A CART FOR ALL SEASONS . . . AND GARDENS
What is It?
Praise is in order for an unsung hero of my garden — my garden cart. I’m serious. This cart has played a fundamental role in the pleasures my garden has offered to numerous eyes, noses, and mouths.
Cart use in China, 1980’s
Let’s first be clear on just what implement I’m talking about. Read more
OF BULBS, BULBILS, BULBLETS, AND CORMS
Admission
I’ve admitted to this addiction before and I’ll do it again. I’ll even hope you become addicted. You are forewarned.
My addiction is to propagating plants. No harm done, you say? How about all the plants that you become inundated with. Perhaps you plant them; that can be overdone. Give them away, please. Or sell them.
Anyway, here goes another wrinkle on plant propagation. You are forewarned!
What’s in Your Hand?
You’ve perhaps bought some spring flowering bulbs for planting. Wait! Before you drop all those tulip, daffodil, crocus, and hyacinth bulbs into holes in the ground Read more
A WONDERFULLY FIERY FALL
The Glory of the Hudson Valley Unfolds
Here on the farmden and beyond, this growing season is exiting with perhaps the most gloriously colored fall I’ve seen in decades. Standouts right around here this year are Korean mountainash, red oak, stewartia, huckleberry, and blueberry. Even Norway maple, usually with unsightly splotches of yellow, this year have been turning a fairly attractive pure yellow before dropping.
Korean mountainash
Knowing what puts color in leaves opens up the possibility for ratcheting it up. It might even increase appreciation for the various hues. To best do that, I’m going to plagiarize . . . from my own book, The Ever Curious Gardener: Using a Little Natural Science for a Much Better Garden.
Yellow and Orange
Green is from chlorophyll, most welcome in spring and through summer, but not what interests me in fall. Chlorophyll must be continually synthesized Read more
