When I returned from working in New York this week, it looked like someone had taken a paintbrush to the landscape, adding color on top of color. The grass is greener (and taller), one forsythia is in bloom, with the others close behind, and daffodils are coming rapidly. Pointed red tips of peonies push through [...]
Archive for the ‘Garden’ Category
Spring ahead
Posted in Garden on March 25, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The new season
Posted in Garden on March 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
A tray full of seeds in moist potting soil now sits under a bright light, on a heat mat. Like opening day in baseball, this is the official start of our gardening season. We were too late for artichokes (which should have been planted a month ago); while fresh picked artichokes are a treat, they [...]
Planting memories
Posted in Garden on March 2, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
One day, walking down Main Street, in Northampton, MA, I found a rolled up bundle of bills and a deposit slip, right outside one of the town’s banks. So I went in and gave it to the security guard. This was some time ago, when I was in college. The next day a package came [...]
The shortest month
Posted in Garden on February 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Had this been March 1, the month would have certainly “come in like a lion.” We started the morning with a drop in temperature. By noon snow was falling, fast, wet and deep, blanketing everything, including the chickens, who continued to forage for awhile until finally retreating under the coop or in it. By nightfall [...]
The annual tree order
Posted in Garden on February 28, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The bees have influenced our selection of trees and bushes these past two years. In this year’s order from Fedco we have chosen an American Linden and a Redbud. According to the catalog, the Linden’s “Sweetly fragrant yellow June flowers will attract all the bees in the neighborhood, are reputed to make the best honey, [...]
Vegetable gardening
Posted in Garden on February 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Wednesday’s Home & Garden section of The New York Times had an article about Four Season’s Farm. Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch carved out a business and a life growing organic vegetables year-round in rocky, coastal Maine. They both have written, and spoken, extensively about organic gardening. Visiting their farm is an inspiration. Not quite [...]
Harbinger of change
Posted in Garden on January 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Most gardeners will attest to the pleasure of perusing seed catalogs in January…especially on a cold, blustery day like today. There are many great seed catalogs, like Johnny’s Selected Seeds, which has lovely four-color photos, great descriptions, and innovative tools. However, I’ve ordered from Fedco Seeds these past few years, enjoying the black-and-white newsprint catalog [...]
Winter comes to New England, slowly
Posted in Chickens, Garden on January 15, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Despite the Halloween snowstorm, this winter has been pretty mild. Not so this morning; our thermometer read 6 degrees at 8 a.m., and by 2 p.m. it had climbed only to 13. Even Koa, who lies on the kitchen steps regardless of temperature, decided it was too cold for her. Rebecca, seeing the sunshine, repeatedly [...]
Alien life
Posted in Garden on December 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The writers and special effects people who worked on Star Trek must have been keen observers of the natural world. And the natural world produces some amazing alien-like flora and fauna. Often I will see a plant, or creature, that looks like something Captain Kirk, Spock or Bones might have picked up on a new [...]
Racing winter
Posted in Garden on December 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The parsnips came out just in time. A frost makes them sweeter, but if they stay in too long, the ground freezes solid and you can’t dig them out. Parsnips (ours at least) are large and long, so you have dig deep to extract them. This year they went through a couple of frosts, and [...]