A Way To Garden

'horticultural how-to and woo-woo'
the source of organic gardening inspiration
margaret roach, head gardener

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THE SISTER PROJECT was a collaborative website I shared with several other writers, including my sister, Marion Roach Smith, from 2008 to 2011.

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From the Podcast: Ideas to Strengthen Your Garden’s Design

Even though my own garden is put to bed, I’m looking for the seeds of ideas for the year to come. To that end lately I’ve been rereading “Nature into Art: The Gardens of Wave Hill,” and from it and its current Director of Horticulture, Louis Bauer, I got some practical inspiration. He shared tips on upcycling prunings into plant supports; how easy hedges create serious architecture; how to encourage desirable self-sowns like poppies or larkspur to flourish; how repeating shapes (not just colors) can strengthen designs; and why we each need one blank bed to “play” or experiment in. (Stream it below, read the illustrated transcript or subscribe free.)

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RECENT FAVORITES

8 garden resolutions for 2020, with ken druse (+ book giveaways)
top tips from 2019’s ‘a way to garden’ podcasts
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the january garden chores
resources
seed series: irresistibly tasty varieties to try, with lane selman of culinary breeding network
comfort food: farinata, a polenta delight
perennial edibles, landraces and other unusual seeds, with nate kleinman of experimental farm network
strengthen your garden’s design with these tips from wave hill’s louis bauer

awaytogarden

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

And so it begins (after a weekend of 66F and 65F d

And so it begins (after a weekend of 66F and 65F days): the intermediate hybrid witch hazels, like coppery ‘Jelena,’ unfurl their petals. Not the earliest year ever (I had them start by Christmas in 2015, after it was 70F that Xmas eve). The year before that they waited till mid-March to begin, after a fierce winter. Usually it is somewhere in between. Any signs of life at your place? #awaytogarden #hamamelis #witchhazel #wintergarden

I’m BACK: Precisely on new year’s day, one of

I’m BACK: Precisely on new year’s day, one of my oldest houseplants, Bowiea volubilis, poked its first green tip out of one of the 7 daughter bulbs surrounding the original Mama I began with, all of whom live cheek-to-jowl happily, an ever-expanding family for the last 25ish years in the same sandy “soil” in the same pot. Late each year they take a nap for a month or two, and then: happy new year, Margaret! Soon there will be a mad mass of frothy vines and then tiny flowers and yes, the thing will outlive me, happy for my neglect and a very occasional drink. I admire self-sufficiency and tenacity in plants as in people, and this is one of my role models. Love you, my ever-faithful and oddball Bowiea.

Snow day. To be followed by a snow night. #awaytog

Snow day. To be followed by a snow night. #awaytogarden #wavehillchairs

No matter that it was 11F and 17F on mornings this

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

Gardener: “I raked all the leaves!” Nature: “Oh, really?” (Cue sound of demonic laughter from on high.)

I wanna tell you how it’s gonna be You’re gonn

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

“Jack Frost nipping at your, er, geraniums...”

“Jack Frost nipping at your, er, geraniums...” And here it comes.

Constant companions: If you want to keep good comp

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

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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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