It’s garlic time! There he is, out in the garden with his measuring tape and yellow twine. While other people are in their closets looking for Halloween costumes, the madman is in his garden looking for a spot to plant his potatoes. It has become one of his October rituals. Potatoes, you say? No one…
The madman and the wasps – all summer I have watched him chase them away from his hummingbird feeders. It was a futile effort because there were just too many of them. All of a sudden, he stopped. At first, I thought he’d just given up (so unlike him!). But I found out he’d…
Justice. We wondered what we could do – after all, we are only two people. If people stay silent, nothing will be done. So, we add our voices to the call to end social injustice. We hope all our gardening friends will follow suit. Speaking of gardening friends, after all the time spent in quarantine,…
The madman got a call from his friend Bill the other day saying he couldn’t find his dandelion seeds. He calls them dandelions, but they are actually Radichetta. We’re the only ones who eat dandelions and they are starting to bloom now so they are starting to get bitter. The madman replied, “You know,…
These are strange times we live in. But, like we said last week, gardening hasn’t been cancelled and we are safe at home. We saw a pair of Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) at the feeder the other day (March 24, to be exact). Coupling this with a Red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) sighting on March 17, the…
The madman has been talking about bulbs lately. Why? Because he spent the last few days at the Connecticut Flower and Garden Show. Yes, he entered plants in the Standard Flower Show. And, yes, he spent time visiting with people at the Maine Garden Booth. And yes, he manned the club table for the…
Julia Child once said, “It is hard to imagine civilization without onions.” Who doesn’t like onions? Certainly one of the madman’s favorite vegetables. I have to keep reminding him that the dish is called chicken and onions, not onions and chicken. Because he likes them so much, it’s only natural that he should grow…
What’s this “gifts for gardeners”? The madman has been walking around grumbling, “Not even Thanksgiving and Christmas stuff is out! Jack has already put up his Christmas tree. Bah! Humbug!” I have to remind him Christmas is only 4 weeks away, and people have to start thinking about what to get their gardening friends….
Winter clean-up for the wildlife we call it. Mr. Finch likes the neatly trimmed landscape. Maybe it was Mrs. Finch – I usually can’t tell the difference and the madman was busy planting garlic, so I couldn’t ask him. This year we are trying something different – minimal cutback. After attending lots of lectures on…