Category Archives: seasonality

Snow babies

Posted on 11 April 2016 by Debra

Gardener’s spring nightmare: it snows. That’s what happened. After days of rain, snow flurries and then snow covering all those baby seedlings. Turns out the bed of snow actually saved the seedlings and seeds by insulating them from the 20 … Continue reading →

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Plant after final frost

Posted on 5 April 2016 by Debra

Seed packets always say to plant after the danger of the final frost. But when is that exactly? Despite the snow flurries and cold, frosty mornings, the ground is sufficiently warm, and the seeds adequately prepared to germinate and sprout. … Continue reading →

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What’s up, Doc?

Posted on 23 March 2016 by Debra

Last year, spring was five to six weeks slow. Spring 2016 seems to be coming more quickly than last. As you may recall from earlier posts, I plant by soil temperature, not length of day. This spring the soil is already … Continue reading →

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This year’s garlic

Posted on 6 July 2015 by Debra

This year, the garlic is slow to mature and be harvested. Usually I’m harvesting my garlic around the 4th of July but this year it’s not ripe yet for harvest and curing. Perhaps it’s the long, cool spring we’ve had. … Continue reading →

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What’s up and coming

Posted on 2 July 2015 by Debra

Cucumbers are flowering and growing wildly up the trellis. Soon there will be many varieties of cucumbers to relish.           Bush beans (here) and pole beans are flowering. Soon there will be many fillet beans to … Continue reading →

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Spring salads

Posted on 3 June 2015 by Debra

These cool, spring days are prolonging the salad greens. Lovely, tender spinach for omelettes and lettuces with herb leaves for salad. One client told me she’s serving her teenage daughters microgreen salad sprinkled with chive and borage flowers! Beautiful, nutritious … Continue reading →

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What’s up, part two

Posted on 8 May 2015 by Debra

With the rain and warm sunshine, seedlings and seeds are growing strong. Each day you can see huge growth as asparagus quadruple size, carpets of greens spring forth, soil blocks put out new leaves and fruit trees flower.     … Continue reading →

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What’s up

Posted on 6 May 2015 by Debra

Edible gardens too have perennials, plants that have a life span of more than two years. They go dormant each fall and return in the spring. The perennials are always the first up. Here’s some of what’s appearing in my … Continue reading →

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“It’s May, it’s May, the lusty month of May . . .”

Posted on 3 May 2015 by Debra

Lyrics from Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot, of course. But apropos edible gardens too. All the tiny seeds planted and watered these past weeks are beginning to poke out of the soil and grow. The fruit trees are in blossom. Bees are … Continue reading →

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And we give thanks

Posted on 29 November 2013 by Debra

On Thanksgiving, my dear friend Sam Guard shared this grace written by his father Sam Sr. My friend’s father was an agricultural writer and radio host here in Chicago.

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