It's a melancholy thing, putting the garden to bed. Never mind the heartbreak of hacking back, uprooting, burning, and composting plants that were so lovingly nurtured. I can think of no more poignant herald of the long, cold months to come.
But gardeners are optimists by nature, and no sooner have I finished tearing down a season's effort than I've begun preparing and planning for another round. Maybe it's just a sophisticated form of denial.
Continue reading "Garden’s End" »

There can't be an easier crop to grow than garlic, nor one that brings as much satisfaction at harvest time. Stick some cloves into the ground in November, feed it a few times in June, and come July the dirt rewards you with fat glorious heads of Vitamin G. You just can't buy garlic like this. Well, not unless you know a garlic farmer.
Continue reading "Yes Sir, Yes Sir – Three Beds Full" »
You'd never guess it from the weather today, but we've had a mercifully early spring. Last year, it was almost the middle of June before the trees were fully leafed out. This year, they were almost a month ahead of that. I've gotten a good start on the garden already (last year, I didn't plant until the third week in June).

The boxes TJ built for the first raised beds 6 years ago were starting to crumble with rot, so he built new ones – this time out of hemlock, which has a natural resistance to insects and rot. The wood is from a local mill, rough cut, so even though we couldn't get the 2 x 10 boards we used last time, stacking 2 x 6s that are a full 2 x 6 inches (instead of the frail 1.5 x 5.5 of “finished” lumber) gives us new boxes that are taller, beefier, and much grander seeming. The three beds full of garlic (above, in the foreground) will have to wait until after harvest for replacement.
Continue reading "Here We Go Again" »
I've got to get a post up before the 8th of the month, or I'm going
to start looking like a real loser. I don't even have a good excuse
this time – I've just been kicked back and enjoying a few weeks free of
responsibility. I've been cooking up a storm; it's a complete disgrace
that I haven't posted. So I'm making a commitment to myself and my
readers: a post a day for the next week. There.
Let's start with the
garden. It's doing quite well, considering what a challenge the weather
has been this summer. Cold and dry to start – everybody planted late.
My main crops went in a full 3 weeks later than usual. It was warm and
sunny for a brief period, but it's mostly just rained. My lettuces
bolted before they even set heads, then rotted around the bottoms. Most
everything else has grown impressively – I had a fine crop of pickling
cukes, and the winter squash have been greatly productive. The pepper
plants are getting loaded up; even the poblanos (which are hit or miss
in this climate) – they seem to love all the rain, and they're flowering like
mad and setting a lot of fruit. The tomatoes plants are heavy with
green fruit, but if we don't start to get some warm sunny days SOON to
start ripening them, I'll be looking at piles of bloated, rotten green
tomatoes.
Pictures of the garden and a list of what's in it follow after the jump.
Continue reading "Garden Report: August 7th" »

Hard to believe, but it's almost that time again. Winter held on pretty tight until a few days ago, but the sun finally came out and it warmed up to seasonal levels – and all that snow finally started to melt away in earnest. If you can imagine, the chair in the garden was totally buried in snow for a good part of the winter.
Planning the garden is one of the things that keeps me from going nuts during the long grey cold months. Seed companies have it just right that they start mailing their catalogs just after the first of the year – they know forlorn housebound gardeners will leaf through the pages of bright photographs and lusty descriptions and drive themselves mad with desire for green leaves and dirt. And then order lots of seeds.
Continue reading "Garden Report: April 8" »
Jaune Flammée d'Orange. It's the name that does it. Or maybe its flawless beauty. Or maybe its perfect tomato taste. Put them all together, and this tomato gets my vote for The One Tomato I'd Grow If I Could Grow Only One.
Continue reading "Hot Tomato" »

I've been thinking a lot about how off it might seem that I post so much about gardening on a blog that's supposed to be about cooking, and that I post so little about cooking (or that I post so little at all). The truth is, cooking and gardening occupy approximately the same coordinates in my firmament. If I lived in a place with a milder climate, and could garden for more than the few fleeting months allotted us in the hills of Vermont, my blog might easily have been called “A Constant Gardener”. I often fantasize about having my own paradise, overgrown with flowering plants and exotic fruits. But I suspect I'd tire of it, and I'd miss the snow.
Continue reading "Garden Report: August 12th" »

The garden's just about growing out of control; I finally had some time over the weekend to catch up on chores – cultivating to keep weeds down, pruning the tomatoes, spraying for caterpillars, culling overgrown greens, pinching the basil, fertilizing. It rained like hell this morning, but a break in the rain this afternoon offered delicious light for taking some pictures. I love just hanging out in the garden; I can (and do) spend hours examining the tiniest wonders there.
Continue reading "Garden Report: July 18" »