Over at Garden Rant Mary Gray's guest rant bewailed the state of many school grounds, all concrete and lawn. I am very familiar with the school grounds that she describes, but I feel fortunate that the children in our small town have a very different school experience. The Heath Elementary School, which opened in 1996, was built in a pasture surrounded by woodland. When the school bus pulls off the dirt road onto the driveway it passes a…
The harvest has begun, but with the help of Mother Nature. Last night we had our first garden fresh salad, mostly with these self-seeded lettuces in the vegetable garden. The spinach in the Herb Bed needs thinning (and weeding) and I added the thinnings to the salad. The Red Sails lettuce directly seeded in the new Front Garden is also ready to be thinned. All of a sudden it is really taking off. I love being able to…
I am writing this on Sunday, just before I set off for adventures in Norwalk, Connecticut and New York City - lots of gardens everywhere - so my Monday Record is a little early. I am afraid some of my more ephemeral blooms will not longer be lovely on Bloom Day, so here is Epimedium rubrum. I keep promising myself I will divide it, but no action so far. I thought this was a cut leaf bleeding heart, that is…
The main task for these past few beautiful days has been setting up the new garden in front of the house which gets protection from the wind, and sun early in the season. I thought I could plant hardy vegetables here and start my harvest early. Once again I used the lasagna method of starting a new garden. First I put down old chick house cleanings in lieu of finished compost. We did not get chicks last year…
The city is left behind. I'm home and the first trip out to visit friends we see a porcupine in front of the house eating an apple falled from our old apple tree. We had a delicious lunch of homemade tomato juice (with a few additions) carrot and parsnip soup, little chicken salad sandwiches and tiny fruit tarts. One of the best things about having a wonderful lunch at this house is having a tour of the vegetable…
This Columbus Day weekend the dawns were beautiful, if only briefly, but it was a nice change after a cold, dreary, damp week. This is the view from our bedroom window. The long weekend means a short but intense Bake Sale Season. There were bake sales everywhere. Henry took my apple pie down to the Shelburne Falls Area Women's Club Pie Sale, and dodged 6th graders in the parking lot at Avery's. They weren't quite ready to sell, but…
Late blight has infected my tomatoes. Yesterday afternoon I went out to pick more beans and noticed that the single dead tomato branch was now several dead branches on all six of my tomato plants. It is difficult to see in the photo against the straw mulch, but the reality was very clear. If there was any doubt, one look at the tomatoes made it imperative to take instant and radical action. I pulled up all the plants and…
“How’s your garden this year?” This is the question on everyone’s lips this summer, and in my case the answer is “Not good.” I began with the usual good intentions, and even more energy and enthusiasm as I decided to start my own vegetable seedlings and enlarge the garden. My plan was to grow more of my own vegetables than ever, and thus save lots of money on grocery bills. However, we all…
First I have to say the very most important event of the past week was the wedding of my cousin Jay and his beloved Juliet in a beautiful garden in Manchester by the Sea. It was a glorious day and celebration was in the air. Our hotel was hosting three wedding receptions and packed to the rafters with SEVEN groups of wedding guests. Juliet is a Nanny in the classic mode. The wedding guest list was filled with her…