The last two months have been unseasonably cold, which meant all of my Autumn efforts (at least for now) to harvest greens and herbs from the cold frames this Winter have been for nought. They can take episodic temperature drops into the teens, but not consistent sub-freezing temperatures below 0 degrees. (I am hoping that […]

For me, picking blackberries is one of the more challenging harvests I deal with. Given my color blindness, I am never sure about if the berries are actually ripe. The five clumps, suspended on wires, six feet in the air provide many hiding places. The thick foliage does its best to conceal the treats of […]

It’s Summer Salad time. Everything is coming in gangbusters. In the past few weeks, the tomatoes started to ripen and yesterday we picked over a quart of these multi-colored beauties. Pink Princesses were the first to come in, now followed by Mountain Magic. The Paul Robesons and Orange Bananas are not far behind. We are […]

Mullein is one of my favorite garden volunteers. This biannual starts out as a large rosette of velvet-like green leaves erupting into a tall, colorful yellow spike in the following year. It’s been used as a medicinal herb for centuries for a wide variety of ailments. But I think the coolest use is as a […]

In less than few days, the weather has flipped into high gear and hot temperatures. With this change comes the need to harvest tasty and pungent garlic scapes, which have exploded in the last few days. They are the by-product of hard-neck garlic and pre-date the harvest of the bulbs by about a month or […]

While it is exciting to see everything green up and pop out of the soil, it is with some sadness that I bid farewell to the skeletons of Winter. For the last five months, most of the trees, shrubs, and perennials have been unclothed. Now, they are on the cusp of bursting out with leaves […]

An unexpected snow after a much needed rain greets us this morning. Remaining greenery and tree branches are coated with a thick, heavy layer of snow fattening up each plant and object in the yard. The birds are particularly put off as they no longer have the luxury of snacking on coneflowers, sunflowers, and other […]

Many people think of crocuses as a Spring flower but my favorite ones emerge in Fall. And my most treasured among those is the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus). Dormant through Summer, it pops out of the soil in early-to-mid October with a colorful display of purple leaves, yellow stamens (male) and bright red stigmas (female). […]

Returning home after five weeks in warmer climes, we didn’t know what to expect. It appeared that we missed only one major snow storm. So we were pleasantly surprised on what we discovered. The hellebores, aptly named Lenten Roses, have started to bloom reminding me to remove their desiccated leaves from last year. Not too […]