I once planted 42 Roma Tomato plants. Needless to say that there was a lesson that was learned. Being down on one's knees and digging in the earth is a pretty spiritual experience. The smell of the earth does something. I am approaching the age where I fear doing a Don Corleone in my tomato garden. I'll leave the oranges in the house
"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt” is something the writer Margaret Atwood once said. Spring is the time I break out my nail brush to scrub my perennially grubby hands. :)
Well, there is nothing like home made tomato sauce. But 42 plants provided enough tomatoes to feed a small city. I had enough tomatoes to cone out of my ears, your ears, Allison's ears etc. I couldn't keep up. But the pasta sauce was awesome. Thank you
Lol - I’m trying some Piennolo paste tomatoes again this year, in honor of some Sicilian forebears. My plot of dirt isn’t much like the slopes of Mt Vesuvius tho. But I *wiil* keep the orange peels out of my garden, too - thanks for the heads-up!
With more than 18 acres to tend, much of it wild, "gardening" for me has evolved over the last 25 years. At first, I tried to tame and shape the landscape against the will and better ideas of Mother Nature, only to learn that planting thousands of perennial and fern plugs (and even small shrubs) on a flood plain in mid Spring may mean having thousands of perennial and fern plugs and a score of Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepper bush) be swept downstream when the creek swells to 3 times its size in a mid Summer deluge. (I only made that mistake once! Those shrubs were installed to start a colony of sweet-smelling summer blooms to enjoy when wandering along the stream. I looked for them later that year in the park downstream, hoping they had found a place they could collect and hold together long enough to set down new roots.) Still, I've devoted most of my spare time and an enormous sum to "gardening" focused on removing invasive species and reintroducing native plants that are indigenous to this part of the Northeast. It's been a huge labor of love and a new challenge each year. What was thriving last season may now be a nuisance that is overwhelming the wildflower meadow this year. The gorgeous palette that emerged late summer that you couldn't quite capture in photos is gone, replaced by other colors, shapes, and light.
A landscape professional and good friend (who also is a musician and artist) once told me that gardening it is the slowest form of art...something that stuck with me and has inspired me to keep an open heart and mind to what is possible to create. From my experience, the best "art" is what happens when I don't try too hard to stay within the lines.
Allison, if you venture whole-heartedly into "gardening," whatever form that may take, I hope you find it is yet another way you create beauty in this world.
I’m a Gardner! I’m taking a fundamentals of gardening class , lifelong learners at MSU. It’s no joke…my word, the chemistry, this week ..of soils. Thank god it’s open book testing. I leisurely, got behind…bad idea. However, this is helping me to put the green thumb into a new world ! Hopefully, veggies too
Here in Zone 6B, my garlic just poked up above the soil. Hope really does Spring eternal!
Though I did put the straw mulch back when I saw the sprouts....
I once planted 42 Roma Tomato plants. Needless to say that there was a lesson that was learned. Being down on one's knees and digging in the earth is a pretty spiritual experience. The smell of the earth does something. I am approaching the age where I fear doing a Don Corleone in my tomato garden. I'll leave the oranges in the house
The smell of the earth indeed does do something. Don’t Don Corleone.
"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt” is something the writer Margaret Atwood once said. Spring is the time I break out my nail brush to scrub my perennially grubby hands. :)
Earth is special but you've got to get down on your knees and work it. And I wondered if anyone would get the Don Corleone reference. I love you❤️
Planting 42 of anything is a very hopeful thing! I hope they gave you months of good eating!
Well, there is nothing like home made tomato sauce. But 42 plants provided enough tomatoes to feed a small city. I had enough tomatoes to cone out of my ears, your ears, Allison's ears etc. I couldn't keep up. But the pasta sauce was awesome. Thank you
Lol - I’m trying some Piennolo paste tomatoes again this year, in honor of some Sicilian forebears. My plot of dirt isn’t much like the slopes of Mt Vesuvius tho. But I *wiil* keep the orange peels out of my garden, too - thanks for the heads-up!
With more than 18 acres to tend, much of it wild, "gardening" for me has evolved over the last 25 years. At first, I tried to tame and shape the landscape against the will and better ideas of Mother Nature, only to learn that planting thousands of perennial and fern plugs (and even small shrubs) on a flood plain in mid Spring may mean having thousands of perennial and fern plugs and a score of Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepper bush) be swept downstream when the creek swells to 3 times its size in a mid Summer deluge. (I only made that mistake once! Those shrubs were installed to start a colony of sweet-smelling summer blooms to enjoy when wandering along the stream. I looked for them later that year in the park downstream, hoping they had found a place they could collect and hold together long enough to set down new roots.) Still, I've devoted most of my spare time and an enormous sum to "gardening" focused on removing invasive species and reintroducing native plants that are indigenous to this part of the Northeast. It's been a huge labor of love and a new challenge each year. What was thriving last season may now be a nuisance that is overwhelming the wildflower meadow this year. The gorgeous palette that emerged late summer that you couldn't quite capture in photos is gone, replaced by other colors, shapes, and light.
A landscape professional and good friend (who also is a musician and artist) once told me that gardening it is the slowest form of art...something that stuck with me and has inspired me to keep an open heart and mind to what is possible to create. From my experience, the best "art" is what happens when I don't try too hard to stay within the lines.
Allison, if you venture whole-heartedly into "gardening," whatever form that may take, I hope you find it is yet another way you create beauty in this world.
I saw you perform in Boston probably 25 years ago
I knew then you would become a superstar.
I’m a Gardner! I’m taking a fundamentals of gardening class , lifelong learners at MSU. It’s no joke…my word, the chemistry, this week ..of soils. Thank god it’s open book testing. I leisurely, got behind…bad idea. However, this is helping me to put the green thumb into a new world ! Hopefully, veggies too