Enjoy the peach harvest
My first wish for my farm was to plant an orchard. It didn’t have to…
My garden results
In this garden, constructed on an 8-foot bamboo pole base, branches and sprigs are then tied to the structure. Early sweet pea seedlings started in deep trays were placed around the base and squeezed back to produce stronger stems, and by July the structure will be covered with flowers. These will be a mix of…
The joy of growing cowpeas
I’m always happy to share my gardening experiences, and my grandfather was the one who taught me to garden. We used to plan his garden together, him pushing his Troy Bilt and me following behind, raking the tracks left by the tiller. We buried tomato stems to help them form new roots. We use string…
My pea seeds sharing
I planted the peas in the spring and they grew profusely, the first purple flowers appearing, followed by red pods and green peas. I ate the first few handfuls of seeds from the garden raw. I guess you could say it was an acquired taste – rustic and fresh, but without the bacon grease we…
Farm Tour Sequel
There was a lot of touring of the farm and then we walked back to the house along the base they had dug out of the extra soil, past the vegetable garden, where corn, peas, lettuce, courgettes and other vegetables were growing in neat little boxes framed with old metal. We returned past the house,…
Passion flower ‘fragrance’
The weather has not been very good lately. Since the 25th of June, my farm has received only 0.5 inches of rain. The heat has made the dryness of summer even worse. I’ve lost track of how many days it’s been above 100°F; the worst we’ve had at home is 115°F. It’s frustrating to watch…
Tour farm sharing
I am also designing my own farm in this very space, and considered how he could plant the right plants, in the right places, with such precision? I’ll be talking about how the tiniest details of perception will determine which plants will go there. Of course, this skill takes time and practice, as well as…
Enjoy the peach harvest
My first wish for my farm was to plant an orchard. It didn’t have to be huge. I just wanted a place where we could go out and pick some fresh fruit that would ripen in the summer sun. Fruit trees take a long time to grow and bear fruit, so when we first moved…
The story of growing cup and saucer vines
The annual vines known as cup and saucer vines are loved by many gardeners. Their large cupped purple or white flowers and distinctive trumpet-shaped corollas look very much like teacups. Many of us have never really given it much thought. Like many familiar garden flowers, the cup-and-saucer vine, or Cobaea scandens, belongs to a much…
A friend’s farm experience
My friend Dan then explained how they manage their grass to create space for wildflowers to grow. Their biggest ally is the baby rhinoceros, a semi-parasite that needs grass to grow. After seeding, the rhinos are few in number, but once the rattlesnake population increases, the grass is greatly weakened and dies. With nothing to…
Farm hillside
When we were travelling to England last summer, as we turned onto a one-way street. I was now in the driver’s seat. The road is heavily hedged and tighter than any road you’ll see in America. I prayed that we didn’t run into any oncoming cars. After about 2 miles we came to a gap…
