I spent the first glorious warm day of March planting out seeds for the first of the spring garden crops. Every season has its rite-of-passage and nothing signals the birth of spring for this gardener like plunking in the faded pearls of pea seeds. A sweet return to dark crumbly soil and fresh spring air [...]

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

~Theodore Roosevelt

With the “official” first day of spring merely eleven (!) days off,  it’s a good time to plan monthly garden chores. It’s helpful to keep track of progress and record [...]

“It gives one a sudden start in going down a barren, stony street, to see upon a narrow strip of grass,

just within the iron fence, the radiant dandelion, shining in the grass, like a spark dropped from the sun.”

~Henry Ward Beecher

Every gardener has given thought at [...]

“While it is relatively easy to recognize the perennial grasses and

seed-eating sparrows as characteristic of meadows,

the ecosystems exist in their fullest sense underground.

What we see aboveground is only the outer margin of an

ecosystem that explodes in intricacy and life below.”

A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.

~Steve Martin

The skies are blue and the sun is shining and everything feels like spring! Except, of course, the snow…but it’s melting under those hot rays and the steady drip, drip of icicles tells me it won’t be long now. Spring has been [...]

Hardening off is the process in which your tender indoor-grown seedlings become adjusted to the harsher conditions of outdoor life before being planted in the ground. Harsh sunlight, drying winds and fluctuating temperatures can be quite damaging and even lethal to tender plants not prepared for life outside. To ensure the best chances for survival, [...]

“Don’t tell me the sky is the limit, there are footprints on the moon!”

Sowing seeds according to the phases of the moon is often thought of as a bit of garden folklore that’s practiced by a few and discarded as irrelevant by many. Scientists have studied the effects of the moon’s force on [...]

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside,

somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God.

Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be

and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst [...]

The time is winter as it nears its end and objects remain

snow dappled;

each flake takes hand

with its brother

until spring returns and sweeps them away.

~G.L.