To quote Henry James: “Summer afternoon–summer afternoon: to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

What’s clear to me about the above quote by James is that he either wasn’t a gardener, or he had someone–or a staff of someones–to do his gardening for him!

Most gardeners I know find that by about this point in the gardening season, the weeds are as high–or higher–than the plants, the lack of rain has made constant watering a chore (or the converse has happened–it’s rained too much and molds and mildews are rotting out plants). By this point in the gardening season, I am heartily wishing for winter.

That’s why it was such a treat to receive a complementary copy of Garden Wisdom: 365 Days by Cheryl Wilfong.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but the accompanying letter instructed me to open the book to “today’s date” and read the meditation, so I did. And then I read the one from the day before. And then I back-tracked and read randomly from the “Spring” meditations because I didn’t want to skip ahead and spoil the ones that I had in front of me.

Each one is a little treat, like a perfect little sweet at the end of a meal, or a cool, freshly made drink (you fill in your favorite drink of choice here!)

The book is made up of meditations from Cheryl’s blog The Meditative Gardener. Both the blog and her book have won numerous awards.

And so now, thoroughly brought back to the wisdom of living in the moment–or attempting to, anyway–I will say that I do highly recommend the book. Anything that can drag me out of a weeding funk has really got something going for it!

Over the years, I have reviewed many garden journals. Some are more useful than others. What I particularly like about this journal is its creativity.

The Montenegro sisters draw borders on each set of pages—which itself is visually inspiring—but then journal then goes on to prompt written suggestions, as well as suggestions for painting, drawing or sketching as well.

I especially liked suggestions that reminded the gardener to sit and observe the garden over the course of a long summer day (who would think to do that in the busy-ness of summer?) or to sketch the progress of a vine. The invitation to contemplation, which is so often lost when keeping a garden journal, is brilliant.

The top photo shows how each page in this journal–as well as the one that I reviewed Friday –have that faint dotted grid that makes it a “bullet journal. ”

The page below shows just one of the creative prompts–this one from a week in January– showing different leaf types and asking the gardener which type he or she planned to add in the coming year.

That’s a different sort of concept from just thinking about “adding new plants.” I liked this a lot, and there’s a lot of this throughout the journal.

A Year in the Garden: A Guided Journal 

By Nina Montenegro and Sonya Montenegro

Bullet journals (or BuJos for those in the know) are the darling of the analog set. They offer a creative way to keep track of daily, weekly, life goals and more. Pinterest and Instagram are full of examples of how to do this.

Timber Press now offers BuJos for the gardening and nature minded among us, with creative prompts included. Maggie Enterrios’s Nature Observer: A Guided Journal was created, it says, so that people could “experience nature in new and meaningful ways—in every season.” At the end of the year, the person completing the journal should have “a keepsake of your favorite adventures and places.”

The journal can be started in any season. The weeks and months are blank so that the person  beginning can start when he or she likes. If winter or January is not a natural beginning point, choose a warmer month, or even summer, to begin. Unlike a garden journal (see Monday’s upcoming post) which would follow the more natural progression of seasons in a person’s garden, but is also blank so it can be started at any time) this journal, being nature-themed, is perfectly suited for an outdoor trip. It can then be continued upon returning home—it doesn’t ask that the “observer” necessarily venture anywhere more exotic than his or her backyard or a nearby nature preserve or park.

The use of the words “nature preserve” may be a little confusing to some readers since it’s not one we use here in Connecticut. Just think of our many fine natural recreation areas instead. It’s a matter of semantics.

Otherwise, this journal offers prompts for observing nature in all its forms. There are suggestions for observing colors: one week we are prompted to find every color of the rainbow in nature. Another week we are asked to observe the different shades of brown in autumn. We are asked to draw spider webs in October and ice in December. Beyond visual observations, we are asked to think about flavors, and smells and scents (different things, I think).

Together with the garden journal that I will discuss on Monday this makes a fine addition to a gardener’s library and will certainly sharpen his or her senses—all of them!

 

It’s New Year’s Day–the say when everyone makes resolutions that last for about 10 or 15 minutes at least, right?

But we’re gardeners and we’re great planners. As soon as the garden is “put to bed,” we start planning next year’s garden, which is going to be bigger and better and every way.  So why not gardening resolutions?

I’ve done this for a few years now–and I have to say that I am no better at keeping my “gardening” resolutions than I am at keeping any other sort. I think that’s the nature of gardening–I always plan and dream much bigger than I can ever plant (although in the last year or so there have definitely been circumstances that have gotten in the way–but I digress).

One way to keep track of garden resolutions is in a garden journal. I have one that I’ve kept for 17 years now. It’s not elaborate–it’s about an inch of space for every single day of the year. I write in it each night, without fail.

Don’t think you could find something gardening related to write about 365 days of the year? You probably could. Think about the weather (which impacts the garden); and phenology (what blooms when, when things are budding up, when leaves first start to change color or fall, the first snow falls, if you’re in that sort of climate); and I even record observations about my local wildlife–which also often impacts my garden, but too, sometimes birds like the junco, which are migratory, come back at certain times and indicate seasonal changes)–you’ll soon see how much there is to write about.

I also staple my garden-related purchase receipts into the journal–you can imagine how fat with paper this book has become, particularly in the late April–mid-June time frame!

Why do I do that? It’s short-hand. I don’t have to write in the journal everything I bought. Instead, I annotate the receipts with the plant names. Since the receipts are dated with the year, I can see what I’ve bought (and what I continually buy, year after year).

And this year, when The Spoiler asked me about where I was getting my Christmas tree (it’s always a fresh cut one) I told him where I always get it–at an independent garden center. There was one year we bought it at Costco. They only did it one year but even if they chose to do it again, I wouldn’t do so. Costco is wonderful for a lot of things. Fresh cut trees, not so much.

So maybe this is the year you resolve to keep a garden journal. Timber Press has two fabulous new ones out–one specifically related to gardening and one more nature themed. You can start them any time.

Give it some thought.

 

Foodscaping is becoming more of a “thing”–at least I hope that it is. I was probably a very early adopter, not because I am so very clever or such a trend setter, but because the best sun in my yard happened to also be where I was growing some wildlife plants. But I started foodscaping back in 1995.

This is my tiny vegetable garden.  Along with the lettuces, there are 2 kinds of parsley,  dill, lemon balm, chives, sage and lemon thyme.  For flowers, I have the bidens I posted about last week,  violets and alyssum. Still to come are marigolds, tomatoes and pole beans.

Still,  I do not foodscape nearly to the extent–or with the same gorgeous results–as Brie Arthur, author of The Foodscape Revolution: Finding a Better Way to Make Space for Food and Beauty in Your Garden.  When I tell you that the book is published by St. Lynn’s Press,  you will know that it’s going to have that same comprehensive blend of chapters  that not only tell the reader why a foodscape garden is a good idea, but also how to grow all sorts of vegetables  (along with a chart for “hardscape” plants–perennials,  trees and shrubs–for different regions of the country  in case you are creating the garden from scratch and not just tucking edibles in among existing ornamentals).

Of course there are some of the author’s favorite recipes, and methods of preserving your harvest once your plants are ready. One of the sections I found most helpful,  particularly if someone is a newer gardener, is the pages about how to know when to harvest your vegetables.

Arthur shows some projects she has planted that are absolutely lovely as well. And she even has a section on edibles in containers,  if perhaps you are gardening on a balcony or don’t have a bit of land for planting.

What was most noticeable to me is how different her edibles are from mine. While I will occasionally grow corn, if I am going to take up that much space in my garden,  I usually devote it to non-edibles for wildlife.  I suppose I could split the difference and grow something like Aronia, for example.

She also doesn’t talk a lot about herbs, although she does grow them. Her containers have them and her plantings feature them and she does mention basil a few times. For me, herbs are probably 50% of what I grow,  and I always grow more than what I need so that some can flower for the pollinators.

I don’t find this a weakness in the book; I just find it interesting.  As I always say,  if we all liked the same thing,  we would have a very boring world!

As usual,  St. Lynn’s kindly provided this review copy to me but all opinions expressed here are mine alone.

I don’t know about you, but I love the idea of foraging. But of course, I only love the idea if I can safely identify the plants I am foraging for–and then I need to know what to do with them. Not everything can be tossed willy-nilly into a salad (or should be. Some things are far tastier prepared in other ways).

Well, of course my favorite publisher, St. Lynn’s Press, has come up with the perfect solution! I was delighted to discover The Scout’s Guide to Wild Edibles  by Mike Krebill in my mail on Monday. I  immediately sat down–before my coat was even off–and began paging through it. It’s that good.

First of all, it’s a perfect size. You can easily take it outside with you on a hike or a longer camping trip without feeling that you’re lugging a heavy field guide.

Next, although it is compact, it manages to pack a lot into its small size. There are photos of the plants, not drawings, which is important to avoid misidentification. And there are photos of several stages of plant growth, so that you know what to choose.

When a plant like poke weed, which can be toxic in some stages, is suggested, not only are numerous photos of the right stages of the plant shown, but other hints for avoiding the wrong stages are given, such as avoiding leaves with any purplish color in them, and changing the cooking water at least twice.

And, once you have found the plants, there are some wonderful sounding recipes listed, including one for a garden weed quiche he called GAZP, microwave purslane pickles, dandelion donuts–you get the idea. There are some very creative ideas here.

Both common and botanical names are given for the plants, there are numerous appendices of plant parts, for types of cooking and preserving, of phone apps and other foraging references–this is a complete book in a compact package!

Krebill’s background is equally impressive. He has been a science teacher, run a nature center, and of course been involved in scouting.

This really is a complete book. I am totally impressed.