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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
New Year’s (ir)resolutions
Not all surprises are nice surprises. Case in point: 2020.
In the midst of the year from hell’s lower reaches, in which just about everyone lost something precious—mobility, jobs, close contact, sense of security, peace of mind, and worst of all, loved ones—there were still a few sweet blossoms. Possibly more of the literal ones than usual, since so many people turned to their gardens to get through.
But after the past nine months of cascading whack-a-mole disasters, are you making new year’s resolutions this year? My main resolution is not to make them.
Here’s why. Continue reading
Posted in animal life, winter
Tagged brain, cleanup, fence, geranium, holiday, raised beds, water, woodchuck
10 Comments
November miscellany
It was a grab-bag week, so this is a grab-bag post. Cold cold weather is rolling in and back, in and back, and I’ve been scrambling to get this ‘n’ that done as time and weather permitted. Now it’s urgent for me to figure out the priorities for any action that involves digging into the ground. I say priorities, because I’m afraid I’ve reached Triage Day. Today. Continue reading
Posted in fall, garden tasks, pests and problems, soil
Tagged bearded iris, cleanup, geranium, mice, mulch, peppermint oil, raised beds, Siberian iris, yard waste
6 Comments
Division and diversity: A gardener’s tale
In the garden, diversity is the way to go.
I love peonies, but a whole yard full of them? Glory-be would break out in late May, last two to three weeks, and then… nada.
… in honor of election day, I figured it was a good time to start looking at some of the diversity in our country that spans red states and blue states. When you get right down to it, we gardeners all live in green states.
So this past Friday, while two inches of wet snow fell relentlessly on my surroundings, my friend Hillary gave me a tour of her thriving garden in Charleston, South Carolina. Continue reading
Posted in animal life, fall, plants, seasons, soil
Tagged aloe, bird feeders, butter butt, cleanup, coastal gardening, crape myrtle, hibiscus, hummingbirds, hurricanes, hydrangea, lantana, lawn signs, magnolia, Meyer lemon, papyrus, rock garden, roses, sandy soil, Siberian dogwood, snow, squirrels, USDA Zone 4, USDA Zone 5, USDA zone 9, vegetables, wild ginger, yellow-rumped warbler, zen garden
10 Comments
Things get squirrely
Lately, I’ve been wondering a lot about squirrels.
You know those busy bushy-tailed rodents, whether you have the gray kind, or the black or the red or some combination thereof. Hereabouts, they’re gray, they nest up in the trees (at least, I’ve been told those are squirrels’ nests up there, the big messy ones), they run up and down the trees and along fences and across porches and decks and tables.
Occasionally, if you have a bird feeder, they raid it. Continue reading
Posted in animal life, fall, garden tasks, plants
Tagged bees, cayenne, cleanup, coneflower, gardening websites, geranium, mulch, squirrel
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