Tag: Gardening
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Hibernal High
I almost preempted this evening’s post with an update on the rising, rising, rising lake levels. Given the alarming uptick — Lake Champlain has risen approximately 2’ in the last couple of days with waters currently approaching spring flood stage — our attention is focused on meteorological forecasts. But angsty fretting serves no one, so…
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Compost Bin v2.0
Probably about a decade and a half ago we repurposed a shipping crate (that happened to have been fabricated out of tropical hardwood) into a compost bin. We’ve used it for years, far surpassing the value I anticipated at the outset. When the top began to fail, it got pulled aside for eventual repair. Today’s…
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Legume Levity
You know the rhyme about “beans, beans, the musical fruit,…” But do you know that legume levity is not limited to toots and tunes? Today we turn to our favorite upright gardening crop, asparagus beans. We grow heirloom asparagus beans (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis) also known as Chinese long beans, yardlong beans, snakes beans, and…
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Amish Adieu
I mentioned on Friday that our Amish gardeners have wrapped up for the season after six months of caretaking Rosslyn’s gardens, orchards, and grounds. Their cheerful demeanor and their diligent care will be missed, so I bid them a grateful Amish adieu until next spring. To our Amish friends with whom we would struggle to…
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La Pomme d’Amour
Today I return to an idea from recent post, “Intermingling”, but with a Taos twist. What, you wonder, is a pomme d’amour? And what could it possibly have to do with a high desert town in the southwest? Both good questions. And here’s another. Aside from the similarly staged snapshot in the previous post and…
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Hedging
This summer of rain our evergreen hedges have rioted, sprouting enthusiastically, reaching upward and outward, unruly, wayward. Time for hedging! So much water and months of temperate weather have invigorated our well-established yews and hemlocks. As we’re only a week and a half from flipping the calendar from summer to autumn, we decided it was…
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Jumbo Blackberry
This evening, walking to the house before dinner, my niece handed me a blackberry she’d picked in the garden. it was enormous. The biggest I’ve ever seen. And, without thinking, I popped the jumbo blackberry into my mouth. It exploded in flavor, like a fistful of normal sized blackberries, warmed by the sun. An explosion…
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Persimmon Optimism
It’s that time of year again. Midsummer. The garden and orchard are lush. Or mostly lush. A young whitetail deer mowed through many of the green beans, some of the Swiss chard, and a whole lot of spinach a few days ago. And the poppies are struggling. Perhaps over-seeded. Perhaps too much rain. Perhaps both.…
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First Poppies of Summer
Yesterday’s nod to Hemerocallis Fulva, notwithstanding, my floral fondness for Papavers is an open secret. Who am I kidding? It’s no secret at all! So I brimmed with jubilation when Pam surprised me today, with our first poppies of summer. I was euphoric! And so a spontaneous haiku was born… Summer’s First Poppies Summer’s first…
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Hemerocallis Fulva
Hallelujah! The daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva) are blooming. That, THAT is the color and exuberance of early summer. Sometimes known as Fourth of July Daylilies because their bloom time (in the northeast) roughly corresponds to Independence Day, Hemerocallis fulva have begun to erupt into spectacular fireworks-esque blossoms about a week ahead of schedule. Must be the…
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Heaven Can Wait
“Heaven can wait…” while we enjoy the inimitable crunch of June: French breakfast radishes! Remember when I asked if you were ready for radish time? Well, it’s upon us. Lots. Of. Radishes. French breakfast radishes, my favorite, to be precise. That slightly spicy, slightly sweet crunch is sooo satisfying. For breakfast. For lunch. For dinner.…
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