In the Garden

by Henry Homeyer CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – This is a good time to be outdoors exploring the fields and woods.

Our gardens are put to bed for the winter: veggie stalks are pulled and composted, perennials are cut back, weeds pulled, leaves raked. Everything is a snug as a bug in a rug. But I’m not done quite yet – and you might have a few chores to do before deep snow arrives, too.

By now many of us are providing seeds to the neighborhood birds. Of course the seeds we provide are just a part of the diet of a wild bird. It’s important to grow a diverse selection of native trees, shrubs and perennials to help provide shelter and nesting places for our wild friends, and to provide food all year long.

I love the holiday season: the lights, the carols, the cookies, and more. It’s a good antidote to the news, and to the gray and chilly weather. Last summer many gardening necessities sold out as so many people were quarantined at home and took to gardening.

CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – I’ll have to admit that I see many fewer volcanoes of mulch snuggling up to trees in public places.

CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – Winter is near, and, for most of us, so are the deer.

CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – I think it’s important to take time to count my blessings. I try to take time each day to reflect on how grateful I am for living the life I do. And on a sunny afternoon near Thanksgiving I like to sit outside and reflect on everything I have to be grateful for.

CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – November is the gloomiest month of all. It’s cold and raw, but usually without enough snow to cross-county ski on. It rains nearly every day or seems like it does.

Granted, I have a vegetable garden mainly so I can have fresh, succulent tomatoes from July until sometime in October. But I also have grown, I think, all vegetables that will grow in our climate. Right now, in late October, my saved tomatoes are all eaten, but I am enjoying plenty of other fresh veggies, and I am storing others for eating later.

CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – When I was growing up, my mom served meat and potatoes nearly every night. Our vegetable was peas or cooked carrots, and once a week or so we had an iceberg lettuce salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots with dressing from a bottle. So I don’t really know how I developed a taste for complex flavors. But I grow and cook with a lot of garlic, and find it adds depth and intensity to soups and stews. Now is the time to plant some for next year.

CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – Summer has faded and gone. Autumn’s foliage does compensate, somewhat, for the dearth of flowers, but a few of my trees and shrubs (and several perennials) bloom in October, and I treasure them.