We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
I was under the mistaken impression that Pansies could handle freezing temperatures because they had some sort of magic antifreeze in them the way some arctic fish do.
Horseradish is basically Wasabi. It's easy to grow in a garden. It is perennial and, once established, you can take a shovel and chop out a hunk of root with no damage to the plant.
I love fresh horseradish, but I love chili peppers too. Depends on what meat you are eating.
It happens to be part of a Seder, but I have often grown it. It is a perennial in New England, grows like a weed, but does not spread.
When you want some fresh root, you just stick a shovel in and chop some side root out. Then grate it. I love it on almost anything. It will not damage the plant.
Easy to find beginner plants online. It is kind-of like growing rhubarb.
In the northern half of the US anyway. Definitely, before any green emerges because the roots are already growing and hungry for weeks before any green shows.
I fertilized our garden beds last week. It will take some rain to sink it in. A good time to put down crabgrass preventer, and fert your nice lawns too.
I spread Preen at the same time in the flower and shrub borders. It works, sort-of.
My Brown Turkey Fig shrub has been highly productive this year, and has grown about 6', but I think none of the fruit will ripen before the first frost.
They usually ripen in August, and it's been a hot summer too. Too late now for these fruits to ripen.
In New England, these plants tend to die back to the roots in winter. However, they revive and grow like weeds.
I guess it's more of a cauliflower than a broccoli, but whatever. Probably more interesting to look at than to eat - unless dressed with lots of garlic and oil.
My view is that even dog kibbles are good with enough oil and garlic.
I have posted often about grass lawns in the past.
Meadows are far better than lawns, but pretty lawns are a suburban real estate necessity. They are completely artificial. They rely on irrigation, fertilizer, weed and bug chemicals. etc. Like hydroponic gardening.
I happen to feel that lawns are perfect parts of English-style gardens. Lawn is one part of an appealing garden.
How can one minimize the artifice and fragility of the unnatural thing which is a mowed lawn (especially in the northern half of the US)?
- Irrigation. It fools the grasses into thinking it's Spring.
- Topdressing. It's what woodland grasses get naturally from fallen leaves and detritus.
- Aeration. It's what grasses get naturally from worms, moles, and digging animals.
Up in Yankeeland you have to start more things indoors because of the short growing season. Just those 2 weeks of germination make food-gardening (aka hobby-gardening) more difficult.
I only bother indoor starting with things I can't buy already grown at Home Depot. This year: Mouse Melons, Ground Cherries, Cucozzi, Heritage Cukes. Other seeds, like pumpkin, beans, root things, I just put in the dirt in May and hope for the best.
"The best" never happens.
Yeah, we love those Mouse Melons in salads. Spicy and crunchy, and they grow like weeds on a fence or trellis.
March is the time to use that general-purpose fertilizer on your flowering shrubs, fruit trees, etc. if you have snow-free ground.
As we remind ourselves most years, the roots get working long before buds appear. Gotta let any March snow or rain to work the fertilizer deep to the roots. It works. Surface fertilizer for those things takes quite a while, maybe weeks, to soak down to where it's needed.
One of my daughters likes to give me cool seeds for Christmas. Connecticut Field Pumpkins, Heritage Cukes, etc. Of course, the hassle is starting them indoors without a greenhouse. (I need one. My friend's wife had a nice one with heat, light, etc and she kept tropical lizards in it too, to eat bugs and spiders. Problem was, the small ones tended to escape outside in the summer when the vents opened so they had a good adventure of freedom until the first frost.)
We told you about Mouse Melons (aka Mexican Gherkins) in a past post. They are great, grow like weeds, perfect in salads or just to munch in the garden.
It seems the fun trial for this year will be Ground Cherries. We'll see. I guess they are in the nighshade family.
It is sort-of like Butterfly Bush, but in the northeast it lives mostly as a large perennial which often needs to re-emerge from the roots after a chilly winter, growing to 3'. Further south, it can become a large shrub/small tree.
It seems to be a very popular border plant on Cape Cod. It is a Mediterranean plant. I like it, and so do bees and butterflies.
Poison Ivy, Toxicodendron radicans, is a vine, sometimes a standing plant, which is native to and common in the entire eastern US. It's a good plant for wildlife, both leaves and berries. It likes edges, roadsides, beaches, barren areas in sun.
Only humans have reactions to Poison Ivy. People vary in their reactions to the urushriol in its sap (and leaves). Some have no reaction, some severe. I am prone to an itchy rash from contact, but Mrs. BD can develop several days of dramatic migrating hives just from patting a dog who has passed through some. Benadryl helps.
Besides patting dogs, a serious danger in Poison Ivy is inhaling smoke from burning it when burning brush. Not good to burn it.
Little-known fact: Poison Ivy is a close relative to the mango. Some people react to mango skin just as they do to Poison Ivy. Me loves Mangos, no problem.
We attended a garden party last weekend. The hostess is a serious gardener. She had so many poppies in bloom and post-bloom that I told her that I should perhaps call the cops.
Poppies are best considered annuals, but they will self-sow if left alone. In parts of Europe, red poppies are considered roadside weeds. In our wild (no horses) meadow I strewed (?) poppy seeds around many years ago, and many of them took. Now the meadow in June has some naturalized poppies amongst the wildflowers and hay.
Mrs. Salt Water New England's garden. Not sure what the plants are. Deep leaf mulch from last fall, and the black stuff. Very neat. Everything she does is neat and stylish. So are her boats.
Northwestern CT, and north into the Berkshires of Massachusetts, is one of the most charming antique parts of the USA. Rolling wooded hills, more horse farms than real farms (but still some of those). A fair share of elegant country estates. People there fuss about their gardens, are civically-engaged. It's not tattoo-land.
I'm talking about the area from Great Barrington MA down through Salisbury CT, Kent CT, Litchfield, Washington, Warren, Goshen, Woodbury, Southbury, etc. Perfect semi-rural villages, each with its dominating Congo church.
We visited the Hollister gardens again this weekend. I like the way that even their formal gardens are not manicured - sort-of random but always with good structure, good garden architecture.
Over the years, I think I have grown weary of the vegetable gardening hobby. It was more fun when the kids were young, and learned from it. Some of my pals have wonderful and attractive vegetable gardens, but it can become just a chore. I just focus on tomatoes for now. Too many other fun things to do on weekends, not to mention social duties. I focus more on shrub borders, perennial borders. I'd rather mow a meadow on a tractor, with a cold beer or two and a ceegar, than hoe a vegetable garden.
To each his or her own, I guess. I have my eye on a rural property in Litchfield County with a pond, a trout stream, meadows, and woodlands. Antique farmhouse, barns, and cottage. Trouble is, we never seem to have free weekends.
Some varieties of Serviceberry, more commonly known as Shadbush up here because it blooms during the Shad run, grow in most parts of the US and southern Canada. Some grow as shrubs, some as small trees. If you spend any time tramping outdoors, you will see them.
Some varieties are used as landscape plantings (I have used them) but most grow wild, especially in brushy edges.
The berries look somewhat like blueberries, and range from red to purple to black.
Depending on the variety, the berries can be sour or sweet. All are edible raw, and you can make jam with them too.
Serviceberry is not to be confused with the Huckleberry, also a common wild plant. Huckleberry is a common meadow edge plant.
I hate invasive species, and I have read all about foreign earthworms. However, I am not askeered of European Nightcrawlers because they seem not to be able to handle certain sorts of winters, and they will not travel far.
So every couple of years I order 2500 of these rapid breeders. If you have decent soil, to a decent depth, regularly replenished with good mulch and fallen leaves, these guys will do a good job for your borders and other gardens while feeding the worm-eaters.
All of my shrub, lawn, and vegetable gardens have been carefully prepared. No pesticides, etc, with good deep loam fortified with maure, etc. I let grass clippings lie, and fallen leaves too (until autumn). Feed the worms!
How can you tell whether your soil is lousy? If you dig up a shovel full of earth and do not find 5 or 6 wigglers, it's either not very good or it's been a rough winter for them.
They are a custardy tropical and subtropical dessert fruit. Flavor is "the Paw Paw has been described as a soft blend of banana, melon, vanilla, and pineapple". 
I was under the mistaken impression that Pansies could handle freezing temperatures because they had some sort of magic antifreeze in them the way some arctic fish do. 
It happens to be part of a Seder, but I have often grown it. It is a perennial in New England, grows like a weed, but does not spread. 
My
A reader is growing this interesting broccoli in the garden this year: 
wns are a suburban real estate necessity. They are completely artificial. They rely on irrigation, fertilizer, weed and bug chemicals. etc. Like hydroponic gardening.
Up in Yankeeland you have to start more things indoors because of the short growing season. Just those 2 weeks of germination make food-gardening (aka hobby-gardening) more difficult. 
It is sort-of like Butterfly Bush, but in the northeast it lives mostly as a large perennial which often needs to re-emerge from the roots after a chilly winter, growing to 3'. Further south, it can become a large shrub/small tree.
Poison Ivy, 
Some varieties of