About 12,000 years ago, human beings started making the long transition from gathering wild plants for food to growing those plants. As more humans turned to practicing agriculture, they probably began to do what is now known as “selective breeding”—choosing plants that were bigger, or bore tastier fruits—and sowing the seeds of those plants in … Read more
Spring comes every year and, in general, the average garden looks its best in the months of April, May and June. Green returns to the landscape, plants leap out of the earth, and the weeds haven’t had a chance to grow to the epic sizes they sometimes reach in the summer. Gardeners are also fresh … Read more
I have decided not to be gloomy about mid to late fall. Yes, the leaves are coming down from the sugar maple in my front strip faster than I can get rid of them. Yes, if I think about it, I can envision all of the icy blasts, damaging storms and winter grayness that is … Read more
Today the heat is on—literally and figuratively. The autumn equinox has passed and the end of the growing season is in sight, at least in my part of the world. The temperature has taken its first dip into the cooler fall range, though we are only in sweater territory during the day, and warmer weather … Read more
In late December many of us sing the old carol, “Lo How a Rose Ere Blooming,” but we in cold winter climates do not expect to see roses blooming in our gardens. Sometimes, though, there are exceptions. We are now heading towards late December and a rose in my garden pushed out an unexpected blossom … Read more
