Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
Much like Blanche DuBois, Ted and I have very much relied on the kindness of strangers when we find ourselves in a pickle during one of our road trips. That happened again today when we experienced four flat tires between the two of us. I led off the puncture parade two miles into the day […]
For the eighth time in nine years, Ted and I leave our homes to hop on our bikes for the great unknown. This time it is a cris-cross through northern Vermont with a brief visit to Canada. We will be biking nearly 250 miles over five days on the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail (LVRT) and […]
Blueberry season is overlapping with strawberry this year. It sneaked up on me so fast that I wound up putting up the blueberry netting at the start of the current heat wave. I found out the hard way in past years that without netting, there would be no blueberries for us to eat. For some […]
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 […]
With a cool and wet Spring, I can only hope for warmer days ahead. But the damp and cold did not stop Charlotte and Olivia from harvesting strawberries on the first day of their summer with us. After a trip to the library, they were ready to attack the two strawberry patches and grab as […]
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 […]
Though I spend much of my time with my head in the weeds and hands in the soil, there are many other passive outdoor pleasures that have been forgotten. The last two days have been bright with a warm wind coming from the West. This weather called me to hang out our laundry, which we […]
Olivia and my newly budding amaryllis are two of my most lovely flowers in bloom. We have nearly 20 bulbs in the basement that we start to bring up prior to Christmas, continuing through the early spring. Once the flowers are gone and the weather warms, they are placed outside to refresh themselves for the […]
Given the severity of this Winter, I don’t think I will be starting vegetable seedlings for a while. But that hasn’t stopped me from planting trays of micro- and baby greens. I made the mistake by not first using a grow light as I thought a south-east facing window would provide enough rays. Wrong! After […]
Ice storms are lovely to look at. The shimmering casement they provide to everything they touch transforms the ground into a glistening landscape. A crunch accompanies each step across the snow. Frozen remnants move effortlessly over the skim, making crinkly sounds along their paths. Everything now seems black-and-white. The birds are having a tough time […]