Vegetables

Green Bean Recipes

by Kathy Purdy on August 7, 2008

To northern gardeners, this time of year [March] is full of anxious pleasure. Even as they daydream about the botanical pleasures of June and July, ordinary mortals find themselves nearly defeated by the gardening deadlines that pass so swiftly in March. Extraordinary mortals--whose seeds arrived two months ago, whose windows are now full of seedlings, and who are ready to sow peas and carrots the instant the soil thaws--will suffer torments of their own when the perfections they're planning somehow fail to germinate or blossom. A garden is just a way of mapping the strengths and limitations of your personality onto the soil. It would be too much to bear if nature didn't temper a gardener's ambition or laziness with her own unsolicited abundance.
Verlyn Klinkenborg

First ripe large tomato

by Kathy Purdy on August 6, 2008

If tending a garden has meant coming under the yoke of the seasons, my capitulation is complete; it is a willed captivity, however, perhaps like any other kind of passion.
Laurie Lisle

Summer Squash

by Kathy Purdy on July 31, 2008

Speaking of extreme environments, garden-making in Greenland is said by gardeners there to require tamaviaartumik, Greenlandic for passion, ambition, and commitment.
Constance Casey in Slate (18 Apr 2008)

Fabulous Lettuce This Year

by Kathy Purdy on July 8, 2008

Getting rid of poor plants is as important as seeking out the best.
Elizabeth Lawrence

Backyard Giants: Book Review

by Kathy Purdy on October 23, 2007

Here is a landscape pronouncement of possibly dubious value: Any ilex ought to be planted in front of or below windows for winter beauty, simply because you stare out of windows so much during that season.
Joe Eck, Wayne Winterrowd in Our Life in Gardens

Colony Collapse Disorder: Are there any facts out there?

by Kathy Purdy on September 2, 2007

Every spring offers another chance to undo the damage done by winter and finally get the garden right.
Laurie Lisle

Rethinking Your Vegetable Garden

by Kathy Purdy on January 7, 2007

Men with trucks do not see new plantings when reversing or unloading, so trees must wait [to be planted] until all hard landscaping is done.
Marylyn Abbott

A Vegetable Wishlist

by Kathy Purdy on December 14, 2006

It's the gardener's job to choose those that will thrive in his or her climate, rather than trying to force the plants to grow where they're not well suited.
Nancy Ondra, in The Perennial Care Manual

Pushing the Possible

by Kathy Purdy on December 13, 2006

Gardening is only a refined form of gambling, after all. Sometimes the odds are fearfully against us; sometimes we win; but once the passion seizes us we are the victims of its fascination for life.
Neltje Blanchan

Johnny Loves Me!

by Talitha Purdy on December 1, 2006

In a lot of ways, I'm just hitting my stride, just a little more tired while striding.
Helen Yoest

Testing Seed Germination. . . what do you learn?

by Talitha Purdy on March 22, 2006

It will never rain roses. When we want to have more roses, we must plant more.
George Eliot

Answers to Betsy & Heather’s questions

by Judy Miller on February 28, 2006

I'm always pleased when the garden is neat and tidy. That's when it looks like a garden. Nature is plants and the complicated ecosystems that support them. But even the most natural of gardens is an unnatural arrangement of plants. We stamp our will upon the landscape, even those of us who prefer to work with nature. And often, like this weekend, nature stamps back. Maybe it's that dramatic tension between artfulness and chaos that keeps us coming back to the garden. Or maybe it's just the flowers and blue skies and finding two little snakes under a rock.
M. Sinclair Stevens

Potatoes

by Talitha Purdy on January 11, 2006

In the end, this may be the most important thing about frost: Frost slows us down. In spring, it tempers our eagerness. In fall, it brings closure and rest. In our gotta-go world--where every nanosecond seems to count--slowness can be a great gift. So rather than see Jack Frost as an adversary, you could choose to greet him as a friend.
Philip Harnden

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