HOW MANY -PEDES DOES IT HAVE, I ASK? CENTI- OR MILLI- OR ??? All I know is that they creep me out, too, my dear friend Andre Jordan–or at least startle me when they come pedaling prehistorically in my direction out of nowhere. “Back!” I say, “back!” But on they pedal, chomping as they go, like this: [Read more...]
doodle by andre: saved by the google!
peppers: short and sweet, or feeling spicy?
IHAVE HAD A ROW OF TINY HOT PEPPERS PINNED to my wall for years, just under the primitive still life of fruit over the dining table. I don’t know what got me started turning chiles into pin-ups, but it’s a habit that has stuck (tee hee), and every so often one becomes the zip in a pot of wintertime chili—or the start of next year’s pepper plants. Welcome to the first extended week of Summer Fest cross-blog recipe swap, where the topic is…you guessed it: Capsicum annuum. Are you feeling sweet, or spicy? [Read more...]
my september 2010 garden chores
THE FALL IS COMING, the fall is coming. Nothing to worry about, Chicken Little, if the garden’s been planned for enjoyment in all seasons…well, unless you slack off now and let those foxy weeds go to seed and gobble up the whole place. No, no definitive “end” to the season lies ahead, and some of us even feel happy about the coming of slightly quieter, more contemplative times where less obvious garden stars can shine. Peak planting and dividing time is coming up now; make that work include some focus on the addition of fall and winter plants to the landscape. [Read more...]
what it is? the oddball biennial, angelica gigas
IT’S THE PLANT THAT MAKES ME THINK OF Mark Knopfler singing “What It Is,” or (going back a little farther) the 1970s expression of greeting and black solidarity. What it is, above? It is Angelica gigas, blooming this last month and showing no sign of stopping anytime soon. [Read more...]
book giveaway: alicia paulson’s magic garden
I CAN BARELY SEW ON A BUTTON, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling a kinship with Alicia Paulson, whose needle and thread seem as natural an extension of her hands—and more to the point, her spirit—as a pruner or long-handed shovel are to mine. With them, she cultivates a charmed botanical world I love getting lost in (lately, she’s making a real garden in her Oregon back yard, too). Meet a treasured pen pal of mine—and maybe win one of two copies of her delicious new book, “Embroidery Companion,” that I bought to share with you: [Read more...]
summer fest to continue into fall fest
THE READERS HAVE SPOKEN! Our Summer Fest cross-blog recipe swap has been so successful the last five Wednesdays, we’re extending it…and will even rename it Fall Fest once summer officially ends (hence the new logo, above, all ready to set into action the week of September 22). If you want to get your recipes or growing tips ready to share, or just whet your appetite, the upcoming topics: [Read more...]
no, not pears: bottlebrush buckeye goes nuts
WHAT’S THAT BIG SHRUBBY PEAR YOU GROW?” people ask when walking through the garden in August onward. That “big, shrubby pear” is no pear at all, but perhaps my favorite shrub, the bottlebrush buckeye, or Aesculus parviflora. And those are its balloon-like seedpods, despite the resemblance to small pears. [Read more...]
there’s more than one way to ripen a tomato
AH, THE JUICY JOY OF A RIPE TOMATO—IF YOU CAN NURTURE ONE unscathed to that perfect shade of orangey-red, that is. This hot, dry summer the chipmunks (who demonically began taste-testing at about half-ripe) drove me to picking early and ripening every fruit indoors—which might not be such a bad thing, it turns out. To mark Week 5 of Summer Fest—Tomato Week—what better topic than how to turn a tomato red? Well, perhaps a recipe for green tomato “mincemeat,” too, just in case our magic fails? That, plus a buffet of delicious links from my Summer Fest recipe swap co-conspirators: [Read more...]
joy in mudville: big frog in a small pond
THE HECK WITH THE GARDEN, all anybody wanted to see Saturday during Copake Falls Day tours was my other green passion: the frogboys (and girls). And no wonder, because look at what posers these guys are. (And also what fakers: pretending to all be pals when we know that frogs can be violent.) A tale of why it’s better to be a big frog in a little pool sometimes in life: [Read more...]











