Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
While December has been colder than normal and we have had a couple of snows, the last being nearly 4 inches, there are still harvests to be had from the garden. I have two large cold frames holding a half dozen different cold-tolerant greens. Carrots, Swiss chard, and sorrel are on their own as are […]
It’s time to harvest the tomatoes. I can’t wait any longer as I must plant the Fall and Winter greens in the two cold frames, one of which is full of mutant tomato plants. Anyway, I don’t think the fruits will ripen much more on their own as the chill of autumn arrives. This has […]
It has been a great year for hydrangeas. The blooms have been numerous and large. As we start to cut them down for the season, Olivia wants to make her own bouquet to bring home to her mother. I think she has done a wonderful job.
With the girls away on vacation, Juana and I have a better than even chance to harvest and save some of the berries for Winter. While the blueberry bushes are now exhausted, the blackberry bushes are heavy with fruit, hanging down to almost the breaking point. We haven’t picked for a few days and are […]
Today, the girls spent the morning working and pulling fruits and vegetables from the garden. The blueberries have perhaps one more harvest left but the blackberries have come in strong with many more on the way. Their tiny fingers are much more adept at picking berries than are mine. Charlotte is more partial to blueberries […]
With a few hot and rainy days behind us, the blueberry bushes are bursting with ripe fruit. Charlotte and Olivia are keen to help me (and themselves) and Juana harvest this new bounty. It’s early in the morning and there is still a little shade on the bushes. We want to get the picking done […]
Arriving home after a long trip, there is lots to do in the garden. Luckily I have my two granddaughters, Charlotte and Olivia, to help me out. The first thing we do is to harvest the snap peas and beans. Juana tried to keep up with the harvest, but there were too many plants growing […]
After a cool and cloudy May, June has exploded with growth and harvests. For most of May, asparagus, greens and rhubarb were the only things we were pulling from the grounds. But with a shot of heat, rain, and sun, my other plants are catching up. The most anticipated (at least among my grandchildren) is […]
It’s another year where we will start serving up Spring salads from the garden. I had pre-seeded both cold frames last Fall. Both had been doing well though December delivering delicious salad greens. But by mid-January a combination of extended temperatures in the teens and a rodent invasion basically stopped the harvests. Leaving for Florida, […]
In New England, you never feel that Winter has arrived until it snows. Cold is always expected but until the brown and gray ground is covered with the first blanket of clean, white snow, Winter is just a date on the calendar. A layer of snow on the ground is proof that the temperature is […]