Spring Symposium at Frontier High School

  • Post published:02/22/2013
  • Post comments:3 Comments

Douglas Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in our Gardens, one of the best books ever written on how the food web works in our gardens, is coming to our part of the world. He will be the keynote speaker at the Annual Western Massachusetts Master Gardeners Association Spring Symposium scheduled for Saturday, March 16 at Frontier Regional High School in South Deerfield. In his book Tallamy powerfully and engagingly explains how important…

What is Winter For?

  • Post published:02/20/2013
  • Post comments:5 Comments

Winter is for time with 16 year old grandson Rory. And sledding. And bowling. And movies. And philosophical, economic and history conversations. Whew! For more (almost) Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.

Snowdrop Mystery

  • Post published:02/18/2013
  • Post comments:1 Comment

                                I have never forced snowdrops before, so I decided to experiment. Early in November I got my late order of bulbs from Brent and Becky's Bulbs.  Some of them went in the  ground, but I potted up some tulips, my paper whites, and a few of the snowdrops. I left them all out  in the unheated Great Room. All of the indoor…

Winterfare, Winter Farmer’s Markets, Good Food

  • Post published:02/17/2013
  • Post comments:1 Comment

I just attended my sixth Winterfare ! got to do my small part, giving a talk about the basics of extending the growing season, but mostly I just enjoyed the crowds, visiting with people I haven’t seen in a while and marveling at all the fresh produce that is available in February in Franklin County. Of course I shopped, too. Carrots, onions, salad greens, apples and salad toppers, a flat of arugula that I can snip over the…

Bloom Day February 2013

On this Bloom Day the ground is covered with snow and the plow drifts are still  substantial. My indoor blooms are modest. These paper whites, a bonus from Brent and Becky's Bulbs, have been blooming for over a month. A couple of the stems collapsed, but I cut the blooms off and they continue in a little glass vase. This little pot of primroses was a door prize at the annual meeting of the Greenfield Garden Club. I…

We Have a Winner!

  • Post published:02/14/2013
  • Post comments:0 Comments

We have a winner! Catherine,  who has a new house and will be putting in a new vegetable garden,  wins this useful and instructing blook which comes with best wishes from me and Timber Press!  

Sky Views – Real or Edited on Wordless Wednesday

  • Post published:02/12/2013
  • Post comments:5 Comments

  These amazing photos were sent to my sister-in-law. Real or photoshopped? Could this possibly be real?  Aren't the sun and the moon the same size?  For more mysterious - or not - photos this Wordless Wednesday click here. AND Wednesday is the last day you can enter my GIVEAWAY. For a chance to win a copy of The Speedy Vegetable Garden click here. You have until Midnight Wednesday, February 13 to comment. The winner will be announced on…

Time to Order New Roses – Looking for Hardiness and Fragrance

  • Post published:02/11/2013
  • Post comments:8 Comments

It is time to order new roses, even if I have to look at a wintry landscape for some weeks yet. I looked through the catalogs and agonized but I finally made my decision. I am ordering two roses from the Antique Rose Emporium (ARE) because they send large container grown roses. This makes the shipping costs more expensive but the healthy bushes are such a nice size that the extra cost is worth it to me. Basyes Purple, a…

Satisfying Seed Starting & Seed Swap Sunday

  • Post published:02/10/2013
  • Post comments:7 Comments

Seed catalogs are full of seed starting supplies. There are all kinds of seed trays and flats, peat pots, cow pots, coir pots, tools for making soil blocks,  soilless growing mixes, heating mats and grow lights.  Where to start? If you have never started seeds indoors the real question is what do you need? You need to buy very little because you can use your kitchen recycling of clear plastic salad and vegetable containers, yogurt containers and cardboard…

Speedy Vegetable Garden Giveway

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how fast does your garden grow? The 208 page Speedy Vegetable Garden by Mark Diacono and Lia Leendertz (Timber Press) will give you a whole new view of how fast you can grow something to eat. This means we can keep some food growing all year long, if only on our windowsill. Impatient children will find that they can harvest some greens in less than two weeks. I have grown sprouts in my kitchen…