Ruth Kirk, the author of “Snow“: “Snow not only insulates against low minimum temperatures but also against fluctuations. A bare soil surface may be heated by direct sunshine, then cooled in seconds as clouds pass overhead, and its temperatures often surge drastically from day to night. Snow moderates these swings and that can be a […]
winter
Odd Thing Or Two About This Late Winter Time of Year
Pink, Red, or Fuchsia? Most gardeners have gotten a catalog or two, or three…or more! Garden catalogs have their own language and after awhile one understands the lingo, but at first it can seem almost misleading. I wrote a page about deciphering catalogs a number of years ago. Garden catalog advice. Essentially the two major […]
The Night The Ice Fell
“It was a dark and stormy night”… is how my uncle jokingly started the telling of some family history as we sat in the living room, all fully aware of the storm predictions and awaiting the next sidewalk report from my husband’s periodical trek to get the next load of wood for our stove. The […]
A Curmudgeonly Gardener
It could be blamed on the time of year, or it could be blamed on being cooped up in winter’s closed quarters. Or it might be the frustrated attempts to figure out yet another snafu in the maze of computer troubleshooting. It doesn’t really matter the reason, but I find everything a bit unnerving and […]
Inspiration: getting seeds started
I recall some of the many types of containers I experimented with in starting seedlings. One of the first attempts(and I always seemed to have beginners luck with my gardening) was with empty egg cartons. Each little egg holder was filled with soil, the top closed to keep in moisture and then opened as the […]
The Year of The Big Snow
That is what I call the 2009-2010 winter. We have met records or surpassed them in snowfall this year. Listening to others I can tell I’m not alone when I say I’ve lost my infatuation with the snow. It would be different if we had bought the cross country equipment we talked about last August. […]
