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The Sunchoke Adventure
Sunchokes in the empty lot up the street put on a striking display in late summer and early fall. That was a long, satisfying adventure! Adventure? My Sunchoke Adventure started in 2009 and reached a...
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Spontaneous Apple Branch
At a casual glance, this photo shows a stick with a small branch. I deliberately shot from an angle that provides clues about the branch’s true nature. I assembled some apple trees this spring, but...
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November 2015 Bloom Day
One of two annuals still abloom in my garden: a volunteer pak choi plant probably self-seeded from one of last year’s volunteers. Several of these popped up in random places throughout my various...
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Sweet Pepper Relish Service Variation
Sweet pepper relish on cream cheese makes an attractive addition to an hors d’oeuvres table. Learn how to make your own at my blog post, Red Pepper Relish from Your Home Kitchen Garden My...
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Basil Forever!
Among the things left by a vendor packing up after a hort industry trade show was a modest basil plant that I set under lights on my ping-pong table. I attended a horticulture industry conference in...
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Frost Flowers for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day
My lilac bush last flowered many months ago. Five days ago, freezing temperatures and saturated air combined to decorate every lilac twig with water crystal blossoms. I seriously cheated for Garden...
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Farmer and a Cow
When I was a kid, the farmer up the street raised a serious question about cows’ diets. My daughter—my youngest child—headed off to Argentina this morning. She’s a sophomore in college and will spend...
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Horseradish Sauce! (Relish?)
I dug about a foot into the soil and still had to pull the roots of my horseradish plant. These are just over a foot long and I don’t know how much broke off in the ground. Remember when I said you...
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Winter Not Here, Too
For contrast, behold December 14, 2014. This wasn’t the first snow of that season. In fact, we’d had an otherworldly freeze in November that foreshadowed the miserable sustained cold to come. Nearly...
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Cold and Snow in my Small Kitchen Garden
No 2016 Seed Giveaway Apologies to anyone looking for my annual seed giveaway. I’ll be out of commission during the critical weeks where I’d organize mailing lists, package and label seeds, and put...
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Food Photo 1: Pineapple and Quince Jellies
I keep seeing members of my social network posting photos in response to one or another challenge, but no one has invited me to play. Oh, well. The contest looks like a great excuse to highlight some...
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Food Photos 2 through 7
I love to make pies! This one was an experiment about a month before Thanksgiving. It’s an apple pie sweetened with a combination of white chocolate and quince jelly and it tasted fine. More than 12...
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Bloom Day Photo Challenge
Back in August and September, I started telling the story of my Community Garden experience: Small Kitchen Garden Goes Community and Tilling in the No-Till Garden. Many long-time renters at the garden...
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Landscapes Photo Challenge
Some awesome landscapes feature buildings, and then there’s this one. I passed the scene dozens of time driving to and from my community garden plot in 2015, but I’d already grabbed photos in winter....
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Waterscapes Photo Challenge (and Spring Planting)
I try to keep my main planting bed covered in leaves through the winter. In spring, it’s fairly easy to rake the leaves aside and scrape furrows in the moist soil to hold pea seeds. This year, my wife...
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A Patch of Sundrops
A lot of what’s in my dad’s garden was there when he moved into his apartment. There’s a boxwood on each side of his entrance walk and an impressive assortment of hostas for such a small space. At...
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Bloom Day in April, 2016
The first blossom in my garden this year was a hellebore. Of four varieties, one was in bloom in December and held its blossoms through January. The hellebore in this photo opened as the crocuses...
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Kalanchoe is (Nearly) Indestructible
Framed against a dirty, south-facing basement window that will soon be blocked by the foliage of outdoor plants, these kalanchoe blossoms exist against all odds. The kalanchoe plants blossom nearly...
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Cardoon After All
By autumn of 2015, I had three very healthy cardoon plants in my garden. I had a mistaken understanding that the plants would produce distinctive stems to harvest—perhaps the stalks on which blossoms...
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My Plot at the Union County Community Garden
This one’s not at the community garden. My wife did some prep in the home garden, and I planted three double rows of peas. She erected trellises, and we’ve had at least two rabbit incursions, but...
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