Rainy Days

Sudbury River at Saxonville – close enough Its raining, again. Third rain storm of the month. Governor Patrick asked President Obama to declare my county (among others) a disaster area, and he did. “My” river, the Sudbury River, is overflowing onto already well-saturated grounds, flooding roads and basements. As for us, we’re up here on …

Garden Snake and Other Back Yard Tales

While hacking out a stump in one of our “wild” side gardens, we scared this (harmless) garden or garter snake. He, or she, was very defensive, striking out several times and unwilling to leave the spot. So we left. Amie understood: it’s the snake’s garden too. In any case it brought home the importance of …

Comfrey on Freecycle

tomato seedlings and lovage I’ve been trying to get hold of comfrey – for compost. Neither Fedco nor Johnny’s carry the seeds, and the seeds I’ve found are expensive: $4 for 10, plus $3 shipping! I don’t think so. So I put a request for a mature plant on my local Freecycle and within 12 …

More Orders! More Bushes, Berries, and Vines

Irises (probably) in the back yard While I was spending money anyways I went ahead and ordered, from Burnt Ridge: 2x ANANASNAYA FEMALE HARDY KIWI 1x MALE HARDY KIWI /POLLINATOR 2x  PAW PAW 2x YORK ELDERBERRY (canadensis) 2x SOCHI TEA (Camellia sinensis) 1x BARCELONA HAZELNUT (Corylus avellana) 2x BUSH HAZELNUT (Corylus americana) 1x GAMMA HAZELNUT …

Currant and Gooseberry Order, and Crazy Weather

I went ahead and ordered the following from Nourse Farms, here in MA (I’m so happy to get them locally): 4x Blanca white currant 4x Rovada red currant 4x Invictus gooseberry 4x Hinnonmaki gooseberry 25 Purple passion asparagus plants 2x Samdal elderberry 25x Honeyoye strawberries All of these will go into places that are either …

Ribes (Currants and Gooseberries) in Massachusetts

You may recall that last Summer I contacted the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture about growing Ribes on our property.  He told me that I would need a grower’s license, which is a pain to apply for, and anyway the variances from white pine stands will probably disqualify our location. I asked about gooseberries, and he …

Stones, Stones, Stones

We had a glorious weekend. After 5 days of noise and dust, the patio is finished. I’ll take a picture of it once the coming rains have washed it clean. The challenge now is to level the surrounding soil and clear it of stones, stones, stones, and to grow grass and plantings around it. I …