June 2003

Just in case you're too busy enjoying summer, I'd like to point out to you that many fall bulb catalogs have deadlines coming up. If you order before the deadline, you get a discount that, while not stupendous, might offset some, or all, of the shipping cost for you. Odyssey Bulbs and Brent and Becky's [...]

Every visitor to my garden this spring has asked me, "What's that plant?" and I always have to answer, "It's, um, a weed. A speedwell, I think." And the reply is always, "Well, it sure is pretty." It sure is. That's why I haven't pulled it. Honest. Actually, it's done blooming now, but for my [...]

A few weeks ago, my husband brought to my attention a lone specimen of a pink flowering shrub growing alongside the road a few miles from our house. It looked pretty and smelled nice, and my curiosity was piqued. A quick perusal of Wildflowers of New York in Color (William K. Chapman [Editor], et al) [...]

Relatively speaking, that is. The other day I was feeling so smug for getting my peas in early. Everyone else is complaining about their peas rotting from all this rain, but I got mine in before the rain. Now, they're just about finished blooming and there's a lot of little pods on them. Then, I [...]

We have been having plentiful rain, which after so many dry years feels like luxury. And the plants do look luxurious, weeds included, of course. I have been enjoying the spectacular flowers of June. First came the Oriental poppies. I have the traditional flaming scarlet ones paired with Campanual glomerata 'Joan Elliot,' a deep, rich [...]

There's nothing that makes a gardening mother happier than to see her offspring sport their own green thumbs. In addition to Talitha's big vegetable garden, Cadie, Collin, Evan, Justin, and Owen all have smaller patches of ground they are tending, and Caleb (age 3) has a container garden. My 21 year old son Rundy has [...]

--I replanted my squash and cucumbers. Not a single seed had sprouted. This doesn't seem like a good sign to me, but this afternoon I dutifully replanted and hope the reason for no sprout was only because of the cold weather. --I cleared out my corn plot this afternoon. I hope to plant tomorrow. I [...]

Jane Milliman of Upstate Gardeners Journal has set up a discussion forum for all of us upstaters. It could become a great place to exchange the specialized knowledge that comes from gardening in one place for several years, but only if you register and put your 2 cents in. So do it!

First it was the windy day that blew a wheelbarrow over on top of my best tomatoes. Not, of course, on my over 200 nicotiana, but on my tallest, biggest tomatoes. Then there was the night it was supposed to get down to 39 degrees and actually got down as low as at least 34; [...]