Tag: Gardening
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Asparagus Beans
We grow heirloom asparagus beans (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis) also known as Chinese long beans, yardlong beans, snakes beans, and long-podded cowpeas. Ours usually grow 15-18” long, and our greatest success results from erecting an 8-10’ tall “teepee” for the uppity legume vines to climb over the course of the summer. Asparagus Beans Haiku Big…
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Seasonality: Septembering
September 1 should logically be indistinguishable from August 31. But it’s not. Seasonality along the Adirondack Coast is irrefutable, and possibly no season-to-season transition more apparent than the one we’re now experiencing. “Septembering” is neither sly nor subtle. Hot and humid yesterday. Crisp and chilly today. There are nuances aplenty to anticipate and enjoy in…
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Peaches This Year
Glorious indeed it is to report that our peaches this year are the tastiest I’ve ever grown. Also the biggest, juiciest, sweetest, and IMHO the prettiest. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! — Lewis Carroll I’m chortling in my joy. Imagine, if you dare, the decadence of lifting a sun warmed peach, freshly plucked from the branch,…
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Garden Hod
Have you ever used a garden hod? I no longer recall when I first came across this ingenious garden tool, but I can attest to its indispensable and enduring place in our garden-to-table lifestyle. A garden hod is basically a smarter, better harvest basket. Gather your produce, spray it down with the hose, and let…
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Amish Assistance
We’re grateful to our Amish community for assistance nurturing Rosslyn’s organic vegetable, fruit, and flower gardens; our holistic orchard and vineyard; and sixty acres of landscape. While there’s much to admire about the dedicated women who have planted and weeded, pruned and suckered, nurtured and harvested for us, I’m especially grateful for their petroleum-free, exhaust…
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Woodchucks & Cucumbers
Ever wonder how cucumbers would taste for breakfast? One of the joys of vegetable (and fruit) gardening is the opportunity to try new things, dip into the abundance in unusual ways, and experiment with combinations of ingredients and unusual pairings. As it turns out, a handsome woodchuck — a North American marmot (Marmota monax), if I’m…
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Poppy Poems
Poppy poems! At last I’m bundling a batch of verse celebrating my favorite blooms. Poppies. Papaveraceae. Coquelicots… Most of these poppy poems started out as Instagram posts inspired, at least in part, by daily snapshots of poppies blooming in Rosslyn’s gardens. For this reason I’ll include links at the end of the poem if you’re…
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Mulberry Meditation
There is much to admire in a mulberry tree.The handsome habit and height. The luxurious leaves. The shady canopy.The concentrated blackberry-esque burst of inky sweetness. While you may have a fuzzy notion about mulberry wine,…
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First Peaches
It’s but a month and a day after Independence Day and we’re eating our first peaches of the season. Eureka! So memorable a moment each summer when I savor the first bites of the first peaches of the season that I’ve begun to wonder if we might need to create a floating holiday. It’s hard…
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Summer Supper Prequel
Sometime summer supper comes in springtime because the asparagus are perfect and I just can’t wait for summer. Or I want to jumpstart summer. Or… Let’s just call this a summer supper prequel and get in with the eye candy! Because asparagus season just happens to have coincided with the decadence of fresh lobster meat.…
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Catherine Seidenberg: Artist
I wrap my digital arms around friend, neighbor, artist, and gardener extraordinaire Catherine Seidenberg for this memorable birthday gift. Thank you! Catherine’s whimsical black and white watercolor of Rosslyn’s front facade offers a chance to reflect on the past decade Susan and I have spent reinvigorating this quirky property and an invitation to daydream about its future. The…
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How to Apply Tanglefoot to Trees
It’s Tanglefoot time again. Actually, we’re late — really late! — due to this rainy, soggy summer. But better late than never, especially since I’ve begun to spy the first tent caterpillars of the 2017 season. First a quick refresher. A little over a year ago I explained how to use Tanglefoot and I explained why…