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Category Archives: plants
Falling Behind
Every year before this one, fall has come like a kind of reprieve. All those tasks still undone turn moot. Weeds keel over and expire of their own accord. Way too late to plant more veggies; sigh of relief there. The rodent marauders have done pretty much all the visible damage they can manage, and I happily leave the overweening hosta to them. But not this year. Continue reading
Posted in fall, garden tasks, plants
Tagged aronia, beans, climate change, elderberry, frost, garlic, hakonechloa, landscaping fabric, lemongrass, lettuce, Michelle Obama, mulch, pandemic, peas, sage, seed catalog, shallots, snow peas, weeds
6 Comments
The Department of You Think You’ve Got Problems
Every once in a while, I learn something that puts my problems into perspective. There are degrees of bad. There’s too much rain in one week, for example, and there’s the Greenland ice cap melting. There’s a very dry June, and there’s the Dixie wildfire and then the Caldor wildfire. But let me take you halfway round the globe and invoke the experience of my friend R. Continue reading
Posted in animal life, pests and problems, plants
Tagged arugula, Bali, basil, bush beans, cabbage moth, carrots, chard, downy mildew, Heliconia, houseplants, late planting, lettuce, Monstera, peas, pest prevention, rabbit, radishes, shiso, snakes, woodchuck
10 Comments
To Do Or Not To Do
In case you’re wondering why I call this blog “Inconstant Gardener,” let me give you an example. Continue reading
Posted in garden tasks, people, plants, summer
Tagged basil, beans, carrots, catmint, cayenne, chard, Charlie Nardozzi's Newsletter, cleanup, compost bin, coneflower, crop coops, cucumbers, dogwood, frost, garlic, geranium, hail, heuchera, kale, lettuce, mulch, onions, parsnips, planning, radishes, rain, raised beds, seeds, squash, to-do lists, vegetables, weeds, woodchuck
8 Comments
Exceeding Expectations
In a garden, as in life, we think we like predictability. But natural forces are not givens, and sometimes things happen that foil our efforts. And yet, the unexpected in the garden can bring zings of delight. I’ve been savoring many of those. Continue reading
Posted in animal life, garden tasks, plants, spring, summer
Tagged cornflower, crocus, daffodil, Eremurus bungei, foxtail lily, friends, garlic scapes, grape hyacinth, grasshopper, holiday, hummingbirds, mushrooms, penicillium mold, peony 'Charles Burgess', weeds
10 Comments
Spring, Sprang, Sprung
Whatever it is that spring does to the soul, it’s doing it bigtime this year. And even though I owe you a long overdue Post, full of facts and tips and musings (insight is accidental), all I feel capable of is an ode to joy. So here’s to spring! Continue reading
Posted in animal life, garden tasks, plants, spring
Tagged bees, cherry, crab apple, dandelion, forsythia, Johnny jump-up, plantain, rain, tulips, weeds
21 Comments
Getting seedy
You may recall that a couple or three posts back, I said it was way too soon to order seeds. I continued blissfully to think that. Somehow, I had myself convinced that April is when I need to think actively about gardening again.
I do consider gardening a kind of magic. But it has to start with something. Quite a few somethings, actually, but most of them were already outside under the February snow just waiting for the starting whistle. One crucial something, though, relies on me to act, and, I realized as February shazammed into March, act fast.
That something is seeds. Continue reading
Posted in garden tasks, plants, spring
Tagged Covid-19, foodscaping, grow lights, herbs, no-dig gardening, seed catalogs, seed starting, seeds, vegetables
6 Comments
For the birds
I was wondering whether there’s anything going on outside that you might want to hear about, and I thought: BIRDS! Who doesn’t love them and want more of them around?
So I looked into birds. That’s when it got interesting. Like a train wreck is interesting.
But hang on, because I also found some inspiration. Continue reading
Posted in animal life, pests and problems, plants
Tagged amaryllis, Audubon Society, bird baths, bird feeders, birds, black swallowtail, caterpillar, climate change, Douglas W. Tallamy, extinction, killdeer, milkweed, mockingbird, monarch butterfly, NABCI, narcissus, Native Plant Finder, native plants, North American Bird Conservation Initiative, parsley, peppermint oil, seed catalog, State of the Birds, strawberry, whooping crane
12 Comments
Your holiday grab-bag
Am I the only one who gets kind of taken over by the holidays?
I doubt it. In fact, I suspect you didn’t even realize that it’s been 11 days since my last post. Right? Because you’ve been busy: Continue reading
Posted in plants, winter
Tagged amaryllis, brunnera, Gertrude Jekyll, holiday, horse manure, narcissus, panda, snow, wormwood
11 Comments
December’s Dull Drums
Other months might spring up or creep up on you or unveil themselves.
December descends. Sometimes with a splat, sometimes with a thump. Sometimes with a whammy.
This time I’d call it a thump. Continue reading
Posted in garden tasks, plants, winter
Tagged amaryllis, bulbs, Chanukah, daylight, earthenware pots, herbs, holiday, indoor gardening, mulch, plastic pots, raised beds, rosemary, sage, salt-marsh hay, snow, solstice, sunrise, sunset
9 Comments
That time of year: Again, but different
Thanksgiving is out of the way till next year, and now Chanukah (starts Dec. 10!) and Christmas (Dec. 25!) and Kwanzaa (starts Dec. 26!) are bearing down on us. It seems to be a Thing, this past week, for everyone from The New York Times to local stores’ e-letters to provide a list of gift suggestions for the holidays.
Why should I be any different? Continue reading
Posted in people, plants, tools, winter
Tagged AHTA, amaryllis, American Horticultural Therapy Association, canning, Chanukah, charity, Christmas, food bank, forcing bulbs, Gardener's Supply Company, gift, heritage seeds, holiday, horticultural therapy, hunger, hyacinth, IRS, Kwanzaa, narcissus, organic seeds, sasanqua camellia, seed catalog, seed company, seeds, Thanksgiving
11 Comments