Spring is Springing – Indoors
Twenty degrees outside and breezy, but spring is springing - indoors. These beautiful paper whites were a bonus from Brent and Becky's Bulbs last fall. For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.
Rain Barrels, Rain Gardens and Raised Beds
We finally got rain. Hallelujah! And more was promised, but it does not seem to be arriving, at least not in the amounts I was hoping for. The lesson seems to be that we need to be always prepared for flood or drought. The question is how do we do that. Rain barrels, rain gardens and raised beds can help us to moderate, though not eliminate, both of those problems. Rain barrels that collect the rain from our…
April Showers and May Basket
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.
Two Ways to Stretch the Seasons
In March we had May weather, and now we are having March weather. We gardeners know that the weather is always unpredictable but this year Mother Nature is really keeping us on our toes. I confess. I could not resist the lure; I direct-seeded greens in my Early Garden during that March heat wave. Then what? The soil was cool enough that my seeds, radishes and lettuces, did not germinate very quickly. By the time they did the…
April Has Been the Cruelest Month – Almost Over
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!
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…
Epimedium or Fairy Wings or Yin Yang Huo
Epimedium or, yin yang huo. Take your pick. This spring blooming ground cover: hardy, delicate, beautiful. For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.
Feed the Living Soil – Soil Test Needed
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…
Record Breaking Heat Brings More Bloom
I hope you can see how yesterday's heat - 88 degrees - is making the forsythia bloom as it never has before. We also have a lot of wind which is drying, but blossoms keep coming. All of a sudden the wild cherry trees in the chicken yard have burst into bloom. Last year we gambled on this weeping cherry, bought at Home Depot where I do not buy many plants, and it came through the winter and…
Wishing for Warm April Showers
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…