Hooray! The Madman goes to Maine – our first road trip since COVID grounded us in 2020. As you may recall, we made plans instead of resolutions this year. As so often happens, life got in the way and kicked our plans to the side, but we’re back. When planning we said we would not…
The madman is still walking around with his box of seeds. Maybe he’s afraid Coyote will come in and steal them, but that Native American legend comes from the west, not Connecticut. The Coyotes here give him a wide berth. It’s the last day of May – some seeds are planted; some are still soaking,…
Congratulations! You started a pandemic Victory Garden in 2020. And, you kept it going in 2021. Now, it’s 2022 and, if you’re anything like the madman, you are ready to try some new vegetables. Perhaps you just want to go beyond tomatoes and cucumbers. Well, the madman has a couple of suggestions that aren’t totally…
It’s a perfect plant for the landscape. In the spring, it leafs out before other shrubs. It produces an abundance of red berries for the birds. Thanks to its thorns, it is deer resistant. It spreads easily and can form a dense barrier to keep animals or children in or out. And it requires very…
According to the madman’s calculations, this is the 100th blog we shared. Like grandson Liam says, doing anything 100 times is “crazy.” His brother Patrick quickly chimes in, “real crazy.” But, crazy or not, we did it. In honor of this feat, we are going to offer up the gardening tips we love the best….
We finished the first project of the spring. I didn’t think it would go as easily as it did – especially after we discovered the first worm. Our task was simple. Clean out the section between the new succulent beds in the front of the house and the path. At one time, this area was…
Now that it’s Day Light Savings time, the madman is seeing more of the sun. That makes him happy. Watching him follow the sun across the sky reminds me of that Greek myth. You know, the one about Clytie, the sunflower and Helios, or is it Apollo? Those myths sure can get confusing. Some say…
Celebrating an important birthday. The madman loves a party. Who else celebrates the birthday of a National Park – especially one whose roads are mostly closed to everything except over-snow vehicles? The official birthday was a week ago but he’s still celebrating. I suspect that’s because the birthday coincided with the diminishing specter of COVID….
Here we go again with the madman and his bugs! He just found his third Stink Bug lumbering through the upper canopy of a citrus plant! He panicked. Unusual for him. Generally he just sucks them up with his bug vacuum and releases them near the outdoor fire pit. He learned the hard way not…