Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
For many, the growing season is over. Chilling nights and multiple frosts have done in even the most hearty of vegetables. My harvests are either drying (herbs and flower seed heads), frozen (tomatoes), or put up (blackberry/beach plum jam). But I am able to still pull fresh greens from the garden every day. And with […]
Today we need to pull garlic from the garden. I enlist the girls to help me with this chore after letting them pick (and consume) ripe blueberries from the bushes. Sated, they are happy to assist. Garlic is one of the easiest crops to grow as you just plant the cloves in the fall, drop […]
Back at home, I can see that the garden has been growing unabetted in my absence. The next few days will be spent weeding, trimming, and cutting filling large cans of the excess. I have missed the end of strawberry season, but the blueberries have started to come in. As the girls are away this […]
With a cool and wet Spring, I can only hope for warmer days ahead. But the damp and cold did not stop Charlotte and Olivia from harvesting strawberries on the first day of their summer with us. After a trip to the library, they were ready to attack the two strawberry patches and grab as […]
Given the severity of this Winter, I don’t think I will be starting vegetable seedlings for a while. But that hasn’t stopped me from planting trays of micro- and baby greens. I made the mistake by not first using a grow light as I thought a south-east facing window would provide enough rays. Wrong! After […]
The flurries and cold outside remind me that it’s time to order seeds for Spring. Leafing through the many catalogs I receive, I always come back to Fedco as the best source for my needs. I get out my five bins of seeds (two vegetable, greens, herbs, and flowers) to see what is still viable […]
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 […]