Richard the Lionheart fueled up on spinach August 15, 2018 by Barbara Damrosch on Columnists, Home & garden, Kitchen Garden, Lifestyle I’ve never had any trouble believing that spinach made Popeye strong. Imagine what powers he might have had if it he’d eaten garden spinach instead of canned. A well grown spinach patch is beautiful: rows of lush, dark green leaves waiting to be picked and tossed in a hearty salad, or sautéed just long enough …
Grouch with the hoe indulges some self-sowers July 30, 2018 by Barbara Damrosch on Columnists, Home & garden, Kitchen Garden, Lifestyle Summer is by no means over and plans are already underway for next year’s garden. I’m not the one making them, though. It will be many months before the new seed catalogs arrive, and what with weeding and watering I haven’t had a chance to come up with a scheme for next year. The garden …
Weeding a therapeutic pastime July 9, 2018 by Barbara Damrosch on Columnists, Home & garden, Kitchen Garden, Lifestyle Say what you will about beastly, dry, hot weather, it has one virtue. The weeds don’t like it either. Their glorious season is spring, when the moist earth favors their agenda. In summer it’s not hard to dispatch them while they’re small by skimming just below the soil surface with a sharp hoe. Do this …
Bees go gaga over anise hyssop June 25, 2018 by Barbara Damrosch on Columnists, Home & garden, Kitchen Garden, Lifestyle Every now and then an obscure plant creeps quietly into my life, and makes a home for itself in my garden. After a while I wonder what I ever did without it. Anise hyssop was just such a revelation. About 25 years ago, a nurserywoman in Gaylordsville, Conn., named Kathleen Nelson, who had introduced me …
Toads are good company in the garden June 11, 2018 by Barbara Damrosch on Columnists, Kitchen Garden, Lifestyle One pleasant thing about tending a garden is the chance to spend time with wild creatures that live and work there, or are passing through. Gardeners will excitedly report a visit from a hummingbird or a pileated woodpecker. But few ever mention one of my favorites, the toad. Bulgy-eyed, warty and rather sleepy-looking as it …
Have a fruitful summer, fall May 29, 2018 by Barbara Damrosch on Columnists, Home & garden, Kitchen Garden, Lifestyle In the official language of botany, a plant is “armed” if it packs certain defensive gear. A cactus uses sharp spines — which are modified leaves — to protect itself from creatures seeking the water inside its stems. A lemon tree guards its fruit with thorns, which are modified branches. Bramble fruits such as raspberries …
Behold the blueberry bush May 14, 2018 by Barbara Damrosch on Columnists, Home & garden, Kitchen Garden, Lifestyle I’ve never had much appetite for blue food. Apart from the sky, blue is rare in nature, and even more so on the plate. A delphinium blossom or a huge, iridescent Morpho butterfly are both miracles of blueness. But I pass up those Peruvian blue potatoes in favor of golden ones, and the same goes …
Dandelions are health-giving, even life-saving April 30, 2018 by Barbara Damrosch on Columnists, Home & garden, Kitchen Garden, Lifestyle If every plant is here for a purpose, then few have as full an agenda as the dandelion. For starters, few plants announce spring with as much fanfare. Those joyous little yellow dots are everywhere you look, thanks to the plant’s talent at procreation. It needs no pollinating insect to set its fuzzy balls of …
Nasturtiums add color, texture to any dish April 16, 2018 by Barbara Damrosch on Columnists, Home & garden, Kitchen Garden, Lifestyle An old friend of mine was recalling the first time he ate a nasturtium garnish. “It didn’t taste bad, but I felt a little weird about putting it in my mouth. It was so big, and orange, and soft. Not like food. As if I were eating the napkin.” I asked him if he felt …
One potato, two potato, three potato…more! April 2, 2018 by Barbara Damrosch on Columnists, Home & garden, Kitchen Garden When the grass starts to grow, it’s time to plant potatoes, or so the old saying goes. But how many gardeners are rushing out to plant a vegetable so humble, homely, lumpy and brown? Historically, the potato is an important survival food that has seen humankind through times of war and famine. But nothing to …
