ABOUT | TOPICS |
Search  Hint
| Newsletter Signup
| rssrssfacebooktwitter

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...]

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...]

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...]

a rose by any other name is stone fruit, & dessert

IN ANOTHER LIFE I WAS A SCIENTIST, but in this one I got all of the curiosity but none of the education. So when the topic of Stone Fruit Week loomed as the theme for Week 4 of the Third Annual Summer Fest recipe swap (see all the links below to more, more, more), my recessive scientist trait flared and I got to asking: What’s a stone fruit, anyhow? Read on for some fun genetic facts (and a recipe for what I refer to—being scientific, you know—as the universal solvent of all fruit desserts, clafoutis batter). [Read more...]

think green: as in leafy, beans and herbs

IAM UP TO MY KNEES IN GREEN(S)—chard, arugula, and beans (sometimes yellow-green!), with kale coming on. I’m also up to my ankles, or at least toes, in deliciously lovable green frogs (Rana clamitans, a native species here). The amphibians seem to be sticking close to my home, where a few backyard pools and ceramic troughs provide respite in dry times. The botanicals do best near my sprinkler, which I’m moving every two hours practically 24/7, hoping to be fresh looking for today: Herbs, Greens and Beans Week of our 3d annual Summer Fest, a giant cross-blog recipe swap featuring nonstop green. Welcome! [Read more...]

summer fest: a vintage look at fresh corn

I WAS TEMPTED TO POST A RECIPE FOR ETHANOL to celebrate Corn Week—Part 2 of our third annual Summer Fest recipe swap—but I don’t have the secrets to ethanol’s success figured out, sad to say. Rather than look forward, then, I’m looking back: with a vintage slideshow of our corn-filled American history, and a homey creamed corn that basically contains (you guessed it) mostly just cream and corn. The recipe’s as American and at least as old as the corn-motif Bennington porcelain pitcher (top) that lives here with me—sharing my view of acres of rolling cornfields. [Read more...]

my august 2010 garden chores

THE SPRINKLERS AND HOSES HERE ARE HANGING upside-down in shrubs and trees, or doing duty at the feet of the tomatoes, despite the fact that August rolled in with temperatures in the low 50s. I know that even with the respite they, like I, am feeling burned out. But onward we shall go. Agreed? [Read more...]

cukes ‘n zukes: size matters, as does pickling spice

LET’S BE FRANK–SIZE DOES MATTER. The naked truth: Smaller is better, or at least when talk turns to cucumbers and zucchinis, as it does today for Week 1 of the third annual Summer Fest, a giant cross-blog recipe swap celebrating garden-fresh flavors. (Get all the links below, just before the comments, and stock up on delicious ideas from around the web.) Before they get away from us and swell to baseball-bat size, it’s time to get picking and get pickling—which is where the spicy part comes in. [Read more...]

3d annual ‘summer fest’ starts wednesday

IAM PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT SUMMER FEST, a cross-blog food event celebrating peak harvest season, will be back for a third year. The event–which relies on you, the readers, to round out each week’s theme by posting your own tips and recipes (or links to them)–will start next Wednesday, July 28, with Cukes and Zukes Week. The details: [Read more...]

get the away to garden newsletter

The Confessional

Some stuff really gets A Way to Garden-ers going. Weigh in, or just lurk while everyone else shares about these hot buttons:

Juicy Bits

name that weed I KNOW A LOT OF PLANTS by their proper names, but my “weeds,” not so much. These great weed-identification websites are helping me finally address them with the proper (dis)respect.

everything old is new VINTAGE 'GREEN' POSTERS from the WPA 1940s look fresher than ever.

shrubs to covet THE OLDER THE GARDEN and I get, the more we love these shrubs.

tomato troubles STAY AHEAD OF tomato diseases with these organic tactics.

the edible garden GROW YOUR OWN 2010: my vegetable seed order.

plants that perform 21 POWERHOUSE PERENNIALS you will love for your garden.

herb-garden help GROWING AND STORING a year of parsley.

berry peachy-keen CLAFOUTIS BATTER how-to (the solution for easy fruit desserts).

rex, rhizomatous and more FANCY-LEAF BEGONIAS, beauties for indoors and out.

crispy refrigerator pickles WHAT IS IT ABOUT refrigerator pickles that makes everybody so happy? Get those cukes ready!

winged victory THE GARDEN as bird habitat: 11 tips on what birds like.

hellebore porn SEXY, EXTRA-EARLY, evergreen shade perennials I can’t garden without.

forum

success with heirlooms CAN GRAFTING TOMATOES help insure a bountiful harvest?

the garden is a showoff 375 VISITORS, 1 BIG RHODIE: spring garden open day, in a virtual visit. How it looked, and also what they all asked.

keeping deer out DEER FENCE: I tried every anti-deer potion and trick till I got real and fenced. Strategies for every garden.

secrets to great tomatoes TOMATO TIPS, seed to harvest: Dozens of tricks for a better crop.

yes, even in dry shade MY 4 TOUGHEST GROUNDCOVERS perform even in the worst spots, like dry shade.

5 great small trees GARDEN-SIZED TREES can’t just be the right scale; they need to have multi-season interest, too. Have room for one of my favorites?

10 underplanting do’s and don’ts MAKING MOSAICS—that’s what I call good underplanting of trees and shrubs with a tapestry of plants. Here’s how.

a ribbeting bullfrog whodunit LET BULLFROGS BE BYGONES? No way. Where did all my biggest frogboys go?

stars of the spring shrubbery BEYOND LILACS (and forget forsythia!), a slideshow of some fine spring shrubs you may not grow (yet).

speeding up the compost DRIVE BY, HIT-AND-RUN composting speeds up the decomposition process while making good mulch quickly. Here’s how.

making a 365-day garden THINK FALL (YES, FALL): Don’t get sucked in by spring-bloomers only at the nursery. A great garden happens 365 days: Shop smart to make it so.

the facts about bulbs SOMETHING UP with a flower bulb? Paltry bloom, or wondering when to feed or cut off the foliage? It’s all here.

must-read garden poem MY FAVORITE POEM celebrates loss, one of gardening (and life’s) realities. It does it with humor: "Why Did My Plant Die?” is a must-read.

12 steps to sanity? HELP FOR GARDENERS: Hi, my name is Margaret, and yes, we operate a 12-Step program here.

orchid rebloom made easy I REBLOOMED MY FIRST ORCHID recently (finally!) and it turns out to be pretty easy going. Here’s how.

my seed-starting 101 WHAT ABOUT SEED-STARTING in general? The A Way to Garden method.

hail the stewartia I LIKE PLANTS THAT EARN THEIR KEEP, that do more than a week or two of showing off. The small-ish to medium trees in the genus Stewartia are a good bet if it’s multi-season interest you crave.

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 IS PEONY TIME, the big raucous kind of peony time, but just before that another kind of peony does 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.