It's hot, really hot. So, what's the best way to garden during a heat wave? Do what comes naturally: As little as possible. Here are a few things to avoid. Don't fertilize. Plant growth slows during a heat wave. Don't mistake this as a call for more nutrients. Fertilized plants require more water, and over-fertilizing can stress plants that already have enough to cope with. Don't prune. Pruning should be left until the temperatures drop. Anything that causes plants to lose moisture is best avoided. Don't over-water. Too much water can damage plants. Don't water every day. The exception to …
When I lived in small town Michigan, a commonly told joke was that the only time people locked their car doors was in the summer for fear that they'd return to find bags of zucchini in the back seat. If you've ever had a zucchini patch, you can probably understand the impulse. This prolific summer squash grows quickly. Just two healthy plants can yield at least one fruit every day. When you're cooking anything every day for two months, it doesn't take long to run out of ideas. That's where a book like The Zucchini Houdini comes in handy. Over 100 recipes, ranging from zucchini crab cake …
My husband, Bill, doesn't have the time or interest for gardening that he once did, but during the month of July his favorite corner of the yard is the raspberry patch. Every day after work (and sometimes before), he checks for ripe berries. Occasionally I'll pick a bowlful for him if he's running late, but otherwise I leave the raspberries alone. I know the value of snack patches and summertime ritual. When I remember childhood summers, I recall eating peas right from the shell and tomatoes still warm from the sun. We also had apples and cherries and a lone, aging plum tree that produced …
Last week I purchased three Asiatic lilies that were just coming into bloom. The plants looked healthy and they were covered with buds. As I removed them from the pots, however, I noticed a couple of small red beetles hiding just under the soil line. Anyone who has battled lily beetles knows the significance of discovery. They are prolific little pests who produce several generations of offspring in a single summer, voracious eaters who feast on the leaves, buds, and flowers of your Asiatic and Oriental lilies, leaving you with a well-chewed stem. Before you add potted lilies to your garden…
The other day I put a fan in my office window to take advantage of the dip in temperature. The combination of a lovely breeze and the sound of rain made me want to light a candle and put a potted plant on my desk so my work space would have all four elements: wind, water, fire, and earth. But I'm a full-time, freelance writer and no one cares what I do in my home office. If your place of employment is not conducive to, say, wearing a medieval chemise to work if you're behind on laundry and lack other options, you'll need subtle ways to bring touches of your garden into the office. One of my…
I have a special fondness for pink-flowering trees, and after 12 years in Barrington, I know where most of the prettiest ones live. During the spring, I adjust my walking and driving routes to maximize the pink tree experience. Because I derive such enjoyment from other people's gardens, I'm always pleased when someone mentions they make a point of walking by to see what's happening in mine. Every garden is a neighborhood garden. A neighbor's oak tree is a source of beauty and shade, as well as home to several families of goldfinches. Another neighbor has a Japanese maple that turns color …
Every back yard gardener knows the vast difference between a freshly picked tomato and what's available in the supermarket. I recently learned that the difference in honey can be just as dramatic. Two weeks ago, we bought a jar of Aquidneck Honey at the "White Church" farmers' market, which is open on Saturdays from 9 am to noon. This is wonderful stuff. It smells like a bouquet of wildflowers, and the flavor is so vivid that you can almost taste the individual flowers. I admire people who are passionate about what they do so, even before I knew how good the honey was, I enjoyed chatting …
Herbs are a particular interest of mine. I grow a variety of herbs and use them in cooking and tisanes, but I'm not as innovative as I'd like to be, nor do I make full use of the herbs I grow. There are stacks of excellent books, cookbooks, and magazines on this topic, not to mention all the information available online. But I find that a lot of it is goes into territory that might give Martha Stewart pause. What I need is a inspiration, not intimidation. I found it yesterday on the magazine shelves of Barrington Books on County Road. The July issue of The Herb Companion is out, and it's …
When I think of favorite childhood foods, I remember the yellow plums that grew on the hill behind our house, peas eaten right from the pod, and summer corn. My husband, Bill, gets nostalgic about his grandmother's strawberry shortcake. Rachel Cunningham lived on a small farm in New Brunswick, one of the Maritime provinces of Canada. She was a remarkable country cook, and her version of shortcake meant hot biscuits, fresh cream, and tiny woodland strawberries. When Bill moved to the states as a child, he encountered commercial strawberries for the first time. Initially impressed by the size …
One of my favorite local nurseries is The Farmers Daughter on Route 138 in Kingston, a few miles from the University of Rhode Island. I frequently stop there on my way back from URI and I almost always find something new and interesting. Recent acquisitions include a little pot of patchouli. I've always loved the scent of patchouli, but it never occurred to me to grow it. In fact, this is the first time I saw patchouli "on the hoof" -- alive and kicking. My first impulse was to plant it next to the lavender. And, gardening being the ever-expanding addiction that it is, my next thought …
Cilantro is one of my favorite herbs. It’s great in salads and indispensible to Bobby Flay’s recipe for fish tacos. My favorite use for cilantro, however, is homemade salsa. The problem with cilantro is that it bolts in hot weather, just about the time your tomatoes and hot peppers are ripening. I know two ways to get around this: first, plant a little cilantro every couple of weeks to keep the supply of young leaves coming; second, buy a pot of Vietnamese cilantro and harvest leaves all summer long. I discovered Vietnamese cilantro last spring at the Haines park farmer’s market. Oakdale…
I like a good burger as much as the next omnivore. I appreciate the atavistic appeal of cooking over an open fire, the rituals that attend certain times of year. There's something deeply satisfying about breaking out the grill for Memorial Day weekend. And I really, really like the smell of barbeque sauce. Unfortunately, I'm also fond of breathing. In a densely settled town such as Barrington, the act of firing up hundreds, possibly thousands, of outdoor grills does dire things to the air quality. During last year's Memorial Day weekend, a visible haze hung over the town, and the air was …
Now that May's full moon has come and gone, Barrington gardeners will be planting warm-weather seedlings such as eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes. Be careful where you plant though. One of the easiest gardening mistakes is putting out these seedlings too soon. But where you plant them is almost as important as when you plant them. "Companion planting" -- putting compatible plants near each other -- can improve the health of your soil as well as your veggies. "Carrots Love Tomatoes" is a great introduction to companion planting. The bookis available in the Barrington library, with several …
I was a little surprised to learn that the average American kid can recognize over 1,000 corporate logos but can't name 10 back yard plants and animals. It's unrealistic to expect kids to care about the environment if their only experience with the natural world is playing soccer on a big patch of grass. Getting your kids engaged with the world around them doesn't require special equipment or weekends backpacking on the Appalachian trail. There's a great opportunity right now at Brickyard Pond. Canada Geese are hatching. This weekend I saw two very new families of geese feeding alongside the…
Several years ago, I visited Spokane, Wash., while on a west coast book tour. As it happened, my book signings were scheduled for lilac week. Lilacs are everywhere in Spokane. The air is so perfumed with them that you almost expect the sky to be pale purple. When I think of Spokane, I think of lilacs. We lived near Washington, D.C. for several years so, of course, we headed down every spring at the height of cherry blossom season. When I think of Washington in the spring, I envision the tidal basin surrounded by pink trees. We spent four years in Michigan. Cherries grow extremely well there…
A woman I frequently see at the Bayside Family YMCA showed up one morning with orange legs. Seriously, if you were picking out a Crayola to sketch her, you would pass over Tan and Tumbleweed and go straight for Mango Tango. I don't get it. The desire to change one's skin color is something I never really understood. Intellectually, I comprehend that implied social standing underlies notions of what is attractive. A pale complexion was once prized because it declared women to be pampered ladies of leisure Now that most people work indoors, tanned skin signals leisure time and therefore …
When I was a kid, no one had allergies. We had "spring colds" that came every year, right around the same time. When people who made it through the winter without a sniffle got sick as the weather warmed and the trees budded, we shrugged it off as one of life's little ironies, or assumed they went out dressed too lightly for the changeable weather. Today, it seems that everyone has allergies. I'm not sure how much of that is due to changes in the environment and in people's immune systems, and how much of it comes down to calling a spade a spade. Whatever the case, there are several things…
Time is a painfully finite resource. For most of us in Barrington, so is gardening space. An important aspect of gardening is deciding how to allocate these scarce resources. If you're thinking of planting asparagus, here's a few things to consider. Since this is a perennial plant, you need to dedicate a permanent spot in a sunny location. Expect to wait three years for your first harvest. Crowns are planted in the fall, but the first sprouts to come up must be allowed to grow, gather energy, and send off shoots. By the third spring, the plants will be well -established, but you must …
I'm a self-taught gardener. I read, observe, and experiment. Some of those experiments work out; others, such as the miniature grove of bamboo we planted one year and battled for the next five, do not. This year's experimentation focuses primarily on asian vegetables and herbs: miniature pak choi (chinensai), napa cabbage (kokusai), two kinds of mustard leaves (hatakena and karshina), mizuna, some Thai basil (bai horapa), and two kinds of shiso. I'm also going to try strawberry spinach (Chenopodium Capitatum), an upright and very attractive plant that would be a great addition to a garden …
The other day I went into the kitchen for a cup of tea and saw a Turkish angora cat exploring my back yard. It's a lovely cat, pure white with a plumy tail. Occasional sightings of this kitty along the bike path are a highlight of my morning walks. Hey, some people bird watch. I happen to like cats. What I do not like, however, is cats digging in my gardens. This became even more of an issue when I expanded from flowers beds into vegetable gardening. Some of my neighbors offered helpful suggestions about how I could keep their cats out of my gardens. "Feel free to turn the hose on him," one …
