Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
August is the time of year when it seems almost unnecessary to go to the supermarket as our garden produces more food than we can consume. We are awash in berries, greens, beans, tomatoes and cuks. It sometimes gets a little repetitive. “More beans?,” says Juana as I bring in enough for us every evening. […]
To start a new garden is one of my biggest joys. Sometimes there is a bit of trepidation as I ask myself, “Do I really need yet another space to manage?” But as I have aged, a key design criterion is to build spaces that are fairly self-sufficient with minimal need for weeding. So with […]
I often tease my wife Juana about what I call “The Goldilocks Zone” (also referred to by astronomers for the habitable areas of planets around a star) of temperatures that she finds comfortable. It can be maddening as blankets come on and off throughout the year in our bed and clothing the same so that […]
As bleak as the winter and spring have been in the garden, the summer appears to be making up for it. We have long since cut down and dug up all the dead plants, the roses and butterfly bushes, letting the existing perennials and opportunistic annuals take their place. A few, like the fig tree […]
One of my granddaughter Charlotte’s favorite videos now is the wonderful E.B.White story, Charlotte’s Web, which tells the story of how the smart spider Charlotte keeps Wilbur the pig off the dinner plate. One of the major characters of the tale is Templeton, a lazy and eventually corpulent rat who gathers words for Charlotte to […]
We spent a wonderful long weekend in Charleston, S.C., reminded that trees are supposed to have leaves and the grass is green. I spent the prior week working to clean the grounds and bought nearly 4 yards of pine bark chips to cover the beds, which emerged from the snow with only hints of their […]
There are a few signs that Spring has arrived in my yard rather than merely the calendar. We had our first BBQ yesterday dragging the grill through the snow. Two-thirds of the back patio has been cleared off though a persistent layer of ice that is shaded by a short wall of stone is hanging […]
With Spring at my front door, I have always looked forward to an early harvest of wintered-over greens that I had planted in the fall. Kale, Swiss Chard, spinach, Miner’s Lettuce, mustard and the like have been ready for the picking and sampling. Tender sprouts of sorrel are ready to taste and enjoy. These late […]
After a long absence, I’ve returned to giving classes at Ann’s Place. It hasn’t been from lack of desire or planning but from a combination of illness, vacation and bad weather that has kept me away for two-and-a-half months. I decide to start out with an easy exercise in making vanilla but as it takes […]
Well not really. Back in the Nutmeg State after nearly a month in Florida I am typing between shoveling expeditions as we are in the midst of yet another Nor’easter. Apparently after I left for warmer climes, Connecticut like much of the country, had been hit by wave after wave of bad weather. In the […]