Category: gardens
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Midsummer Check in
This summer has been rather hazy, due to the Canadian wildflowers. The forest has filtered a lot of the smoke, but ever so often I get a whiff of what smells like campfire. Views over Lake Michigan are gray with no horizon line. The tomatoes and peppers are doing well. I need to keep on…
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Our Garden Elders
BLACK CHERRY We have a few old trees on our property that have been here for decades, if not centuries. They have seen the land go through logging then private ownership. They are a visual history of what was here and what can thrive. One garden elder is the black cherry, Prunus serotina. A black…
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Summer Has Arrived
The weather is finally warm enough to open windows and go outside in a t-shirt. The astronomical first day of summer is June 20 but I will take summer weather whenever I can get it. Lake Michigan is still in the 50s so too cold for me to jump in. The lake is warmest in…
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Spring Review
GARDEN Spring was long, cold, and fairly wet. I put basil out in a pot around Memorial Day and the plant didn’t make it. Too cold. So I spread seeds in the container. I will get a later crop. The tomatoes, peppers, and basil I grew from seed all survived but were very small. I…
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Northern Michigan Gardening: Embracing Spring’s Arrival
It Starts in Autumn On a sunny, warm autumn day, when the leaves were just past peak, I spent an afternoon planting spring bulbs. I planted 100 snowdrop bulbs in groups of 5 in the front shade garden close to the house. I also naturalized bulbs in the back lawn. I naturalized a mixture of…
