Weekend of Plants and Memorials

  • Post published:05/14/2012
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This Mother's Day weekend was filled with flowers, and memorials. The Ladue family, Kimberly, Troy and Lisa, visited the Bridge of Flowers and presented the Bridge committee with a donation that will help keep the Bridge in bloom. Their mother, Margaret Oliver Ladue was a flower lover and (among other things) worked in the gardens of an assisted living home. Through their family foundation, her children are able to support their mother's interests in education with an annual…

Weekend Chores – Removals, Renovations and Additions

  • Post published:05/07/2012
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While my husband was busy with the first lawn mowing - and fence building - I was busy with removals, renovations and additions. I have had a pink potentilla at this corner of the North Lawn bed for several years but never been happy. I was reluctant to remove it, but this spring it look nearly dead, so out it came. Removals can be difficult, but they are sometimes necessary. Neither the dead shrub nor its hole are…

April Showers and May Basket

  • Post published:05/01/2012
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I awoke to a delicious soft rain - and a beautiful May Basket. Pansies, grape hyacinths and chocolate. I wonder who is celebrating May Day with me.

April Has Been the Cruelest Month – Almost Over

  • Post published:04/30/2012
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April proved herself to be the cruelest month indeed this year alternating summer and winter temperatures. The past couple of nights we've had frost - and this after we had gotten quite used to balmy temperatures and tender zephyrs in mid-month. Now these lovely white daffodils might as well be snow cover - it is so cold. And windy. And dry. My Early Garden in front of the house is still adorned with row covers that blow and…

My Soil Test Reveals All – Not Bad!

  • Post published:04/27/2012
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I had not yet received the results of my soil test from UMass when my onion sets arrived from Dixondale Farms. I wanted to get them right in the ground, but I was worried about my soil pH. Dixondale says onions prefer a pH between 6.2 and 6.8. I feared my soil might be too acidic for optimum results so I tilled in another couple of handfuls of lime before I planted the onions. Two days later I…

Bridge of Flowers Is Sweetly Fragrant

  • Post published:04/20/2012
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As I walked across the Bridge of Flowers yesterday I was suddenly aware of a sweet fragrance. Looking around and sniffing first in one direction and then another I realized the fragrance was coming from this Viburnam carlesii, just beginning to bloom. This shrub is also called Koreanspice viburnam, and the fragrance certainly certainly is spicily sweet. It is not a surprise this is a member of the honeysuckle family. It is not fussy about soil, but I…

Turkey Nest and Eggs – Abandoned

  • Post published:04/18/2012
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We are putting a (we hope) deer-proof fence around the vegetable garden. When my husband Henry began digging the first post hole a turkey flew up from the weeds right at the edge of the garden. Henry looked and saw she had been sitting on four eggs. The fence had to go up. The turkey has not returned. Fortunately we have been told that the season is early enough and she will be able to lay more eggs.…

The Beavers Remain – But Still Hidden in Their Lodge

  • Post published:04/11/2012
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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…

Seed Starting

  • Post published:03/31/2012
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It seemed a little early but on March 6th I started some seeds indoors. Now, three weeks later it seems like it might have been totally unnecessary. I have neighbors who tilled sections of their garden and have already planted a number of cold hardy plants: lettuces, spinach, snap peas, carrots and beets. Who can gauge the risks in times like these? I might have been too cautious in starting my seeds, but my neighbors may have been…