Buffalo, New York. The quintessential snow storm city, forever pictured in the minds of out-of-towners as a place where snow is ever present. Forget about all of that! Now it's Buffalo, New York. The quintessential gardening city, forever pictured in the minds of gardeners and other people as a place where gardens are everywhere. Remember it that way! From exuberant plantings of perennials and annuals in that strip of ground between the sidewalk and the street... To the serenity … [Read more...] about Redefining Quintessential Buffalo
vegetable gardens
Don’t Settle for Four-Fifths of a Garden
I have a theory that most gardeners will eventually plant a few vegetables in their garden, even if it wasn’t part of their original plan, and many will find a sunny spot someplace for an actual vegetable garden.They may start out with the idea that they want a garden with just flowers and trees and shrubs and may spend hours, days, if not years enjoying it through four of their fives senses - smell, sight, hearing, and touch. But according to my theory, they’ll figure out that a garden that … [Read more...] about Don’t Settle for Four-Fifths of a Garden
Chicago Beans
Beans! It’s all about the beans right now.One of the last stops I made before leaving Chicago today after enjoying the Chicago Spring Fling was to go and see “the bean’. This sculpture in Millennium Park is officially known as Cloud Gate but many call it simply “the bean” because it looks like a bean seed. I also took home some bean seeds from One Seed Chicago, given to us as we toured an urban vegetable garden planted by NeighborSpace.According to the One Seed Chicago website,“Each year One … [Read more...] about Chicago Beans
Two Words: Raised Beds
I have just two words of advice for anyone who wants to start growing vegetables for the first time.Raised Beds.I speak from experience having raised vegetables in a traditional garden plot and now in raised beds. Once the raised beds are set up, it is far easier to grow vegetables in them than in a traditional garden plot.Spring prep? With a traditional garden plot, you have to wait for the perfect conditions when the ground is not too wet to get out and turn the soil over and prepare it for … [Read more...] about Two Words: Raised Beds
I Regret Planting… and Other Topics
I regret planting these daisies in this perennial border.Oh, yes, they look nice in this picture, taken on May 22nd, but after being beat down by six inches of rain on Saturday morning, they looked bad.They looked so bad that I didn't even take a picture. Who wants memories like that?I'd been thinking already this spring that it was a bad idea to plant these daisies, which I am pretty sure are ox-eye daisies, Leucanthemum vulgare.On Sunday, I cut them all down to the ground and once the ground … [Read more...] about I Regret Planting… and Other Topics
