an virus that may not even kill me in the first place. Thus, we're gardening. (insert quiet good-humoured resolve) This post is photo-heavy, so I'm going to pop a more tag after this gratuitous shot of a filthy, tangled gardener and her ...
Angry Man Farms 2019: Outside
So much has changed in 3 weeks! Thanks to this bonehead WM had to make some modifications to the raised bed. The front screen is removable so I can weed and water. He also personalized it, which made me smile. And here are the 3 tomato plants, 2 cherry tomato plants, 2 basil plants, a sweet pepper plant, and a jalapeno pepper plant all of which were just scrawny seedlings three weeks ago. And 4 cilantro seeds, which haven't sprouted yet. One tomato plant and one basil plant ...
Angry Man Farm: Raised Garden Bed!
A while ago when WM and I were heading to the PA Renaissance Faire, we passed some farms and idly wondered what our farm name would be, if we had one. We laughingly settled on Angry Man Farm. Whenever we do any type of outdoor or baking work, we call it an Angry Man Farm product. This past weekend was amazing for two reasons: 1) it was a three-day weekend and 2) the weather was AMAZING. Thusly, it was time for me to put my gardening money where my mouth is and build the small raised garden I ...
