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A Way To Garden

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margaret roach, head gardener

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birthday tradition: a vintage essay by me

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sunnyday500
THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE CELEBRATED BIRTHDAYS with me here on A Way to Garden any of the last four June 10ths know the routine: I show you my favorite childhood photo (above), and then try to make you read an essay that I wrote to mark my 35th. Or you can skip it and just chip in for a new umbrella as a gift. Kidding–since truth be told, what I like about the snapshot is its optimism: Busted umbrella? No worry. To quote Leonard Cohen: There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in. A good mantra, for gardeners and old gals. Here’s to imperfections!

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41 comments
June 10, 2011

comments

  1. Dorothy says

    June 10, 2011 at 6:53 pm

    Happy birthday and thanks for sharing your thoughts.

    Reply
  2. Judy Pelster says

    June 10, 2011 at 7:37 pm

    Happy Birthday!! Enjoy your day and relax. Love the picture.

    Reply
  3. Tara says

    June 10, 2011 at 9:06 pm

    Thank you for the Leonard Cohen quote (he’s one of my favorite song writers). I might just have to borrow it! And Happy Birthday!

    Reply
  4. Peter says

    June 10, 2011 at 9:57 pm

    Hope you’re having a lovely day!

    Reply
  5. carol says

    June 10, 2011 at 10:38 pm

    Happy Birthday Margaret……I hope you had a wonderful day .Thank you so much for your wonderful blog . I love on a busy stressful day to take a moment or two to join you in your garden , it seems so peaceful there .
    Carol

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      June 11, 2011 at 9:22 am

      Thank you, Jennie, Lynn, Tara, Peter, Bettina, Terri, and Carol. How nice of you to stop in and say hello.

      I was happy to get advance gift of rain the two days before my birthday, and more today (the day after), but not so happy to get yet another black-fly bite on my eye on the actual day. Third one this week! Seems like they just love me this year. :)

      Reply
  6. Diane L. says

    June 11, 2011 at 1:50 pm

    :-)

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      June 12, 2011 at 2:12 pm

      Welcome, Diane. Yes, indeed. (But yikes, am I an oldie.)

      Reply
  7. Charlotte says

    June 11, 2011 at 4:27 pm

    I’m sorry I missed your birthday yesterday Margaret. I hope it was a fun filled day full of your frogboys croaking “Hoppy Birthday to you”. :)

    Reply
  8. Fred Gonsowski says

    June 11, 2011 at 8:42 pm

    Belated Happy Birthday Gardening Gal ;-}

    Reply
  9. Deb says

    June 13, 2011 at 12:02 pm

    Dear Margaret:

    Sorry I missed the day, but I don’t want to miss the opportunity to wish wonderful things to an absolutely delightful person! Thanks so much for mentoring us all, and for your great sense of humor. I have learned so much from you, and I know there is so much more to come!

    Reply
  10. Dorothy says

    June 14, 2011 at 11:16 am

    A belated happy birthday and many more. What a delight to find you and Martha. Now I have three women to relate to. Tasha Tudor, Martha Stewart and you. Thank you. (My birthday is 6/9)

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      June 14, 2011 at 12:17 pm

      Thank you, Dorothy, and welcome! And happy just-belated birthday to you as well. Nice to see you here and hope it will be the first of many visits.

      Reply
  11. jeannine says

    June 15, 2011 at 9:05 am

    Happy Birthday! Love the photo & quote. Hope you had a lovely day in your beautiful garden.

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      June 16, 2011 at 9:59 am

      Thank you so much, Jeannine, and welcome. Sweet of you to send your good wishes!

      Reply
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Podcast: Soups, Soups & More Soups

I’VE FOLLOWED a vegetarian diet for decades, but it wasn’t until just a few years ago that I mastered a really good vegetable soup. Now I’m learning variations on vegetable-based soups, plus ones with beans and even ideas for mushroom soups, too–all thanks to Alexandra Stafford and these recipes. (Stream it below, read the transcript or subscribe free.)

https://robinhoodradioondemand.com/podcast-player/6211/vegetable-soup-ideas-with-ali-stafford-november-5-a-way-to-garden-with-margaret-roach.mp3

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awaytogarden

mad gardener, nature addict, award-winning writer & podcaster, rural resident, corporate dropout, creator of awaytogarden dot com and matching book.

Instagram post 2190297402408409324_444552553 Snow day. To be followed by a snow night. #awaytogarden #wavehillchairs
Instagram post 2177779417009402040_444552553 No matter that it was 11F and 17F on mornings this week; my lifelong companions and I are all tucked in, each in our respective offseason spots. Three giant pots of #cliviaminiata that are actually pieces of my long-gone grandmother’s original plant from many, many decades ago, love the offseason bright cold of the mudroom, and get no water till around the new year or so. They need a chill (under 50 but above 35) for about 40 days to trigger timely bloom in late winter/early spring (without it they will bloom whenever, later, like June or even summer). The #alocasia reacts to the cold of the mudroom by shutting down and going dormant and leafless, and then I’ll let it sleep till late winter, when I give it a drink to see if it awakens. That one sleeps and wakes on its own timetable because I do not have a proper spot for it (ideally warm, like 60 or 65 at least, and humid and bright...no can do the humid part here). We have been together probably 10 years anyhow, despite my shortcomings as a #plantparent . #alocasiaamazonica #clivias #houseplantsofinstagram #houseplants #awaytogarden
Instagram post 2172580656557749859_444552553 Gardener: “I raked all the leaves!” Nature: “Oh, really?” (Cue sound of demonic laughter from on high.)
Instagram post 2170506606641504178_444552553 I wanna tell you how it’s gonna be You’re gonna give your love to me I wanna love you night and day You know my love will not fade away Not fade away Nope. Not this #cotinus leaf’s fiery hot love at least. Like the 1957 #buddyholly song I first heard by #therollingstones in 1964, it keeps going. #awaytogarden #fallfoliage2019 #cotinusgrace #notfadeaway
Instagram post 2168987273989949378_444552553 “Jack Frost nipping at your, er, geraniums...” And here it comes.
Instagram post 2166837817953503284_444552553 Constant companions: If you want to keep good company all winter, grow some good keepers. My house is stuffed with piles of #cucurbita awaiting their time in the oven or soup kettle. Each one is a character, distinctive. On one chair in the mudroom two close cousins in #cucurbitamoschata — the horse collar-shaped one called ‘Tromboncino’ or ‘Tromboncino Rampicante’ snuggles with some ‘Butternut.’ The ‘Tromboncino’ are better eaten green and small as #zucchini but I can’t resist their eventual mad size and shape, big enough to wear around your neck. I use their meat for enriching vegetable stock; the ‘Butternut’ are far more rich and delicious. Seed respectively from sandhillpreservation.com #sandhillpreservationcenter and @turtle_tree_seed (whose ‘Butternut,’ selected for “lastingness” for decades, will keep and keep into next spring or more). #wintersquash #awaytogarden #goodkeeper #cucurbitaceae
Instagram post 2162565040882902064_444552553 Furry fall friend: I look forward to crossing paths with this woolly caterpillar of the #giantleopardmoth this time of year, when its fiery intersegmental bands and plush coat seem to be just the right autumn-into-winter look. Miraculously this tiny animal will overwinter in a woodpile or in the leaf litter, even here in the North, building up a concentration of antifreeze (glycerol I think?) in its cells before the worst weather begins to avoid disaster. (Reminds me of the super-hardy #woodfrog who does similarly. Such heroes.) Swipe to see a beat-up pic of the adult moth, tattered with scales missing at its wing margins, but still dramatic. Unlike various spine-covered caterpillars that can sting you, this one’s hairs (or setae) won’t, but he will roll up tight if touched, in self-defense. I am in awe of such complex strategies of survival, I am. #mothsofinstagram #caterpillars #awaytogarden #hypercompescribonia #hypercompe
Instagram post 2161992098629435854_444552553 Beans are life. I mean, not only do I live on them daily (as I have as a vegetarian for 40+ years) but each one is a seed, a living embryo, a distinct and gorgeous little DNA miracle. I have been inspired by the hashtag #31daysofbeans by @lukasvolger lately, loving watching someone unknown to me (um, who shares my oatmeal thing too apparently...also see his #28daysofoatmeal) dish up the #phaseolus. We both admire bean ambassador Steve Sando @rancho_gordo and this photo might be my fave bean of all that I “met” via Steve years back, big and flat and chestnutty ‘Christmas Lima.’ My advice: don’t wait till Dec. 25 to dig in.
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Welcome! I’m Margaret Roach, a leading garden writer for 25 years—at ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ ‘Newsday,’ and in three books. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden, and always say no to chemicals and yes to great plants.

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