It’s been a rough year for the vegetable garden at the End of the Road. There was lots of rain in the spring which was great for all the gardens. Then rain became scarce and if I have learned anything in my years of gardening it is that vegetable gardens need regular watering to thrive and be productive. However, a new problem this year was bunnies! We haven’t had problems with rabbits in the past, but this year…
This morning dawned cool and misty. A walk through the garden was so quiet and peaceful. A glorious morning indeed. And we look forward to a glorious day at the Heath Fair. Yesterday was all energetic activity. We had scores of boxes of books to bring to the Fair for the Annual Friends of the Heath Free Public Library book sale. $1 for hardcovers! This is our big fundraiser for the year. After loading up the books, we…
Do you ever have trouble with deer nibbling and destroying plants in your garden? I am sad enough when I go out and find that deer have eaten my peas down to nothing, but I get really discouraged when I go out in the spring and find out that my expensive Hinoki false cypress is no more. Ruth Clausen has felt my pain and put together this useful book that not only gives excellent cultural information about 50…
Andrea Wulf's fascinating book The Founding Gardeners provides a drawing of George Washington's Mount Vernon site plan. I wrote about this book here. Sunday's Washington Post had a story about the restoration of his gardens based on a 13 month archeological dig led by Esther White. Now visitors will be able to see the garden as George himself laid it out. Every garden is ephemeral. Every garden changes over time. Finding evidence of original planting plans revealing the…
The garden centers are putting out their trays of blooming annuals, many of which will find their way into planters and containers of all sizes and shapes. They’ll be hung on porches, set out on decks and placed by doorways. It is hard to resist all that color and frilly form. Fortunately for us we don’t have to resist because those familiar annuals, impatiens, petunias, begonias and geraniums are inexpensive and put on a good and cheerful show…
Because I wrote about the Founding Gardeners by Andrea Wulf here, a friend just sent me The Founding Foodies: How Washington, Jefferson and Franklin Revolutionized American Cuisine. I was fascinated at the way that Wulf described how the agricultural techniques of the Founding Fathers reflected their politcal and philosophical views. I should not have been surprised that men who spent so much time in their gardens and thinking about their garden and their land would also have thought…
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 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…
The weekend was chilly and windy; the snow is nearly gone. There was work to do. Four potted rosebushes arrived from High Country Roses: Cardinal Richelieu, Agnes, Madame Hardy and Goldbusch. Their arrival inspired me to go out and clean out the Shed Bed which is right next to the hen house. I could not resist planting Cardinal Richelieu which will add its rosy purple hues to this assortment of pink roses. You will notice the arrangement of…