Can you believe it’s already September? Another crazy, New England summer is behind us. In June, the garden looked good – the hot weather jumpstarted the madman’s transplants and his irrigation plans (remember the resolutions?) were working well. Then Mother Nature decided to override the irrigation plans and give us the third wettest July on…
The madman is celebrating. I didn’t even know he could do a cartwheel. He had been so sad for the past few weeks. Last year, the pandemic was bad enough. No Family. No Friends. (Except for FaceTime and Zoom). No band. No travel. We didn’t go out, period. Then we were told to provide social…
The madman is breathing easier these days. He’s midway into the potato harvest, and he’s liking what he’s seeing. Although potatoes are easy to grow, the madman frets over them all summer – “they are underground,” he says. “And, I can’t see what’s going on. In his potato growing history, he has found some surprises….
Do you know how many days until the first fall frost? The madman does. To him it’s a very important number and the rest of the year’s garden planning revolves around it. It didn’t used to be that way. Back at the beginning we planted in the spring and harvested through the summer. If plants…
It’s mid-July and the baby swallowtails have left the nursery plant. Seems they left all at once. At one time, we would have been concerned and blamed the birds – after all, our friend the Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) has been known to eat them. But, now, we know it’s just Mother Nature taking her…
Nights are truly warm now so moving day has arrived. The madman is moving his precious Euphorbias and other succulents to the Cactus Garden. As he walked by with a large prickly plant, I made the comment, “Wow! That’s a nice Cactus.” Wrong thing to say – he got very indignant and said, “This is…
It started with a question. “Do cucumbers and garlic get along?” The madman said, “Of course, everything gets along with the garlic.” But, I wasn’t so sure, so when I rolled my eyes, he said, “Let’s ask Jamie.” Who’s Jamie? She happens to be the head of the Focus Garden in Haddam and, in the…
Roadtrip to Elizabeth Park. The madman loves Roadtrips and the excitement of planning them. His planning usually takes days if not weeks. What to bring? How to get there? What to see? He would drive me crazy. But, when the Roadtrip is 13 miles and it takes 22 minutes to drive it, there’s not…
It was different this year. The madman has really lived up to his New Year’s Resolutions and has not tried to rush the season – sort of. But, it is now past his magic last frost date of May 15 and the long term forecast shows no frost in sight; in fact it seems warm….