It’s been quite a week. First, here in Massachusetts, we celebrated Patriot’s Day which commemorates “the shot heard around the world,” the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. On television there was a program about John Muir, born in 1838, naturalist, conservationist, and moving spirit behind declaring Yosemite a national park, and a founder of the Sierra Club. Yesterday we celebrated the 41st Earth Day on which we could be reminded of any number of…
It is so warm and showery out today that I couldn't resist putting some of the houseplants on the piazza for a little trimming and showering. See how green the grass is?
The Bridge of Flowers, an old trolley bridge, that now floriferously joins the towns of Shelburne and Buckland opened officially on April 1. On that day this year there was snow on the Bridge, but you can see we are no longer worrying about snow. At this time of the year people begin asking me about the best season to view the Bridge. I answer there is no Best Season. The Bridge has been designed to be in…
I picked these Van Sion daffodils myself, and son Chris and Michelle brought these beautiful tulips to put on the Easter dining table, but the surprise came when I went to water the houseplants and saw that the little geranium plant I salvaged last fall had suddenly sent up a lovely blossom that was all but lost in the dead foliage of the jasmine. A surprise is always welcome when it is so pretty and pink. Can you…
Gail of Clay and Limestone is celebrating wildflowers this week and I wanted to get in on the fun. Fortunately I have one wildflower in bloom here at the End of the Road, coltsfoot, coughwort or Tussilago farfara. I usually call it an 'herb' because of its medicinal uses. Its leaves are used in an infusion or to smoke, in both cases to cure a cough. Of course the word 'herb' in its broadest sense means only a…
In spite of Saturday's snow and sleet which continued most of the day, after a warm night with temperatures constantly increasing, Easter Sunday dawned warm and sunny and blissful. This is all that was left of the snow. The breeze was gentle and it was a perfect Easter Sunday. One of the first fences we removed over the past months was the wire fence that formed the 'fourth wall' of the Sunken Garden. These dayliles grew along the…
It may be snowing and sleeting here in Heath this morning, but many of us are thinking spring thoughts, planting thoughts, harvesting thoughts - and winning thoughts. The Prickly Pine Cone has won Starter Vegetable Gardens! by Barbara Pleasant. Good luck to her and her new gardens. Maybe it isn't snowing at her house.
The technique of gardening without digging up the soil has been around for a long time. Ruth Stout had a best seller on her hands when her book “How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back” came out in 1955. Two more recent books that explain how to have a productive garden without breaking sod and breaking your back are “Lasagna Gardening” by Patricia Lanza and “Weedless Gardening” by Lee Reich who lives right here in…
On this Earth Day I don't want to lecture about what we all should be doing to protect the environment. I want to celebrate some of the actions I know about in my community that are being done right now, many of which will grow. I am thrilled with the school gardens that are being planted, tended and harvested. They not only supply food, but many lessons that connect with work in the classroom. Heath school has had its…
For several days the weather has been chilly, raw, showery, rainy and generally unpleasant. Not gardening weather. We all know we cannot dig wet soil. However, the chickens remain cheerful and production continues. They are happy to stay inside, maybe because they know I'll give them an extra small ration of cracked corn. Don't forget tomorrow is the last day you can enter the Give Away drawing for Starter Vegetable Gardens by Barbara Pleasant. Just click here…