November Gardening

jclifford 11/5/2011
[5] comments

A final day of weather above sixty degrees came yesterday afternoon, and the low afternoon light amplified the color of the leaves still hanging on the trees around my house. I divided dianthus, moved a rooted cotoneaster, dug up turf …

read more
Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Make a Green Man… Naturally

Jim Cook 9/11/2011
[0] comments

Why make a Green Man for your garden from a base of polymer clay or papier mache mix or plastic resin or concrete? Such a creation may be many things, but it isn’t made out of what it’s meant to …

read more
Posted in Gardening, Video | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Five Plants To Lose Time By

Rowan 8/21/2011
[4] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/grassseedheads.jpg

Japanese maple for the light filtering through the overlapping leaves Tall grass for the separation between the leaves and the seed heads Mint for its mist of pollinators Catalpa for the absurdly large beanness of it Apple for the deer …

read more
Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

In Summer, Fall

Jim Cook 8/11/2011
[1] comment
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/insummerfall.png

By the calendar, strict dividing lines separate Winter from Spring and Summer from Fall. The natural world knows no hard and fast boundaries. In the middle of August I stepped outside this morning to find an acorn on the ground. …

read more
Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Can You Grow A Sequoia?

The Green Man 7/19/2011
[0] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sequoia.jpg

Sequoia seedlings need a reasonable amount of water to grow, so the desert and arid plains are out. Also, they don’t tolerate temperatures below ten degrees Fahrenheit, so if you live in the northern half of the United States, sequoia probably won’t work well for you.

read more
Posted in Gardening, Liberal Links | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Apart

Rowan 6/15/2011
[0] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/lavenderthyme.jpg

Here, amid the thyme and lavender, there are no parking lots or big box stores or internal combustion engines.

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Those Musta Been Some Pretty Active Minutes

Jim Cook 6/13/2011
[1] comment
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/createprivacyinminutes.png

It’s amazing what a reed fence, and a brick border, and a potted plant, and a bed of annuals, and a chair, and a bed of crushed gravel, and a set of photography lamps will do.

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Allium To The Infidel

Rowan 5/10/2011
[0] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/aliumbuds.jpg

Evocative allium flower buds.

read more
Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Pilgrims Will Not Follow

Rowan 5/3/2011
[3] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/mayapples.jpg

What April showers brought.

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Mud Pie

Rowan 5/2/2011
[0] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/rhubarb.jpg

Early June’s tart pie has pushed its way out of the mud.

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Backyard Carbon Sequestration

Rowan 5/1/2011
[1] comment
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/horsechestnut.jpg

A solar-powered carbon sequestration unit in my backyard, with a multi-pronged production system, sequestered six inches of carbon on the tip of each prong in just three days this week. The unit’s name: Horse chestnut.

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Another of Nature’s Lawn Aerators at work: the Flicker

Jim Cook 4/30/2011
[0] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/visitingflicker.png

The squirrels and earthworms have been pocking little holes in my lawn for weeks now, supplementing the frost heave of winter in aerating the grass. Another of nature’s lawn aerators has been visiting lately: the Northern Flicker, a woodpecker that …

read more
Posted in Environment, Gardening | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Walnut Genesis

Rowan 4/30/2011
[2] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/walnuttreeapril.jpg

Within the branches, sugar is rising to build solar panels in the towering nut factory.

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Daffodils and Crocuses in my lawn?

Jim Cook 4/29/2011
[5] comments

I’ve got a gardening question for you. I’ve noticed that up here in Maine the crocuses and daffodils have already bloomed, while the grass has only gotten green in the last day or two and certainly won’t need to be …

read more
Posted in Gardening, Questions | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Stump Garden

Rowan 4/29/2011
[1] comment
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/stumped.jpg

From the crevice left by the disintegration of the pith of a fallen cedar, moss and ferns.

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Options in Lawn Aeration

Jim Cook 3/31/2011
[5] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/machineorsquirrel.jpg

I could get a big, heavy contraption to aerate the yard outside my house… … or I could let the squirrels do it. Later this spring the earthworms will leave their castings on top of the grass, fertilizing it and …

read more
Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Manicured Lawn Aphorism

Rowan 3/21/2011
[1] comment
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/manicuredlawn.jpg

Irregular Aphorism: A person with a manicured lawn mistakes the earth for a fingernail.

Posted in Bumper Stickers, Gardening | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

St. John’s Wort and I, Bent

Jim Cook 3/20/2011
[7] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/stjohnswortwintersend.jpg

As winter turned to spring a year ago, I looked at the flattened form of a St. John’s Wort bush I had planted the year before. Leafless and listless, it seemed utterly broken by the weight of the season’s snow. …

read more
Posted in Gardening, Humor and Fun | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments