Two parks played an important part in our life recently. Last week our granddaughter Tricia married her high school sweetheart, Brian. The ceremony was held in the beautiful and pastoral Look Park in Northampton at the Theater of Pines. It was a happy moment for all the extended family and there are lots of us on both sides. The bride and groom posed with Granny and the Major,  and Aunts Kate and Betsy, her mother our daughter Diane,…

Encino lettuce is a tender green oakleaf. I always pay attention when a vendor like Rich Pascale of Shoestring Farm urges me to try something. I am really glad I took home a huge head of Encino.  The end of August is getting to be the end of the season for Encino, but now only the beginning of my desire to grow it, or at least eat it. I found seed at Seedway and as far as I can…

Late last week we drove up to Charlotte on Lake Champlain in Vermont. In 1939 my grandfather and Uncle Wally bought a 300 acre farm. Since then four generations have been attached to this piece of land, even though The Farm itself no longer exists. This is the view from Aunt Doris and Uncle Mike's house. It was a rainy and foggy day when we arrived so you can't quite see Lake Champlain, but you are looking down…

  Beans are among the most common vegetable crops. Because they are so common, perhaps we don’t think about the great variety of beans that we can grow and enjoy. Beyond string beans we have shelly beans, long beans, lima beans, garbanzo beans, soy beans, butter beans, and tepary beans. Within each of those bean families are dozens of varieties. There are green beans, yellow wax beans, purple podded beans and splotch podded beans with names like ‘Tongues…

I haven't made too much progress with my Henry garden, but Lilium henryi blooms in the Herb Bed in front of the house where I can see it morning, noon and night. I love the recurved petals, the golden hue and the extravagant filaments and anthers. So elegant. Both these lilies came from Old House Gardens and have done beautifully for several years now.  Only the lilies in the Herb Bed bloom because the deer get to the…

Evelyn J. Hadden helped us get rid of  our lawns with her inspiring book Beautiful No Mow Yards, and now she has found a new place for us to plant a garden - the hellstrip - that area between the street and the sidewalk. I have just started reading Hellstrip Gardening: Create a paradise between the sidewalk  and the  curb. I found the title slightly misleading in that I found  that Hadden's topic opened up  considerably when she…

  Mother Nature whispered new life into our wisteria. By May 21, when the wisteria should have been in bloom, I gave up and took this photo, a closeup, hoping I could see some sign of life. My conclusion? No life. I mourned the shade I had been looking forward  to. Still, I kept watering it. Wisteria is a very thirsty plant. No other incentives. In just over a month life has been restored. The piazza and the…

Dear Friend and Gardener - I am going to have to go back a bit  to give you  the history of the  60 x 40 fenced Potager to explain why my main crop appears to be woodchips. Originally this garden began as a 12 x 12 foot veggie garden tilled and planted before I had my hip operation in 2003 and had to limit (try to limit) my garden activities. After my successful hip replacement I added a…