This perfect enough Cold Frame was assembled in 2010 as a temporary project. I think I will be using it again this year. We could have covered the temporary cinder block cold frame with an old window, but when the pyramidal skylight was delivered for our Cottage Ornee some years ago the delivery truck driver delivered it to my neighbor's house down the hill and took the big box out of the truck. My neighbor called me down…
My Planning a Vegetable Garden to Extend the Season Workshop at Winterfare on February 2 will give attendees some things to think about when they are planning their vegetables gardens and some tips. Hope to see you Saturday at 11 am at Greenfield Hight School. For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.
The Cacao bean is native to South America, but it became the cocoa we are familiar with when the Dutch van Houten found a new processing method, and it was British George Cadbury in 1878 who created a model garden city of Bourneville for his chocolate workers. On this cold and snowy day I have been reading a beautiful and fascinating book, Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History by Bill Laws. Cocoa is popular drink around our house in…
The leafless landscape seems dead, but dormancy is only a false death. In the 1/24 issue of the New York Times Michael Tortorello takes us on a wintry horticultural tour of gardens in New York City and learns that death is not what winter brings. I grant you, the activity he sees in Central Park and other places is rather different from the dormancy I can see in my frozen snowy landscape, but still, his guides make…
What is a hybrid vegetable? Hybrids are compatible plants that have been intentionally cross pollinated to create a plant that will combine the best attributes of both parents. This thoughtful work by plant breeders or hybridizers has brought us hundreds of new vegetable varieties that have more disease resistance, heat resistance, different coloring, or some other desirable trait. Hybrids have been created over the eons when plants naturally cross pollinated because pollen had been carried by the…
The days grow longer, so even though we are 'enjoying' a week of zero temperatures - and below - we can feel the shifting of seasons. The paperwhites that Brent and Becky sent along with my order as a bonus to cheer those of us who lived through Superstorm Sandy are indeed encouraging. I potted up my paperwhites in late November and kept them out in our bright unheated Great Room until January 6. Unlike most daffodils they do not need chilling…
I don't know what prompted my mother to make this Farmer's Arms sampler. It is true that her brother, my Uncle Wally, had a farm on the shores of Lake Champlain that our whole extended family considered Our Farm, and we kids/cousins were shipped up there for part of the summer. However, my father tried farming but quit suddenly one frigid winter day in 1948. Of all the 20 cousins, including my five farm cousins, I may be…
This opossum has been a regular evening visit to our compost pile. I don't think it is heating up at this time of the year but at least s/he is loading up on nutrituous peels. ADDENDUM - I had forgotten that oppossums are Marsupials - just like kangaroos. Only smaller, of course. Lots of fascinating information about oppossums here from the National Oppossum Society.
This gray Sunday I am alternating between a view of the swirling snow and my Christmas book Latin for Gardeners: Over 3000 Plant Names Explained and Explored. by Lorraine Harrison. I never took Latin in school but over the years, almost in spite of myself, I have picked up a fair amount of horticultureal Latin. I don't always remember the Latin names of the plants in my garden, but knowing some Latin has given me information about plants…
A Full Moon Getaway will be held at Stump Sprouts Guest Lodge and Cross Country Ski Center in Hawley to benefit the Franklin Land Trust on Sunday, January 27 from 1 pm on. Snowshoeing, skiing and hiking. Bring the kids! Soup and snacks for sale. Come for a full day, overnight or just for a Moonlight Frolic. Ski, Snowshoe, Hike and enjoy the beauty of rural western Massachusetts, For full information about cost and events, which include a…