GOOD FENCES (& GATES) MAKE GOOD . . .
Aging in Place
Friends and other visitors here always admired the gate and arbor at the entrance to my vegetable garden more than I ever did. Built from cedar branches, it did have rustic charm. But to my eye, the wood looked too flimsy. And it was. Joints eventually loosened and as the gate sagged with age it had to be muscled open and shut.
I rebuilt that gate and arbor, highlighting an important point in constructing rustic garden structures: match strength of the structure to its intended use.
I built my new gate and arbor, like their predecessor, from natural limbs. Read more
PRETTY EDIBLES
Don’t Pigeonhole Them
Look around your vegetable garden: Aren’t some of these plants pretty enough to be grown as ornamentals, perhaps shoulder to shoulder with marigolds, delphinium, and others in a flower garden or at the feet of shrubbery?
Imagine, if you will, a twining vine with sprays of scarlet flowers poking out from lime green foliage. The plant, scarlet runner bean, is so attractive that you might consider the edible pods as merely incidental — until you taste their rich, meaty flavor. Some other pole beans are also ornamental. Purple Peacock and Purple Pod Pole are Read more
TRAINING SESSION
A Trunk-to-be
So you planted a tree — perhaps a few trees — this spring. The first years those trees are in the ground, while permanent limbs are developing, are going to be important to their future strength and beauty. Pruning is one way to direct development, and the best time for this is when trees are small. Small cuts made on small trees leave correspondingly small wounds.
Dawn redwood
For starters, help your young tree to develop a sturdy trunk. For most trees, Read more
