Fresh peaches from a nearby orchard . . . . . . and sweet ripe blackberries, picked from a neighbor’s garden patch are this summer’s consolation prizes.   We’ve very little to harvest in our own gardens now.   The few plants left in the greenhouse are providing enough tomatoes and Melrose peppers for snacks.  Tiny cucumbers have appeared
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Garden photography has its challenges, not the least of which is the light.   Golden sunlight at dawn and dusk turns everything a rich, warm tone, which is lovely
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It’s the time of year when all things seem possible.  I dream of verdant growth, record harvests, perfect blossoms, and fruit unmarked by insect damage
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The common violet is one of my favorite spring flowers. It’s fragrant, pretty, tough and prolific. What’s not to love? This particularly sturdy violet pushed its way through a layer of sand deposited a couple weeks ago when the creek overran its banks and flooded the crossing we use to access the back fields. A
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This winter’s tatsoi (mustard greens) crop is in full bloom in the greenhouse. The leaves are no longer yummy, but I’ve left the plants to
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Champion collards, planted in the greenhouse September, 2007. Collards, like most brassicas, are biennial – that is, they go to seed their second year. Collards
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Lately, everywhere I turn, everything I do, I see pairings. Nature all around me is courting and matching up. Maybe it’s just the season, spring springing and all that. Maybe it’s because I’ve written a few romances and my mind is attuned to that sort of thing. Whatever the case, spring seems to be the
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I’ve never cared much for mustard greens. The canned variety just tastes nasty, I think. The fresh ones gathered in the pasture when I was
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January 3 overnight low – 14 degrees. January 5 high – 71 degrees January 6 high – 73 degrees January 7 high – 71 degrees
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I’ve been using floating row covers in the greenhouse lately to add an extra level of protection on cold nights. Jugs of water around what
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