The Daylily Bank is beautiful in August. It is also the best idea we ever had for this steep bank right in front of the house. I started planting it from the top down and it took about three years to cover the whole bank. And there is still room for these clumps to continue to increase. For the most part I have chosen gentle colors of pale yellow, peach and pink, but some red crept in I…
Intervale: n. Regional. A tract of low-lying land, especially along a river. The Intervale Center in Burlington, Vermont has three goals: to enhance the viability of farming; to promote the sustainable use and stewardship of agricultural lands; and to ensure community engagement in the food system. Last weekend my husband and I went to Vermont to visit some of my cousins who grew up on a dairy farm in Charlotte. My father also worked on that 300 acre farm…
The view from the bedroom window shows that I have been working out in the Lawn Beds, and not picking up after myself, and the arrival of the first hard frost. The weather warmed up but there was another lighter frost on October 13. The gingko trees are slowly turning gold, color has nearly all left the rest of the distant landscape. Since the 13th we have had about 7 inches of rain in three rainfalls. There has…
When I arrived last Thursday afternoon the scene at the school gardens of the Discovery School at Four Corners were enjoying controlled chaos. Several teachers were staying after school to divide and pot up perennials from the butterfly garden. “Is this Echinacea or a rudbeckia?” one teacher asked and her spade bit into the center of the clump. “Don’t pot the dill! It an annual,” another shouted. “Are you sure these are all bee balm?” another asked…
Flaming autumn leaves have all fallen, but our sunset provides continuing flame. For more sky views click on Skywatch Friday.
While visiting cousins in Vermont I made a stop at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington, Vermont. As a retired librarian I always stop in to visit libraries along the way. The Fletcher Free Library was founded in 1873 by Mrs. Mary L. Fletcher and her daughter, beginning with $20,000. Half was to be spent on books and half for an endowment. What a wise woman Mrs. Fletcher was to know that a library would need that ongoing…
The weather has been kind to those of us who procrastinate and go about fall clean up in the garden with a little less energy than we once had. Right now I am buckling down and in the midst of working through my to-do list. I got an early start in the vegetable garden in late September. I pulled out finished squash and bean plants and put all that biomass in the compost bin. All the empty…
Recently I was sent a pair of Honey Badger Garden Gloves to try out. These gloves are made by a small company in Atlanta, Georgia. Before they sent them they asked if I preferred to have the 'claws' on the right hand or the left hand. I chose to have them on the right hand, my dominant hand. This offer came fairly late in the season but I still had a whole long peony bed to clean out.…
The UMass Extension Garden Calendar for 2015 is now available. This excellent, and beautiful, calendar contains excellent information about garden chores throughout the year. Reminders of when to plant, when to mulch, when to prune, when to fertilize and much more. On some days you will get information about which plants attract pollinators, definitions of words like 'layering," and transplanting advice. I appreciate the fact that the low gloss paper takes my own notes very easily. The opening…
It is not widely known but I was crowned the Garlic Queen at the Heath Fair this year. It is only right that I was crowned by Rol Hesselbart, who gave me my first garlic cloves to use for planting. Hesselbart has been growing garlic and and saving the best bulbs to use as seed for many years. The bulbs he gave me were easily twice as big as the garlic you usually buy at the supermarket. It…