Soil is alive. It is more than sand, silt or clay particles. It is even more than rotted organic matter. It is full of bacteria and all kinds of fungi, good and bad. Soil is alive and it needs to be fed. Some people go to the garden center and buy bags of 5-10-5 fertilizer. The numbers stand for the ratio of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium or potash (K). This kind of fertilizer is soluble and…
It is still so cool and cloudy that I have to go to town to enjoy flocks of daffodils - on the Bridge of Flowers. Hyacinths and tulips, too. For drama and beauty I look to the sky. To enjoy the beauty and drama of other skies, click here. Skywatch Friday has arrived.
Last fall we saw that beavers had built a lodge on the edge of our Frog Pond. Once before, in the spring some years ago, we had beavers in the pond but they didn't really get a lodge built so we hoped they were just passing through. We urged them on by keeping the overflow pipe in the pond clear. The beavers kept blocking it, and we kept unblocking it. We heard that beavers do not like the…
The weather remains cool and breezy or windy. And dry. I wish we had some of that early warm weather, and rain.This morning there was spitting rain - and snow flurries. There is very little sense of seasonal progression in the garden. This is the single daffodil in bloom, besides the very early Van Sions, but you can see (if you look closely) that buds are showing some color. Over the weekend my husband got all the little…
Mother Nature has been playing with us these past weeks, but no matter how she laughs as she keeps us off balance spring is coming. Crocuses, daffodils and sky blue scillas are laughing right back. Forsythia bushes are sunbursts of blossom. Even some small trees are beginning to bloom. My neighbor Paul has a golden witch hazel in his garden. Hamamelis vernalis blooms early in the spring and is noted for that early bloom and twirly petaled flowers.…
A couple of weeks ago I was invited to sign my book, The Roses at the End of the Road, at the majestic Springfield City Library, along with a group of other local authors. These book signings are one of the ways that the Springfield City Library supports authors as well as readers. We do need each other - authors, readers and libraries! Gerry Garner was a great light at the event. This great-grandmother (we both have great-grandaughters…
Hypertufa is a concrete and peat moss mixture used to make garden troughs and ornaments. Hypertufa troughs are often used for succulent or alpine plant collections and can be a charming and useful element in the garden. You can make your own. I am not sure how Smith College made their troughs, but hypertufa is a great DYI project. Not being very adventurous in the craft area I am happy that the Bridge of Flowers committee has organized…
Shoots are up, plants are leafing out. It is time to start keeping the Monday Record. The only bloom in the garden are these Van Sion daffodils that are growing against a stone wall - in back of the Buckland Rose. I thought I had dug out all the bulbs before I planted the rose here, but I was wrong. I wrote about how I identified this daffodil here. One reader said these were the ugliest daff he…
If there is anything I enjoy more than gardening it is books. And eating. Therefore you can imagine my pleasure when I made an unscheduled stop at the Forbes Library in Northampton last week and found this Edible Books contest display near the circulation desk. According to the Books2Eat website "The International Edible Book Festival is a yearly event on April 1 throughout the world .This event unites bibliophiles, book artists and food lovers to celebrate the ingestion…