Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
It is incredibly exciting the first time you plant something new and it delivers a fruit, flower, or vegetable you have never experienced. It’s been a while since I have felt this but this weekend my harvest (and consumption) of pawpaws exceeded my expectations. It has been a long wait. I planted three pawpaw trees […]
The tomato season was short. It was too cold, cloudy, and rainy in June for early fruit and too cold in the evenings after Labor Day for the fruit to ripen. Time to pull plants. It was a good season as my use of straw on the underlying beds almost eliminated any diseases that are […]
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 […]
Sunflowers are the most amazing flower that I grow. From a very tiny seed emerges a plant that can reach over 8 feet in height. They tease you for a few months, getting higher and higher with little to show beyond large, pendulous leaves. Then a little head forms that quickly explodes into a large […]
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 […]
I miss working with my clients and the many horticultural-therapy activities I used to lead at Ann’s Place in Danbury. But every so often I get motivated to crack open my old playbook. The other day, I noticed that I had a spare half gallon of white vinegar in the cupboard as well as a […]
It’s berry season and three different types of berries, blue, black, and wine, are ready to pick. Charlotte likes the blueberries the most while Olivia finds the blackberries her favorite. They both like wineberries, often confused with raspberries, but don’t like the prickles along the stems. Regardless, they both are good pickers helping me and […]
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 […]
Day lilies are aptly named for their ephemeral flower. I became all too aware of this upon my return home. When I left 10 days ago, there were just buds. When I returned, there were hundreds of flowers in bloom and even more that were spent. Time to dead-head. It’s important to do this for […]
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 […]