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Garden

Garden Delays

   Well, here we were, planning to seed our pumpkins, squash, and watermelon today, as well as put in the pepper seedlings.  Then I looked at the germination temperatures on the backs of the packages and the weather forecast and did the usual thing:  we’ll be planting next week, or later.  We usually end up […]

Safe, Effective, Almost-Free Bug Spray

  A few days ago, my husband came inside asking, “What do we do for tent caterpillars?”  He was worried because one of our apple trees was covered with them.    Well, first of all, I should be inspecting our trees every day or two.  This is no chore, since the trees are so beautiful […]

Fiddlehead Feasts

    Late in April, ostrich ferns pop out of the ground in the woods behind our house.  They start off tightly curled and slowly unfurl into magnificent fronds.  While they are still curled up they are a gourmet delicacy, among spring’s earliest wild foods.  Our grocery store sells them in season for an outrageous price […]

Free Organic Super Veggies: Dandelions and Nettles

  When spring comes, the greens in the grocery store look unappealing compared to the ones growing out on our lawn — our own spring vegetables, organic, local, home-grown, and super healthy.  And they are ready to eat before the garden is even planted!   Yes, you guessed it, we weed (our lawn and garden) and […]

This Year’s Seedlings

This evening we were finally ready to finish planting our seedlings.  We have 10 geraniums, 10 stevias,  8 tiny tim tomatoes, scores of petunias and hot peppers, as well as hundreds of oregano, tomato, marigold, and winter savory plants.  The geraniums are already up and each one is growing its second true leaf with its crescent of dark color on the green.  […]