I've been reading quite a bit lately, mostly novels written in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. They are pleasant reads which don't require too much effort and because of when they were written, they generally have an expected, happy, ending. Or if not happy, at least pleasant. While reading, I often find references to gardening which has prompted me to rate non-gardening books on this basis alone. What do they tell us about gardening and gardeners? I am giving the novel Jane and Prudence by … [Read more...] about Rating Books by Gardening References
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May Dreams Gardens
Garden Fairies Pick a Word of the Year
Garden fairies here. We are garden fairies and we just realized that it is almost the end of January and Carol hasn't come up with a word of the year to guide her gardening activities. So, once again, we garden fairies must come to the rescue and come up with a word for Carol. Honestly, we have no idea what Carol does with her time and why she didn't come up with a word much earlier in the month. We did notice her Goodreads profile shows 10 books read this year already, so maybe … [Read more...] about Garden Fairies Pick a Word of the Year
Lessons Learned from Seed Sorting
I sorted all my packets of seeds earlier today and learned a few lessons along the way. I learned... I'm apparently in love with the idea of growing several varieties of beets and spinach, even though I don't eat a lot of spinach or beets. Is having all these seeds an instinct thing? Do I need to eat more beets and spinach? I guess I'll sow some of those seeds and see. Thanks to the wonderful people at Botanical Interests, and my bad habit of placing several small orders instead of … [Read more...] about Lessons Learned from Seed Sorting
Organizing My Seeds
I need to organize my seeds to see what I have before I order even one more packet. To do this, I've come up with a few categories. The more obvious categories include: Seeds I'm Going to Winter Sow: This is a new category for me as I've never tried winter sowing. But after a recent Gardenangelists podcast episode with Dee where we talked about winter sowing, I'm all in, as they say. I think this will work well for the viola seeds I seem to have accumulated in the last year. Seeds … [Read more...] about Organizing My Seeds
Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – January 2022
Welcome to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day for January 2022, and Happy New Year. Here in my USDA Hardiness Zone 6a garden in central Indiana, winter has so far been mild, though we did have several days of temperatures dropping down into the single digits last week. So I knew my attempts to find blooms outside would be much like an archeological dig. I found mostly fragments of the past growing season, like these dried hydrangea flowers. And these tall sedum blooms. These look great … [Read more...] about Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – January 2022
Growing Lettuce Like It’s 1957
This year, 2022, I'm going to grow lettuce like it's 1957. Until just this week, I've never had much luck, or for that matter, much interest in growing great crops of lettuce. Oh sure, like any dedicated gardener, in early spring I usually sow a few rows of various types of lettuce. Then throughout the spring, when I remember to do so, I'll cut some of the leaves for salads. I rarely, if ever, get or let any of my lettuce plants form nice heads. Of course, this is not how I was … [Read more...] about Growing Lettuce Like It’s 1957
