In the Garden

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.

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.

Tired of mowing your lawn, but afraid to stop? What would it look like, and what would the neighbors say? I was on a panel discussing “re-wilding” the lawn on New Hampshire Public Radio recently. Here are a few of the points we discussed.

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

Like a conscientious squirrel, I put away food for the winter in August and September. I freeze and dehydrate lots of vegetables, and store some in my cool basement. Here are some tips on ways to save food for later.

Big yellow school buses are on the road again… or at least a few of them. Tree leaves in the swamps are turning red. Frost and cold weather are sneaking up on us. This year I resolve to get my garden put to bed early so that I am not wearing gloves and long johns as I cut back the daylilies and other perennials on cold, wet fall days. Here is what I am doing now – or will be soon.

CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – If I could only bring the seeds of one plant with me when exiled to a distant island, I would bring tomato seeds. Tomatoes are the center of much of my cuisine, from soups and stews to sandwiches and salads.

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.

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 Henry Homeyer CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – I’ve been growing vegetables organically all my life. I use no chemical fertilizers

When I was a boy, I always took note of cemeteries as we drove by them. I’d lost a beloved grandfather, the original Henry Homeyer, and my mother’s mom. I was taken with a shrub or small tree in cemeteries that I called either “the snowball bush” or the “cemetery bush”.