LIVING LIFE AND LEARNING ALL I CAN ALONG THE WAY
I have an enemy. An enemy encroaching on my territory and trying to take over. Poisoning those within reach and advancing position every time I look. My enemy’s name? Alliaria petiolata. Otherwise known as: garlic mustard. As one of my aunts once put it, with a name like that, it’s no wonder it’s an invasive,…
It is true that a lot has happened over the past few years. One of them was that we moved to a new house. New house meant new gardens. I was sad to leave behind my perennials (though we know the new owners and they graciously let me dig a few things up!) and the…
Spring is officially here — hooray! My crocuses are up, the robins are back and I’m ready to come out of hibernation. Spring is my favorite season. Don’t get me wrong: I love summer and fall, but spring has the distinct honor of being the first season that is classified as “not winter.” And “not…
When we first moved into our house, I was excited, albeit surprised, to find chives growing underneath a pine tree in our front yard. As I was frantically trying to fill up the space that would become my perennial garden, I immediately transplanted them. They have grown happily there now for a number of years…until…
I was always under the impression that not much grew in the shade. The only shade plants I really knew were impatiens and hostas. The problem was, I had created a landscaped area in our backyard, beside our deck and underneath a weeping cherry tree. The area gets a sun in the spring, but by…
At the back of my perennial garden is a special garden space that really belongs to Tom. This is where his hops grow — with the bines growing up twine that reaches to the roof of our garage where they can then expand out sideways. Hops grow fast. Really fast. The shoots come out of…
Spring came early this year. Then it quickly faded back into winter — jumping to summer for a couple days and then back to winter. Kind of feels like the changing of the seasons in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. At any rate, I’ve been trying to get outdoors whenever the weather decides it…
The first crocus of the season – Spring is coming! Every winter, I have a tendency to hibernate. The cold and I don’t get along very well. The past couple years, I made a concerted effort to get out and enjoy winter and the snow for what it is — and we actually had a…
I’ve said it before — I take issue with Punxatawney Phil and his shadowy predictions. This Groundhog Day I was too busy with Rheumatoid Awareness Day to pay much attention to Phil, but I did hear that he didn’t see his shadow. In theory that means that spring is just around the corner. Well, judging…
There’s really only one reason I always hope for extra tomatoes in my garden. Okay, make that two. One is salsa. Two is homemade tomato sauce. I don’t usually have much of a bumper crop, so I’ve only tried the tomato sauce thing once or twice before. This year, between my garden and our CSA,…