It’s winter and gardening season feels like it will never arrive. During the long winter months I “bring my garden inside”. I always have fresh flowers in my home, on the window sills and dining room table. The asiatic lily is a beautiful flower that I use often but you need to watch out for their pollen pods. Take a look at this video tip to learn why…
Okay, so maybe our last garden update was perhaps a tad morbid. I’d had a bad day. It turns out that it was also a little premature. The garden is full of surprising late bloomers! Mary’s area has had a nice early fall rejuvenation! Some of the cosmos I grew from seed took a while to get going and grew to be very tall, without blooming. Until now! And we’re getting several large tomatoes and dozens of cherry tomatoes every week. They make a great snack while watering.
It was at least a week after Sandy before I even gave our fig tree a thought. This was surprising, considering how much I loved my fig tree. But we were so busy being cold and cleaning out the basement that the backyard was not on our minds. But when we finally did check out my beloved fig tree, things didn’t look good. There was a grayness, probably from the salt water that seemed to cover the leaves. We had a particularly abundant crop the summer before and now it seemed […]
Summer is wrapping up and the evidence is visible… The echinacea looks beautiful even as its flowers are dying. Maybe I should try a dried flower DIY project with them. The leaves on my grapefruit mint are turning red, unexpected and delightful. I picked this up and others like it at Green Village Used Clothing & Furniture. If you have patience, this thrift store is a gem.
We have so much basil – I really need to start making pesto with this! It’s harvest season. We have a rat munching on our tomatoes (not cool). It makes perfect sense, since Ridgewood has been overrun by them this year. My theory is that our intruder scales the climbing vines on our building and makes his (or her) way up to the RD for a midnight snack. Considering I rarely see squirrels on our block, I’m 90% sure it’s a rat. Urban gardening is not easy, gosh! We have a […]
I remember my Grandma Pauline having a beautiful fake flower garden in her backyard in Bellerose, Queens. Here arrangements surrounded a statue of the Blessed Mother and around that was a large lot of white gravel. Sometimes my sisters and I would pick out the weeds between the gravel for fun and to surprise Grandma. She loved our efforts and rewarded us with sandwiches on white bread. Whenever I pass by a fake flower garden in my neighborhood, I always stop and think of Grams standing in her driveway, peeking at us playing […]
I saw a grapevine growing up a telephone wire above the ghost yard, and no one believed me. “Look closely– you can see ten or fifteen bunches of grapes!” Eventually, I convinced all the “hataz”. Take a look. They actually look really good. Paula hopes they will continue to grow up the wires and land themselves onto the RD so she can have a perpetual supply of grapes and grape leaves. This picture shows that potential path. The grapes are currently on the diagonal wire closest to the building. The […]
Weird ants (I think) keeps eating or living in my echinacea and the flowers are deformed as a result – ugh! We did some googling but didn’t come up with any leads… This is a bit concerning, my shrub may be dying. I received it two years ago from a neighbor who was moving out and didn’t want to take it along. I’ve tried pruning it and adding in more soil but it keeps turning more and more brown. I’m thinking it may need to be repotted. Suggestions welcome on how to save […]
This post is primarily about baby fruits, of which there seem to be many on the deck! This is a dark cherry varietal we bought as a seedling. But we’re more excited about the Roma plants we grew from seed — they’re also fruiting! I’m so proud of them. We also have baby eggplants, and baby Italian peppers! And while this isn’t technically part of our garden, the pear tree two yards over is beginning to fruit. I have a feeling Paula will work up the gumption to ask them […]
Our yellow coneflowers are in bloom! Actually some of them have a beautiful rich orange center. I love these flowers – they’re perennials that require little care and thrive with minimal water – perfect for planting in the cinder blocks. Speaking of water, our largest tomato plant suffered damage from the rainstorms last week. This is partly my fault, I didn’t have her staked. Luckily she’s not dead! I’m watching closely now and I have all the branches secured. I could have sworn this hydrangea bush was blue… but then I […]
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