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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
5 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
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
Reconstruction, garden variety
Here it is November, edging into the middle of the month, and for a brief and lovely week, the march of the seasons hit pause-and-rewind.
The warm spell put me back on the hook, though: things I had thought were past praying for, all of a sudden weren’t. Things I thought would just have to wait till spring, now became not only possible but even, perhaps, mandatory. After all, there were (and still are) piles of mulch and topsoil in the driveway, waiting for me to do something with them. They must be dealt with, or horrors will happen…. Continue reading
Posted in animal life, fall, garden tasks, pests and problems, soil
Tagged cedar, chard, chicken wire, geranium, hardware cloth, herbs, mulch, raised beds, tarp, woodchuck
6 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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October surprises (in the garden)
It’s been raining this week. Oh my, how it rained on Wednesday! And it’s here again today, Friday.
Two days ago, cars whipped past on the road outside my workroom window, throwing up sheets of spray in artistic arcs. The birds and the bunny went into hiding. Continue reading
Posted in fall, garden tasks, plants
Tagged cardinal flower, cayenne, cleanup, coneflower, hakonechloa, mulch, rain
2 Comments
Lazier gardening is in style at last!
Fall is arriving so early this year. Too early for me, now matter which standpoint I’m looking from: how much time and effort I’ve put into getting things to grow, only to see them keel over; or the timetable of advice on fall cleanup. Every time I go out to the garden, I find evidence of demise Continue reading
Posted in fall, garden tasks, pests and problems, plants
Tagged bees, cleanup, coldframe, dahlia, dogwood, hakonechloa, heuchera, mulch, peonies, squirrel
10 Comments