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Sunday, November 18, 2018
Thursday, November 15, 2018 2:07 PM
Thanksgiving is such a straightforward holiday. It’s pretty much all about the food. No gifts, no costumes, no parades or coloring eggs
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By now, temperatures are regularly dipping below freezing and cold autumn rains with (gasp!) even a snowflake or two mixed in make venturing into the garden less than appealing. But if you haven’t cleaned up all your spent perennials . . .
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With one pumpkin-studded holiday behind us, and one coming up later this month, it’s an excellent time to figure out a way to incorporate some of that carotene-rich vegetable into some recipes. Whether you’re ready to eat those small . . .
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When fall foliage has peaked, it’s time to plant the garlic. If the pungent allium is a commonly used ingredient in your kitchen, you owe it to yourself to grow some, even if you have but a tiny patch of ground in which to do so, because . . .
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As I write this, it’s still possible to step outside and pick annual flowers for a modest bouquet. A few zinnias, marigolds, dianthus and petunias withstood autumn rains and threats of frost, but their days are sadly numbered. . . .
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For many, autumn is their favorite season. They relish the crisp mornings, brilliant foliage, bundling up in sweaters and all things pumpkin and apple. For others of us, it’s a melancholy time; we say good-bye to the gardens we’ve faithfully . . .
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This summer I experienced one of the biggest disappointments in my life, right up there with finding out there’s no Tooth Fairy. On a blisteringly hot afternoon at a New Jersey gas station, while my partner filled the gas tank I ran inside . . .
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With apple season in full swing, bags filled with bright red orbs are lined up outside both supermarkets and farm stands. Signs pop up with directions to pick-your-own orchards, and for those of us lucky enough to live in the country, an early . . .
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No pressure, but there’s just under a hundred days left until Christmas. Fortunately, with the bounty of the garden available to us, we can get a jump on some gourmet gifts from the kitchen. I feel a bit foolish churning out lots of jars of relish when . . .
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Its clouds of white blossoms cover acres of ground, tumbling over the banks of streams and verges of roads. It’s possibly the world’s most invasive plant — nickname “Godzilla weed” — allegedly responding only to massive doses . . .
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Yesterday I sat in the darkened parking lot of a big-box store that was closing for the night. As employees gathered up shopping carts, joking and calling to each other over the rattle of wheels, I looked over at the dim glow of the garden . . .
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In Texas it’s bluebonnets. The Southwest, golden poppies. Magnolias and azaleas do it for Dixie, and ferns and hellebores the Pacific Northwest. But if it’s spring in Maine, there must be tulips. Deer may munch them, chipmunks nibble the . . .
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This is it, the final days of abundance from the garden, the time we’ve waited for all season, when beans and summer squash, tomatoes and cucumbers, peppers and corn can be picked until we stagger under the weight of the overflowing . . .
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Maine has many agricultural fairs, as well as the absolutely unique Common Ground Country Fair in Unity. Common Ground remains in a category all its own, sponsored since 1977 by Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association . . .
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There’s a lot of good eating coming from the gardens right now: beans, summer squashes, snap peas, greens, lots of herbs. We’re snitching almost-ready-to-harvest garlic and onions and digging along under the mulch to feel for new . . .
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In my summer travels, I compulsively check out all windowboxes, hanging baskets, ornamental planters and pots, mentally applauding those with blossoms and foliage that spill lushly over their sides and consigning those . . .
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Many times I’ve walked down a frozen-foods aisle in a supermarket and wondered how it could be that somewhere on the planet there grew enough spinach and peas to fill and freeze endless bags and boxes. We never have enough . . .
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Despite a slow start, semi-drought and the recent heat wave, gardens are thriving. As in most years, we have our successes — during May and June we ate asparagus like it was our job — and failures: the first spinach, much prized . . .
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Everything is up and thriving in the garden and the humid heat and scattered thunderstorms of early July have shifted plant growth into overdrive. The mulched beds look tidy, peas climb their supports and garlic scapes are spiraling . . .
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So-called traditional Fourth of July food is red, white and blue — strawberry and blueberry pie topped with stars- and-stripes crust, compotes and trifles of strawberries and blueberries layered with whipped cream or custard — desserts that are served . . .
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Last week,when traveling south through New England, we saw multiflora roses blooming everywhere: spilling down banks, climbing trees, and filling the air with their scent. It’s not easy to hate these invasives; their delicate white blossoms . . .
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