Give a Gift
The Patron Saints of Christmas—and of Gardening
Christmas is coming, and Santa Claus—St. Nicholas—is starting to stuff his big sack of presents. But did you ever stop and think, “Who was St. Nicholas, and why does he ...
Club Notes Type: Gardening Life
Thanksgiving
I've always had a special affection for Thanksgiving. It seems to me the gentlest, the kindest of our holidays. There're no glaring red rockets or blowouts on beer. There's not ...
Going Cold Garden
It starts with that taste kids get in the back of their throats the day after Halloween. You remember that gummy sick sensation like a slug slimed its way across ...
Goodbye, Cruel Tomatoes!
This summer I had a most disgusting experience in my vegetable garden—the kind they don’t tell you about in those cheerful books and glossy magazines. It was back in August. ...
Cowprints in the Carrots
"Let's open up the bidding at 800. Who'll give me 8? gimme 8, gimme 8. C'mon, look at that udder, fellas. Looks like milk in the ring. 800. 8 and ...
Travels with Iris
The other week I helped my sister move from Paris, Virginia to Atlanta, Georgia, from a rural farm to a small white house in the city. Not just any urban ...
FEMA, Gardening, and Hope
June—such a wonderful gardening month, especially for a vegetable gardener. (I’m more the veggie than the flower type.) You and your garden are bursting with energy, and Spring crops are ...
Coaching Seedbirth
I'm father to four, who were born in such varied places as The Bat Cave Valley Clinic and our bedroom. So I've done my share of childbirth assistance, from playing ...
Playing With Frost
Normal people (that means nongardeners) think of the rest of us (that means gardeners) as sweet little old ladies with sunhats and flower skirts, humming elevator hits to ourselves as ...
A Packet of Lessons
I tell myself there are two kinds of gardeners: those who start their own seeds and those who don’t.
