November is often when the first snow of the season falls. If we are lucky, all the leaves have fallen from the trees leaving a barren landscape that is ready for a coating of white. Some years, it comes early covering leaves that still need gathering. Regardless, it is temporary as it often (though not […]
Indian summer
The phrase “Indian Summer,” is often misused in late October or early November after an unseasonably warm day. To be accurate, an Indian Summer is when it becomes unseasonably warm AFTER very cold weather or a hard frost. The Old Farmers’ Almanac has even more stipulations but I think it goes a bit far. I […]
First frost
The first frost of the season usually arrives in October though the year we arrived in Connecticut it came in late September; in some years it came as late as mid-November. October though is when the growth in the garden slows to a crawl as the leaves quicken to abandon their hosts. The tips of […]
Black and blue berries
This growing season continues to mete out surprises. Last week the golden rod was blooming and this week the blackberries started to arrive in the middle of blueberry season. Not that Charlotte was complaining. Yesterday we went to pick blueberries and she noted, “Pompi (her name for me,) there are blackberries to pick!” Before I […]
Rainy holidays
Though Memorial Day is the first unofficial day of Summer, it often does not live up to its billing. This weekend has been like that as yesterday’s relative warmth has been eclipsed by today’s rain and chill. Biting rain propelled by brisk winds have created a gray day where indoor activities are pursued instead of […]
Spring awakening
Getting off the plane from Phoenix on Friday morning it seemed as if we entered a different world. The morning was cool and wet rather than the hot and dry weather we had become used to over the prior week. But the most remarkable thing about our return was the transformation of the landscape. Prior […]
Two cultures
Being on a north-facing cliff, I have always recognized that our gardens reside in a unique micro-climate. Everything emerges late compared to gardens in town or even a few hundred yards up the block, which is more southerly facing. But our recent visit to the Ramsey Canyon in Arizona has really shown us the incredible […]
Starting seedlings
April is the month when you are unsure about how and when you will start your seedlings. The desire to get an early jump on the year is governed by the weather and the temperature of the soil. Often I start a few flats of greens in March with the hope of transplanting them into […]
Spring snow
When the rhyme, “April showers bring May flowers,” comes to mind, I’m sure that snow showers were not considered when it was written. But that is what happens all too often in New England at the beginning of the month. This has been a vacillating season with snow coming and going all too often. Last […]
A squirrel, fox and groundhog
Spring may be tardy this year with over a foot of snow still coating the ground. Prior to the early March storms, we were hoping for early flowering bulbs making their way through the frozen soil. That is unlikely for at least a few weeks as the piles of shoveled snow have melted and then […]