The sweet smell of decay
The advent of autumn has always been bittersweet as the seasonal burst of a multifaceted patina of foliage is counterbalanced by the sad brown and gray death of its aftermath. I was in between these worlds this weekend as the first of a weekly raking regime started. I’ve always enjoyed raking as it is a […]
Continuing to no-mow a low-grow lawn, part 5
It has been nearly 11 months since the installation of a new septic field “altered” my yard necessitating a rethinking and landscaping of a good chunk of our property. Remarkably it has emerged more lovely than we could have expected. New beds now holding blueberry and blackberry bushes are maturing, the asters and flowering quinces […]
Looking to no-mow a no-grow lawn, part 4
I stopped writing about my fledgling lawn as the grip of winter ceased its growth. It’s been a long haul over the past 8 months since the first bits grass were planted. To recap, over two-thirds of the property that I garden was torn up last August when a new septic system was installed. The […]
A golf course is not a garden
I took Wednesday off to play golf with my son-in-law Alan. He also had the day off and the weather was turning to the better from being forecast as the worst so we figured it would be a good way to hang out together and have some fun. While I used to be an avid […]
Looking to no-mow a low-grow lawn, part 3
A little over a month ago the construction crews and equipment pulled out and the last bit of seeding for my lawn was complete. It was now time to wait. As I have mentioned in prior posts, I am attempting to create a no-mow lawn from five different varieties of fescue seed that will require […]
Looking to no-mow a low-grow lawn, part 2
With Labor Day a recent memory, we are now entering the days between the end of corporate summer and those of the calendar. These are teaser days on the cusp of seasons as they serve up cool nights promising of fall and warm hot afternoons reminding us of what we will soon be missing. Such […]
Breaking up is hard to do
One of the fundamental joys of gardening is to build a new bed. Sometimes its creation is part of a long thought out process, often started in the depths of winter, other times an opportunity or inspiration that presents itself in a serendipitous manner. In either case the new bed becomes a joy to start […]
Bye bye love. Hello bulldozers. I think I’m a-gonna cry-y.
As I mentioned in my prior post, I will be growing a new lawn that will be simple to care for. But before the new lawn goes in, the old lawn and plantings of years past must go out. Or be trampled, crushed, mauled, etc. by the Kubota equivalent of WMDs. To preserve as much […]
Looking to no-mow a low-grow lawn, part 1
As I mentioned in a prior post, my approach to lawn care is decidedly low-tech: manual reel mowers, scythes, etc. This slavish desire to follow a Luddite path, however, does not mean that I hate new technology but rather am a firm believer in the credo, “less is more.” Following along those lines, I have […]
My Tom Sawyer moment
When it comes to gardening I prefer low tech. What this translates to is that I have no electrical or gas-driven tools to help me manage the jungle. An old pair of hedge trimmers quietly snip, snip away at the forsythia. My felcos dead head tulips, day lilies and the odd hosta spike. My scythe […]