Maggie's Farm

It has grown from the ground this year to 6' now, and is covered with hundreds of growing fruit. 

Try it. Even in the Northeast US the roots will survive winter. Most years, anyway. The only annoying thing about growing figs is that ants discover them when they ripen. 

Addendum: Another annoying thing - Squirrels and Chipmunks took every one of my figs. 

I think the trick is either to yank them out when young, or clip them low and spray the stump with poison.

If you live in the Northeast, your gardens and plantings are, right now, being attacked by the unwanted and unwelcome alien Porcelainberry. In fact, you can see it smothering trees and bushes everywhere.

This aggressive Asian weed vine was introduced as a decorative ground cover, but it is a cancer with the ability to grow 15' or more per year, and to smother anything you have planted. If you pull it up, get the entire root - or poison it.

The birds poop the seeds everywhere, so they come up everywhere around here. Especially in gardens. Their roots are tenacious. If you just clip them, they come back twice as strong.

As its leaves demonstrate, it is a member of the grape family and it can be confused with the native wild grape, which is a much less aggressive plant. You can read all about Porcelainberry here, and about how to try to get rid of it.

I planted this Bottlebrush Buckeye about 7 years ago, when it was a few 12"-tall bare sticks. Good things take a while. Mrs. BD says it was 8 years ago. You rarely seen them grown in New England. The Buckeye, of course, is a heartland plant. Ohio is the Buckeye State. And the Keystone state.

This is with early morning sun glowing through those flowers yesterday. The plant is about 7' tall. I think it's like a candelabra:

It took me two years to get Mugwort out of my vegetable garden. It spreads by rhizomes, and it's tough to get every inch of those. Once they are in a field, good luck.

Before Hops were used to flavor beer in England, Mugwort was a common beer flavoring.

The Wood Hyacinth is not a true Hyacinth, the popular bulb brought to Europe from Turkey.

The Wood Hyacinth, or English Bluebell, or Common Bluebell, is a native of Western Europe. Today, there are many cultivars of this fine April/May-blooming woodland bulb which, when happy, spreads vigorously.

In my opinion, it is much preferable to the gaudy and artificial-looking, plastic-looking true Hyacinth.

Photo on right is a "Bluebell Woods" in England.

My photo below is our tiny patch of it this morning. It will spread though, in time.

We do. Every year it blooms on Mother's Day:

It probably does, because any lawn benefits from it. Does Your Lawn Need Aeration?

The machines that pull out plugs work best. In southern climates (in the US), best done in Spring. In cooler climates, in September. 

Size and shape of the hole, watering, etc. from an expert.

Good advice. 

I love rhubarb - raw, compote, pie, whatever.

We stopped by the marketplace in Venice last week. Marcella Hazan frequently wrote about her daily morning visits to this only fish, vegetable, fruit, and meat market in town.

I'll have more Veneto pics. 

Yes, all squash blossoms are edible and delicious fried. 

A gardening pal and I have determined that you have to pick them before ripe. Squirrels will eat them. Do they like them, or just for the water content?

They got my Zucchini this week, but not my yellow squash (yet). Nature is a meanie.

Squash Borers. 

Call me lazy if you want to, but I like these light-weight cordless chain saws for small jobs. Heavy pruning, for example.

Sure, I have regular pruning saws, but those electric things are nifty.  I go with Ryobi because I already have all of their betteries and chargers for blowers and trimmers.

For heavy-duty, I do have a Stihl Farm Boss which I love to use, but it is overkill for small jobs. For example, I have overgrown lilacs. Neglected to remove 1/4 or 1/3 of their older main stems annually. 3" thick now. 

You can find all of the mini-chain saws on Amazon. 

That's Fritillaria, Bluebells, some Hosta, Coral Bells, Dwarf Oakleaf Hydrangea.

Like most of the things we grow in our summer gardens, the tomato needs tropical weather. 

That means, mostly, night temperatures above 55-65 F and daytime temps 75-85. They do not thrive without that. On the other hand, there is this:  Growing Tomatoes Successfully Despite Cold Temperatures and Rain

I've seen 20-30' tomato vines sprawling across fields in Bermuda. They just keep going. If I had a greenhouse, I'd try that.

Tips that tomato-growers know is that it helps to snip off most side shoots ("suckers"), and, at some point, to snip off some leaves too. 

This sounds right:

Our friend thinks not. I happen to love the flavor. As with cranberries, use 1/2 the sugar a recipe asks for to get the full flavor. Boil it with a little water and sugar and dump it on vanilla ice cream. I'd go for a rhubarb gelato too, if anybody made it. Or a tarte.

I drove my Smart Car (in photo) over to check the patch and observed that it is happy but has bolted. I chopped off those cool flowers and Mrs. BD put them in a vase.

They go by several other names too (Miniature Watermelons, Mouse Melon), but I never had them until last week in Georgia. They cut them in half and put them in salads at our inn along with the cherry tomatoes, etc. Crunchy, refreshing little cucumber-like things about an inch long. Grow prolifically on vines. Be the first in your neighborhood. I ordered some seeds right away.

Another good thing they grew in their gardens was a tangy peppery green which is new to me, Curly Mustard, or Mustard Mizuna. Use it when the leaves are young.

And lots of Mache, of course. Down there, you must do many sequential plantings of greens, but in summer they must be shaded.

I like to grow them in high pots so they can spill over. They want to be vines, not exactly upright plants.

Sure, they are colorful but the main thing is that both their peppery leaves and flowers can be thrown into a salad. 

Tomatoes have their origins in a wild plant in the Andes. They have come a long way since.

Admittedly, they contain almost no nutrition but when they are good (rarely, unless home-grown varieties), they are great to eat anyway.

Around a week ago I started a bunch from seeds indoors. Odd varieties, yellow, purple, striped, and mico cherry tomatoes. They are already popping up in the potting mix.

The dried seeds I used are so tiny that I always wonder how they can contain so much, including DNA and all of its instructions. Yeah, animal "seeds" are smaller.

Trifluralin is the active ingerdient of Preen.

Google it for prices cheaper than the brand name. 

Preen prevents seed germination. All sorts of seeds. It is a pre-emergent germination preventer.

It's entirely safe with vegetable gardens, as long as any seeds you planted have first sprouted. 

Depending on how far north you live, it's a time to plant your Sweet Pea seeds outdoors. Not edible peas - the rule is St. Patrick's Day for them.

Who knew that these happy flowering annuals came from Sicily? I did not.  They smell good. Do not eat their pods - toxic.

On a roadside in Colorado last week

No fruit on your tree? Here’s why

But no - Monbiot’s orchard is already experiencing the effects of rapid climate change.

Everything is caused by drastic climate change. 

August/September is tomato season in the northeast and central US.

Why are so many varieties red? Because marketing, same as apples.  Much genetic engineering to come up with the amazing Beefsteak Tomato.

The first tomatoes were introduced to Europe from Mexico via the conquistadores.  They were mainly viewed as ornamental plants. The fruit was the size of cherry tomatoes, and yellow-green when ripe. I guess that was the real "heritage tomato".

Why pomodoro? Pomo d'oro - Golden apple. 

 Why the Tomato Was Feared in Europe for More Than 200 Years

Italian food before the tomato.  He is wrong about one thing - peppers came to Europe and to the world via Central America too.  Same as polenta (maize meal), beans, and so much else.