A Way To Garden

A Way To Garden

'horticultural how-to and woo-woo'
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margaret roach, head gardener

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have a gleaming holiday!

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Recycled ornaments wreath by Pam Kueber of Retro RenovationWE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS, Jack and I do, though we are by no means dashing through the snow on a one-horse open sleigh over here. More stuck in the mud this week (which I suppose will now freeze up into a charming washboard that makes driving this dirt road, shall we say, very interesting). The upcycled ornament wreath above is by Pam Kueber, the queen of Retro Renovation [dot] com and a mad thrifter, crafter and all-round pal. It was her handmade holiday gift hot-glued just for me, and that’s the idea, isn’t it? To share bright moments, up close and personal. May your holiday positively gleam, and be loaded with light.

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19 comments
December 24, 2013

comments

  1. Elaine L says

    December 24, 2013 at 7:47 am

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Margaret and Jack. Looking forward to
    visiting you and your garden in 2014. Winter just arrived but SPRING is just around
    the corner. Elaine

    Reply
  2. Jenetta says

    December 24, 2013 at 9:30 am

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May the visions dancing in your heads be veggies and songbirds!

    Reply
  3. Melinda says

    December 24, 2013 at 9:44 am

    Merry Christmas, Margaret! FB has been limiting your posts and this is the first I’ve seen in ages, and I just don’t seem to sit down and read e-mail anymore. ANYWAY, I have a new website to follow and total wreath envy. Thank you for all the good you bring to the world!

    Reply
  4. Tracy says

    December 24, 2013 at 9:58 am

    This site is such a great source of useful and interesting information for me. It’s a gift I enjoy all year. Thanks Margaret.

    Reply
  5. Ms. Tweetley says

    December 24, 2013 at 1:23 pm

    Love receiving your gardening information and all the other ideas you share. Blessings during the holidays and in the new year.

    Reply
  6. Brian G. says

    December 24, 2013 at 1:47 pm

    Merry Christmas to Margaret and family (including Jack and the frog boys, of course.) And happy holidays to all the AWaytoGardenphiles like me.

    Reply
  7. Tom Jack says

    December 24, 2013 at 4:43 pm

    Merry Christmas to you and Jack!

    Tom Jack

    Reply
  8. Johanna says

    December 24, 2013 at 5:26 pm

    A Merry Christmas to you both, Margaret and Jack! It’s been another one of “those” years…am hoping for something to crow about in 2014, and I wish you the same!

    Reply
  9. Gardener on Sherlock Street says

    December 24, 2013 at 8:43 pm

    Merry Christmas!

    Reply
  10. Emøke Bendixen says

    December 25, 2013 at 3:26 am

    Joyful Christmas and a Wonderful New Year to you and Jack!
    Your site, and the way you share knowledge and goodness is a major resource of inspiration throughout the year. Thank you for this gift.
    All the best
    Emøke

    Reply
  11. Juanita says

    December 26, 2013 at 3:20 am

    Wishing you and Jack well this Christmas and New Year, Margaret. Thanks for a grand year of stories.

    Reply
  12. Burndett Andres says

    December 26, 2013 at 7:55 am

    Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years to you, Margaret. Thank you for the wonderful information and inspiration all year long. All the best.

    Reply
  13. L Smitty says

    December 26, 2013 at 6:15 pm

    Happy New Year! Another year you have made my world a better place to live in.

    Reply
  14. Dale Coykendall says

    December 26, 2013 at 6:33 pm

    Merry Christmas to you and the Happiest of New Years!
    Thank you for so much solid information and wonderful writing

    Reply
  15. Dahlink says

    December 29, 2013 at 8:40 am

    LOVE LOVE LOVE those vintage ornament wreaths, but all of our beloved treasures go on the tree!

    Best wishes for a beautiful New Year, Margaret.

    Reply
  16. Marnie says

    December 29, 2013 at 8:56 am

    Many thanks for all you give on this website, Margaret. I look forward to each new posting.

    Reply
  17. Dee Nash (@reddirtramblin) says

    December 29, 2013 at 10:03 am

    Merry Christmas! I love those “Shiny Brite” wreaths. I plan to make one next year in fact. Very cool. Hope your holidays were merry and bright too. Aren’t you glad the days are longer? I definitely am.~~Dee

    Reply
    • margaret says

      December 29, 2013 at 10:51 am

      Welcome, Marnie. Nice to see you.

      Hi, Dee. And yes: Days are longer! A couple of minutes a day of improvement=very welcome. Hooray.

      To all of you: we so appreciate your comments, now and all the time. Thanks for the very nice good wishes.

      Reply
  18. Marcia Hall says

    December 30, 2013 at 12:28 am

    Hi Margaret and Jack – between this blog and your fabulous book “and I shall have some peace there” (here??) I feel like I know you.
    I was so upset when your King Bullfrog got eaten! Ah, the savagery of the wild. Thank goodness it wasn’t Jack that did that! Did you ever figure out where the 5 bullfrogs went? How is the one left behind doing? The green frogs treating her ok? (Whatever that kind of treatment looks like… here madam, you may have this fly..) I’m hoping to find out what happend with your fox and coyote urine “treatment” and how Herb is doing… Also, if those poor birds keep slamming into your window, can’t you hang some wind chimes or strings suspended out from the window…or put something on the window so they can SEE it?? Just sayin’
    But I am loving your book! This weekend: email and Margaret’s book. Period. ! Looking forward to Garden Parables – of which you have many in “peace” also I have noticed, BTW. : -))
    Thanks for many enjoyable hours……….
    ~~~~~Marcia

    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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My picks of garden gear, books, and mulch, mulch more, all things I use myself. (Disclosure: includes affiliate links.)

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RECENT FAVORITES

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  • must read: 'late migrations,' with margaret renkl

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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