Well, gardens, you know. What to do with an unseasonably warm winter? Play, perhaps. Here’s some orach, spinach and cress I planted around November 20, after adding some gravelly soil and some […]
Garden’s Up On January 5
Spring for the Japanese Quince and Her Sisters
The double-flowered Japanese quince in front of my house is still dropping her leaves. She has also been bearing her scarcely open blossoms for weeks now. For her, winter is over. And […]
The Future Depends on Randomness: A Stroll Among the Zinnias
Oh, seed companies, books and contemporary institutions all aim for testing, quality control and uniformity, but these zinnias, with seed randomly selected for over thirty years now … … know a thing […]
I Went to the Garden to Taste What I Could See
Black Krim, Brandywine and friends. Brandywine is very, very happy this year (the big pink girl at bottom right, upper centre and peeking in from the top left.) Back in 1962 when […]
Build An Earth for Wasps? Now’s the Time!
Right in this season, right now, sales of wasp-killing products are peaking, as the yellow jackets drive everyone away from eating outdoors. It can be freaky, especially when the nests are right […]
Oh, Lego, You Have So Much to Answer For
We all need a place to live. In the world of creativity, there’s a place for everyone. If not, you can make one out of stuff lying around. Bridge and highway material […]
The Wobbly Thing About English Gardens
I’ve wondered about this “nature” thing for years. What on earth is it? This? Is this nature? Can’t be. It’s a language. Or, hey, is it that nature is a language? Is […]
The Day the Sky Came Down to Earth
The shallots I planted last July are blooming now, and replacing the lost nodding onions up on the hill. The sky has noticed. Welcome, Sky! These blue beauties were in the mariposa […]
Please, Please, Please Don’t Plant That Lavender!
If you plant that lavender, the crab spiders will have nowhere to go, and they are the wolves of this ecosystem. Removing the top predator from a chain, in this case a […]
No Mulch or Tillage on This Soil, Please
A living skin, however, is what the climate of the grasslands east of the coastal stratovolcanoes calls for. Anything else is quite the ongoing struggle. Whew. Save your back, eh!
