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APPRECIATING AUTUMN
Gosh, it’s been such a busy week but I still can’t figure out why. I’ll put up my Friday Finds in a bit but I’ve had this post ready to go most of the week and failed to hit “publish” on it until today. We are officially past the peak of autumn color here, but I think it has been ...
WHAT TO DO WITH AN ABUNDANCE OF PARSLEY
I grew parsley from seed for the first time this year, and as I was harvesting armloads of it over the weekend, it was a bit of a head-slap moment. It was so easy I can’t understand why I haven’t been growing it from seed all along. The big end-of-season parsley haul. I really like parsley. I think it ...
FRIDAY FINDS
How to make beautiful, delicious (and chemical free) colored sugars with edible flowers. Deborah Silver photo Deborah Silver (who I like to call the Queen of Containers) never fails to disappoint. Look what she did for autumn. Rusted steel in the garden is such a great look. I like fashion but I am not a fashionable person and to be ...
SCOURING SKYMALL FOR GREAT PRODUCTS
I was traveling last week for work and by the time I got home on the weekend, I didn’t feel like doing much. It’s funny, the garden is actually looking pretty good these days. Although I know there will be a ton of work to be done getting it ready for winter, I’m not ready to stop enjoying what it ...
FRIDAY FINDS
Kylee’s video of a monarch butterfly eclosing (hatching, sort of) is so cool. Deborah Silver is recommending that gardeners in cold climates apply an antidessicant to their boxwood this fall. The change of seasons always makes me want a clean an uber-organized house. This roundup of fabulous pantries is making me very jealous. North Coast Gardening image After all this ...
LOOKING FOR A BETTER VIEW
There is plenty of work to be done in the garden at this time of year. Every thing I can do before the garden is put to bed for the winter is one less thing to do come spring. And of course there are other tasks that simply must be done in fall, like planting bulbs. Still it is difficult ...
THE POTATO TOWER EXPERIMENT: THE RESULTS
Remember the potato tower experiment? This was a method of growing potatoes I tried in part to get a crop of potatoes without using precious garden space. I also thought they would be easier to harvest. Last weekend I attacked those towers to get a feel for how successful this experiment was. I’m not going to keep you in suspense: ...
A LAST CHECK ON THE SUMMER’S CONTAINERS
I find it interesting to follow the progress of container plantings throughout the summer. I only plant each container once because our odd seasons here don’t really allow me to get much time out of a spring- or fall-only planting. This year’s containers have been looking a little tired for a couple weeks now. And there’s no telling how much ...
FRIDAY FINDS
Some of my favorite blogs do something different than their usual content on Fridays. One of my favorite takes on this is what some bloggers call a “Love List.” In other words, they just link to a lot of things they are interested in that week and think their readers might be interested in as well. So I thought I’d ...
MYSTERY SOLVED
Well it didn’t take long to solve the mystery of what happened to the community garden plots (see the story here). At least one plot-holder complained to the local police (I’m not sure if she filed an official report but she at least made them aware of what had happened) and several irate gardeners complained to the higher-ups at the ...
THE DAY THE GARDEN DISAPPEARED
I’ll admit, my enthusiasm for gardening on the plots my mom and I share at the local community garden (part of the YMCA) was lacking a bit this year. With the lousy weather, it was all I could do to drag myself out there to do a lot of tending. But between the two of us, we got our plots ...
A PERFECT TOMATO EASES THE PAIN OF A LOUSY SUMMER
It’s hard to imagine that there was a time when I had very little interest in growing vegetables. You might not know it by looking at my vegetable garden, which is in a sorry state this year, but I get so much pleasure out of growing my own food. Last night, I asked Mr. Much More Patient to bring home ...
OFFICIALLY ON NOTICE
This is the time of year when I start taking stock of garden with a long-term view. In general terms, it’s easy to spot areas that need attention and improvement. In some cases, though, it’s identifying plants that I need to take a hard look at. And I am officially putting two pretty important plants on notice. It’s time to ...
ENJOY THE BEAUTY INSTEAD OF MOURNING THE SUMMER
It’s a bittersweet time to be a gardener. My enthusiasm for the small but important jobs around the garden has long since waned. I did some edging this weekend and it was all I could do to will myself to do it even though it was a job that was way overdue and one that I’m always happy with the ...
A FEW TOOLS TO ADD TO THE COLLECTION
A couple weeks ago when I shared my favorite tools, I suggested that there might be a few gaps in my already expansive garden tool collection. Well, I may have filled them. I think the most glaring omission from my collection, I think, is a fork. Digging forks have a lot of uses but the two instances I think call ...
LABOR DAY WEEKEND LABORING
Geez, you would think I was vying for the “Most random posting blogger” award or something. I left you hanging all last week! I’m sorry. Life. You know? It is hard to believe that Labor Day has now come and gone. It has been such a lousy summer weather wise. I know I am a professional weather complainer, but I ...
Letters from the Garden
Letters from the Garden
