Living and gardening in an older Hudson Valley home
Posts about the yard and gardening
Now that autumn has begun in earnest, it is time for me to reflect back on this year’s vegetable garden. It was an unusual summer. We had tremendous amounts of rain throughout the summer. My recent experience is that July and August are drier. Last year we needed to water the garden every day. This […]
It has truly been a busy Spring season. No one thing has caused it to be busy, it is just the amalgamation of an assortment of activities. I wake up each day wondering, where have I spent my time? Why isn’t it possible to just lie in bed. The life of the leisure class. I […]
My neighbor, a retired judge, has labeled me a killer. He chastises me for waging war on the creeping charlie weeds overrunning everything (but they have a flower, he says), the dreaded honeysuckle bushes which proliferate like rabbits (but they grow so well he says), and the bittersweet vines which kill everything in their path […]
Often it feels like Winter hangs around longer than it should. This year, I know this was the case. I compared photos of our yard from one year ago. The plants are blooming 2-3 weeks later than last year. There was some snow left in the yard, from a large pile, just two weeks ago […]
Outside the wind is howling fiercely, the sun is shining brightly, the temperature is hovering around 19 degrees fahrenheit, with a wind chill factor of 5 degrees, snow lies everywhere on the ground, just as it has since our big snow storm on February 1, 2021. Late winter is always tiresome, like a guest who […]
A fluffy snow arrived last night. The snow fell in thick clusters of flakes. The temperature was quite chilly. The result is trees and bushes with what appears to be a generous dusting of powder sugar coating everything. It reminds me of childhood and the wonder of waking up to a snow covered yard, hoping […]
Mention Autumn gardening and everyone thinks of raking and gathering leaves. Without a doubt falling leaves generate the most work in my yard. Instead of thinking of the onerous task of picking up millions of leaves, for me Autumn conjures up days of collecting seeds. It is through the harvest of seeds in the Fall […]
There is almost nothing better than nurturing plants and watching them grow. It is exciting to see a burst of growth mid-summer or a plant covered in blossoms. However, the thrill of eating what you have planted is perhaps, to me, the greatest satisfaction. Our vegetable garden fence is covered in lovely purple and pink […]
When the remnants of hurricane Isaias blew through New York on August 4, 2020, it made an unwelcome stop in Newburgh. One of the old willows, in a part of the woodland garden that will remain wild, broke in half and came tumbling down. Fortunately, the tree fell in a convenient place to just leave […]
Summertime and the livin is easy! – the enduring classic by Ella Fitzgerald resonates at my home. Work projects are less intense as the heat of the day encourages me to stop early and enjoy the pool in the afternoon or stroll around the yard to observe summer blooms and new growth. Here are a […]
