Overwintering plants from the garden is a task the madman readily accepts. He knows that living with plants all winter means he can enjoy them in the summer. Now that the days are definitely getting longer, the madman is thinking, “Can’t wait to get these plants out of here!” He is starting to get tired…
The madman has returned from his shopping trip with all manner of celebratory items. It looks like New Year’s Eve all over again. You would think he is getting ready for the Super Bowl. But, in reality, we are celebrating the end of the Persephone period. And it’s such a big deal that we are…
The madman’s definition of a tool is “something that makes a task easier.” The better the tool, the easier the task. We consider our seed catalogs tools, but now let’s consider the other tools hanging on walls, sitting in buckets or lying around in various spots – NOT misplaced, says the madman. Mid-winter,…
We told you in an earlier blog that the seed catalogs were arriving – they began to appear around Thanksgiving. At one time they started arriving around the first week of January, but it seems they come earlier and earlier. At any rate we read them as soon as we can. A good fire, a…
If you are a gardener, one of your New Year’s Resolutions should have been to keep a gardening Journal. Or, if you are like the madman, to keep a BETTER journal. Why? Because as the madman says, “your memory is never as good as you think it is – in fact, it’s not even close.”…
Happy New Year! 2019 is going to be a fantastic year. Spent the morning vacuuming up pine needles, tossing wrapping paper and stacking boxes. Our favorite boxes are the ones with the pretty flowers – you know the ones, they are marked “Amaryllis”. Bet a bunch of you got similar boxes since they were very…
The madman came dancing up the cellar stairs a couple of days ago singing “They’re up, they’re up, they’re up.” To a visitor his actions may seem strange, but I knew he meant that some seeds had begun to sprout. To understand the significance, we have to back track to the beginning of December. Exciting…
The sun is shining, the temperature is 42˚, and the wind is calm. Looks like a perfect day for the final walk-around. Yes, we have already buttoned up the garden, but we always like to take a final stroll because try as we may, we always miss something. Like the new garden spade that got…
Yay! We are almost done gathering leaves. Most homeowners dread this time of year because they have to rake, bag and move leaves to the side of the road. Connecticut was particularly slow this year – our leaves turned late and they hung on the branches forever. When they did fall, they were…