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…
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! 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!
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.
Saturday more I went down to Greenfield for Winterfare - always a delcicous success. People in our area are so happy to be able to buy fresh vegetables directly from farmers, even in winter. Of course, this winter farmer's market isn't limited to vegetables. Real Pickles had a booth selling - Pickles! Sunrise Farm was selling maple syrup, Apex Orchards was selling apples, Warm Colors Apiary was selling honey and other bee products, Barberic Farm was selling lamb…
Jono Neiger of the Regenerative Design Group which has its office in Greenfield, spoke to the Greenfield Garden Club a couple of weeks ago. His inspiring talk explained how gardeners could mimic nature, and require less work and inputs to create a garden that would give us what we desire out of our garden and what wildlife and pollinators require. He gave some very specific advice beginning with the suggestion that vegetable gardens, and gardens that need…