‘YOU’RE LIKE A CHIPMUNK,’ my friend Anna said the other day as I stirred my second big pot of tomato sauce to stash in freezer containers (no, not my cheeks) for the winter. While more in-the-moment types are enjoying just-picked slices of tomato and basil, I’m putting my fresh ones by, stocking up, loading the larder.  Up today on the chopping block: the ingredients of more sauce, and soup.  Welcome to Food Fest 6, a collaboration with the Dinner Tonight blog…now time to stir the pot:

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A WAY TO GARDEN turns 5 months old this week, and as if to celebrate it reached a milestone: our first 100-comment post (about equal to the number of frogs who share the place with me). No-no surprise for me that it was the post about Garden No-No’s (aka The Complaint Dept.) that took the prize. Thanks to your generosity, we’re about to record our 3,000th comment over all…who will be the one?

WHILE ALL AROUND THEM ARE LOSING THEIR HEADS, the tallest perennials in the garden are just coming into their own.  No need for cutbacks; these big boys of the late-summer and autumn garden are pleasingly fresh looking, a striking counterpoint to some earlier stars who are plum tuckered out by now. Read more

THE FIRST COLD NIGHTS AND FIRST FLAME-COLORED LEAVES stir a mixed well of emotions: “Thank goodness,” I think, and then, “Why can’t it last?” Frankly, I am as burned out as my garden at this point, and will be happy to be free of from twice-weekly mowing and lusty weeds. I say that, however, as someone whose best gardening season is yet to come. Some hints of it are showing already: Read more

TODAY WE HONOR YAM KAAX, THE MAYAN GOD OF CORN, AND HIS AZTEC COUNTERPART, CINTEOTL. We celebrate the high-summer harvest of one of our favorite, and most important, crops. Welcome to Food Fest 5, a collaboration with my dear friend Deb and the Dinner Tonight blog. Come dig in and learn some kernels about corn, have a portion of Southern Corn Pudding, perhaps, and be sure to leave behind some recipes or tips of your own while you’re here.

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SOMETIMES I WONDER WHERE I GOT ALL THESE CRAZY PLANTS. This one, for instance, which just started blooming in the front yard. What the heck is it? Read more

WELCOME TO TOMATO WEEK, A CELEBRATION OF (GREEN?) TOMATOES. Deb at the Dinner Tonight blog and I are glad to have you with us for Week 4 of our ongoing food festivals, but not as glad as I would be (dare I say?) to see a red tomato show up. Yes, I’m  still waiting for a ripe fruit.  Good thing I’ve been gardening long enough to cultivate extraordinary patience. OK, I’m done complaining; let’s get on with the event.

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IT’S A SIMPLE QUESTION: DO YOU LIKE TO MOW? Unless, of course, like me you have a love-hate thing going with mowing. I am always irritated that there’s mowing to be done. But I am also always relieved, since “mowing to be done” means legitimate escape from things like writing, which sometimes has me circling the airport, not landing the plane, if you know what I mean. Mowing: Now there is something with immediate, tangible results.  You cut the grass blades, and they look cut. You try to write and, well, sometimes you don’t get any words.  So tell me, do you like to mow? Going out to mow now…

AT LAST COUNT THE SEDUM VARIETIES HERE NUMBERED 12ish. Who’s the fairest of them all? Might just be the lady ‘Matrona,’ a blur of whose gorgeous blue-green leaves you see above behind its pinkening flowers.

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I KNOW, TOMATO WEEK (FOOD FEST 4) doesn’t start till Thursday, when Deb from Dinner Tonight and I will be at it again, hoping to encourage you to share your tomato recipes and tips and links as you have for Pesto, Cukes & Zukes and Green Beans the previous Thursdays.  But I got started a little early, which I’m blaming on Amy Goldman, the heirloom seed preservationist and gardener and cook (and near-neighbor) whose new book is indescribably juicy and luscious…and who I have an inclination might just stop in on Thursday to join us, too.

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• Who's Gardening Here?

  from martha to just margaret
  I was so blessed to visit and document many of the nation’s finest homemade gardens for 15 years for ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ first as its garden editor and then as editorial director for the company. The list of places we were proud to publish included my own upstate New York home a few years back. Take a tour of how it looked then. Want to know more about me? Or read what Anne Raver said in June in The New York Times, calling A Way to Garden “the best (garden blog) I’d ever seen.” Adrian Higgins of The Washington Post was similarly kind. And so was Martha, on her TV show.
  
  

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• Why Do You Garden?

  
  One of the most popular questions at A Way to Garden: Why do you garden? A bunch of us answered in a stream of comments, and there's great other stuff on the Forums. Just in case you'd like to tell us why, too (or have a good read about what makes the rest of us tick).
  
  

• December Garden Chores

  All based on my Zone 5B Berkshire/Hudson Valley location; adjust accordingly.
  
  THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES: Gardeners, like their gardens, benefit from a bit of dormancy, and the time is upon us. Enjoy it. Seed-catalog season gets going in earnest later in the month, so early December is prime time to inventory leftover seeds and store them in a cool, dry place. A friend stashes his in the fridge, first sealing in zipper bags with the air squeezed out, then placing the bags in a sealed plastic box rather than have strays get lost among the yogurt and mayonnaise.
  
  Toss those more than a few years old and make a list of what you’ll need. Not that any act of self-control stops me from ordering yet another gourd or pumpkin variety, or some oddity I simply must have or perish. My list of favoirite sources is in the right-hand sidebar of every page here.
  
  Position your seed-shopping easy chair to point out the window, where there are still riches: berries, bark, new birds. Did you join Project Feederwatch yet?
  
  Mole patrol continues: I am still setting out mousetraps under boxes, buckets or cans in the gardens where I see any activity, to rid them from my beds and borders.
  
  HOUSEPLANTS
  
  KEEP AN EYE OUT for signs of houseplant pests like spider mites, mealybugs, and scale insects. If tackled before they get out of hand, nonchemical methods are usually successful: a simple shower, insecticidal soap spray (as directed on label) or with the most tenacious (like mealybugs) sometimes an alcohol swab and Q-tip. Overwatering is the biggest risk to houseplants in winter…go easy.
  
  START A POT OF PAPERWHITES in potting soil or pebbles and water, and stagger forcing of another batch every couple of weeks for a winterlong display.
  
  WAKE UP WELL-RESTED amaryllis bulbs by watering once, placing in a bright spot, and waiting for them to respond. If no dice in a couple of weeks, water again…but don’t repeatedly water an unresponsive bulb or it may rot. It will tell you when it’s ready for action.
  
  TREES & SHRUBS
  
  CLEAR TURF OR WEEDS from the area right around the trunks of fruit trees and ornamentals to reduce winter damage by rodents. Hardware cloth collars should be in place year-round as well.
  
  BE EXTRA-VIGILANT cleaning up under fruit trees, as fallen fruit and foliage allowed to overwinter invites added troubles next season.
  
  ALWAYS BE on the lookout for dead, damaged, diseased wood in trees and shrubs and prune them out as discovered. This is especially important before winter arrives with its harsher weather, where weaknesses left in place invite tearing and unnecessary extra damage. Remove suckers and water sprouts, too.
  
  VEGETABLE, FRUIT & HERBS
  
  FLOWER GARDEN
  
  PROTECT ROSES FROM WINTER damage by mounding up their crowns with a 6- to 12-inch layer of soil before the ground freezes. After all is frozen, add a layer of leaf mulch to further insulate.
  
  

• Brief but Juicy

  ultimate garden no-no’s
  WHEN SOMEONE ASKED in a comment about my point of view on using landscape fabric, the fuse was quickly lit: NO! I said. NO! I’ve rounded up some no-no’s we’ve posted collectively so far, but I bet by now there are a few more things to bitch about. Grab a lawn chair and a cold drink, and we can fester together. Sure beats weeding (which ought to be a garden no-no).
  
  lose anything lately?
  THE SAYING GOES THAT a thing of beauty is a joy forever. I guess “forever” in this case is in the mind’s eye. My darling, oldest bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) went down for the count in July, or at least half of it did, and I had already seen the death knell for a couple of my 10 crabapples. Jeez.
  
  true love, really
  LOOK, I HAVE A THING for frogs. Call it my little fetish. An issue. Whatever. My general obsession notwithstanding, I’ve finally met THE ONE FOR ME.
  
  hail the stewartia
  I LIKE PLANTS THAT EARN THEIR KEEP. By that I mean they do more than a week or two of showing off; they look good in more than a single moment, or season. The small-ish to medium trees in the genus Stewartia are a good bet if that’s the kind of multi-season interest you are looking for. Sound good?
  
  more, more, more clematis
  WHEN I SEE ‘POLISH SPIRIT’ CLAMBERING up and through the golden Chamaecyparis in late spring-into-summer, I realize I have a serious Clematis shortage around here. Not in the Chamaecyparis, specifically, but in lots of other places where things look a little dull. I’ve got a penchant for growing vines up and over otherwise-dull shrubbery, you see.
  
  can-do pruning
  REPEAT AFTER ME: I can prune. I can prune. If you follow this simple method for starters, your woody plants will thank you.
  
  the ‘other’ peonies
  JUNE WAS PEONY TIME, the big raucous kind of peony time, but just before that another kind of peony you might want to consider adopting did its subtler, wonderful thing.
  
  which lilac to plant?
  SO MANY LILACS, so little space. Browse a glossary of some of my favorites before you shop—maybe you’ll like them, too.
  
  non-blooming peonies?
  Did your peonies not cooperate—was there not a good crop of flower buds, and you don’t know why? This came up on the Forums, and here’s the dish.
  
  twist-off ticks
  I AM COMING IN everyday with at least a tick or two on me; not embedded, thankfully, so far, but it's only a matter of time. But I am prepared. Are you?
  
  anything but forsythia
  I guess I have a thing against forsythia…even though I have several specimens of it along the fringes of my property. But there are better choices for spring color among shrubs.
  
  surprise (avian) visitors
  If you make a garden for birds, or even plant a crabapple or two (or ten), you never know who’ll show up.
  
  magnolias to love
  THEY’RE MEMORIES NOW but I couldn't garden without magnolias. Want to know more about the queen of the spring-blooming trees?
  
  order in the garden
  I AM LABELING my plants, I am. As memory fades, out comes the label machine, just in the nick. Saved by the Dymo. You can be, too.
  
  

• Buried Treasure

  I NOTICE THAT BLOGGING results in some rich but buried treasure: great stuff in a comment thread you may not see; interesting topics on the forums that perhaps you haven't visited.
  
  Subjects ranging from feeding and pruning Hydrangeas and pruning clematis, to entertaining (read: ranting) lists and lists of garden no-no’s (not just mine!).
  
  Pick a click, and enjoy. Better yet, CHIME IN yourself. Up in the nav bar…that's right, GO FOR IT: our Q&A FORUMS.
  
  

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• Your First Visit? Take a Walk.

  
  IF YOU MISSED THE UNFOLDING OF SPRING in our garden, take a series of walks with us, one in April and another in May, even if it means being in the past and out of the moment. I know, not very Buddhist, but it will help you get acquainted. Or just browse through our photo galleries of favorite plants now gone by. Enjoy.
  
  

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• Reference

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• Sources

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• Compost, Compost, Compost

  I am as proud of my compost heap as I am of any part of my garden. It is the archaeological record of my garden past; it is the stuff from which future gardens will arise. Composting’s also a topic I read a lot about, and lately it's from sources like these: Garden Organic, a 50-year-old British charity; Journey to Forever (don’t worry, not some into-the-bunker survivalist cult); and the vast Cornell Composting web archive. Dig in.
  
  
  
  

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• Sharp Tools

  frost calculator
  Global-warming black humor aside, gardeners need to know their frost dates—the first and the last in an “average” year—to be able to plan when to sow or transplant what. The frost-date calculator from Victory Seed Company’s website helps.
  
  the mother list
  Thanks to Tony Avent, plant hunter and proprietor of Plant Delights Nursery, for sharing the list of all lists—every horticultural link you’d need or want.
  
  a gardener's best friend
  You are not alone. The national network of cooperative extension services is a lifeline for gardeners; find yours and join now. No excuses!
  
  fairest weather
  The weather is key, but forget those commercial sites and TV channels. Ask the all-knowing NOAA instead. At least our government is doing one thing right.
  
  

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