The peas are up in Marjorie’s Garden, as are the shallots, and the October-planted garlic is knee high. We planted asparagus crowns on May 19. Onion transplants planted three weeks ago wait for warmer weather while dandelions bloom on the … Continue reading
In my BDN post two weeks ago (May 2), I described four woody plants that belong in a small garden designed for all seasons: pagoda dogwood and the ‘Donald Wyman’ crabapple, both small trees, and two flowering shrubs, summersweet clethra … Continue reading
Reilly, our Brittany, died this past Saturday, May 4. She had just finished her tenth year of life, all of it spent with Marjorie, Lynne, and I, much of it with her best friend Dixie who we lost at the … Continue reading
At a recent meeting of authors and booksellers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as we were all saying our goodbyes, a magazine editor handed me her card and asked if I would be interested in writing for the gardening section of the … Continue reading
(Authors Note: Recommendations for early May sowing and planting are for gardens in USDA Zone 5. Readers who garden in Zone 3 should delay these activities by two weeks, those in Zone 4 by one week. If you garden in … Continue reading
(Author’s Note: The following essay appears in The New England Gardener’s Year by Reeser Manley and Marjorie Peronto. This month-by-month guide to gardening in New England is now on sale at local bookstores and online. Reeser will be speaking and … Continue reading
Finally, buds are swelling. Walking through Marjorie’s Garden with my morning coffee, I pause to inspect a red elder’s opening buds, tight clusters of purple flower buds surrounded by embryonic leaves. They look like miniature heads of purple broccoli. I … Continue reading
In the first week of April, while fall-planted garlic cloves are still encased in ice, I will take on any chore that gets me into the garden. So when the receding snow revealed the top portion of a downed spruce … Continue reading
Last Wednesday, March 20, was a snow day for schools along the coast of Downeast Maine. As day broke in Eastport I could look out the window just beyond my computer screen and watch the cold wind off Passamaquoddy Bay, … Continue reading
Author’s Note: The original version of this essay first appeared in the Bangor Daily News in August, 2010. It has since found its way into our new book, The New England Gardener’s Year, published by Cadent Press, Thomaston, ME. Marjorie … Continue reading
