Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
As we continue with another drought-ridden Spring, the desire to plant is tempered against the need to water what we have planted. But there are always commitments that we make in advance and that is what I did back in mid-March when I decided to buy Christmas tree seedlings from Musser Forests and start my […]
You can never tell what will grab the imagination of a client. An activity that you consider silly others will embrace as essential. Such has been the case with the grassheads exercise I did a at Ann’s Place. While everyone happily took their bald babies home, I had no idea that a few would bring […]
You can never tell how well (or badly) a horticultural therapy will be received. My last session on growing an early kitchen spring garden maxed out with a baker’s dozen of clients who crammed around the table. It appeared that some just came not expecting what to get out of the day, but the idea […]
The moment Juana and I stepped off the plane from Florida, we realized that we were not in the tropics anymore: The temperature was 50 degrees less than what we had become used to and the early green of southern dogwoods and oaks were replaced by the skeletons of their northern relatives. This mattered little, […]
Sometimes a gardener feels like Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day constantly repeating actions done the day before. Perhaps it is just a sign of age that time appears to quicken but today was such as day for me as I went outside to get wood, tidy up and take a last glance at […]
We must have done something really bad in the Northeast and even worse in my home town as Ridgefield seems to be the epicenter of nasty weather events over the last two years. We had just gotten over Sandy and had 100% power restored in the town when we got word that a Nor’easter was […]
When I went outside this morning for the paper you wouldn’t have guessed that a Frankenstorm with the friendly name of Sandy is barreling down to whack the Northeast. Early morning in Ridgefield was partly sunny at a warm 54 degrees with the smell of rotting leaves being blown around by a light wind. With […]
The last few weeks have been difficult in the garden as relentless rain and cloudy skies have kept everything damp and difficult to work on. Grass can’t be cut, leaves raked, and any activities are a damp and depressing mess. While this weather is lousy for people, it is great for mushrooms as has been […]
It’s been over two months since I last blogged and it hasn’t been for lack garden tasks. It seemed that whenever I sat down to write, something came up. In the last few months I have run a number of therapy classes on pounding flowers, carnivorous plants, fall salad seedlings, flavored vinegars and invasive plants. […]
One of the wondrous things about gardening are the surprises that emerge every day, at a moment’s notice. I just noticed that some bug is stripping the leaves on a viburnum and I am waging a one-man war on the slugs and armyworms that are eating my broccoli. These type of surprises are expected in […]