LIKE THE SQUIRRELS who are criss-crossing the yard with acorns and corncobs and more to stash, I’m busy, too. A list of inspirations on things you might tackle this weekend–and happy Labor Day!
As vegetable beds or portions of beds come empty, sow cover crops, growing “green manure” to build soil health organically.
Get after mice and voles (but never with mothballs!), before they set up winter housekeeping with you.
Make easy herbed salts (great as gifts!) or flavored vinegars (ditto). Freeze some herbs while you’re at it.
Get ahead of the green-bean glut: Freeze some in red sauce. (No kidding; they’re great that way.)
Fight crabgrass by managing it smartly now, and reduce areas of lawn compaction where other weeds thrive.
Make your own yogurt. (Save money, and stop wasting all those plastic tubs that store-bought comes in.)
Bake a peach (or plum, or nectarine, or raspberry…) clafoutis. Easy, yet elegant. (Freeze some more peaches along the way.)
Get ready for fall (or next spring) planting: Make a bed with cardboard or newsprint, smothering weeds or turf easily.
Pickles! Will yours be refrigerator dills, or old-fashioned bread and butters?
Make tomatillo “jam” (I put it on grilled cheese or other sandwiches)…
…or perhaps Deborah Madison’s romesco sauce (nuts, peppers, tomatoes, herbs and more), a Spanish recipe that goes way beyond mere condiment status.
Fill the freezer with garden-to-table soups, like these three that incorporate all your garden goodness.
Root-prune around tomato plants if they’re not looking inclined to ripen before even cooler weather comes on (it was 48F here this week!).
Instead of whistling while you work, listen to some of my archive of radio podcasts (what? you don’t already subscribe free on Stitcher or
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Today we celebrate Earth Day for the 46th time since U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson suggested the idea for a national day focusing on the environment. After its first celebration on April 22 1970 in the US, Earth Day has grown into a worldwide environmental movement raising awareness of serious issues such as pollution, global warming, deforestation and the detrimental effect of urbanised societies on the environment.
A fad in modern architecture and gardening or a necessity to bring back nature into industrialised densely built urban landscapes? Living green walls are becoming more and more popular, so we decided to explore the benefits, installation and maintenance process of these structures. Read on to find out how long they have been around, why so many buildings are having them, and how you can make one for your home.
…well, one bee, although there were several on the echinops above, E Arctic Glow’, when I was trying to take a photograph, but they wouldn’t stand still or long enough! The garden, is, however, currently swarming with bees and butterflies, which is good to see.
In Yorkshire we are lucky to have several gardens designed using the theme of a Himalayan Garden. The Hut near Ripon at Grewlthorpe is  ‘The Himalayan Garden’ with all the plants you would expect in such a setting including
After salad crop failures in Spain and shortages of courgettes, broccoli and other ‘long distance’ vegetables gardeners could to worse than focus on traditional and non-traditional root crops.
Britain has some of the best gardens in the world. The choice of which to visit is far larger than this selective list but at least it gives you somewhere to start planning this years outings.
In the cold wet winter it is a good time to plan where to visit as the year improves. The South West is the obvious place to start your visiting tour of gardens containing exotic plants.
China is one of the great destinations for visiting gardens. The influence over garden design and the vast array of plants and flowers is secondary to the investment in time and dedication demonstrated in so many great locations. This is just a selection of those you may consider visiting if you can make the journey..
Peace is not just the absence of war it can be a reflection of a personal inner tranquility. To many gardeners peace may be a state of harmony with nature. It is a theme of several ‘hard landscape’ projects and sculptural works as shown by the selection of Peace gardens below.
The seeds of Islamic gardens grew from Persian gardens that were created to be oasis in the desert. Islam spread the sphere of influence to India, Turkey, and Spain from the Taj Mahal to Alhambra.
Holland Park has some Zen like features but fails my Zen test. The classic elements of a successful Zen are stone, sand or gravel, water, plants and space. Then there is a question of balance between yin and yang. Cramped or cluttered gardens inhibit the flow of spirit so space is potentially the key ingredient of a Zen garden.
Not what you would expect for a garden called ‘The Phoenix Garden’ in the middle of Tottenham Court Road near Crown Point. It isn’t a phoenix from the ashes of a great fire or a WW11 bomb site at but was built on a disused car park in the 1980s. It may be part of an overflowing burial ground for St Giles-in-the-field church back in the 1600s and is reputed to be the last surviving Covent ‘Garden’. The entrance is located in St Giles Passage