(Via washingtonpost.com - A Cook's Garden by Barbara Damrosch)

Posted by admin to Arizona, California, Grow, Native Seeds/SEARCH, New Zealand, Poolville, Robert Kourik, Scarce, Southwest (Washington, DC), Texas, Tucson, Water's, What, When, Willhite Seeds, Willits, to on 2007-10-31, 20:00:00

By East Coast standards, this year's drought is a doozy. Even if fall treats us to a few good gully-washers, it will be a while before the soil's natural cistern is full. Now's the time to take stock of the remedies open to kitchen gardeners, who struggle in dry weather.

(Via washingtonpost.com - A Cook's Garden by Barbara Damrosch)

Posted by admin to Cut, Quick, That, The, to, vegetables on 2007-08-22, 20:00:00

As a gardening cook, I always say that flavor is everything, but my evil twin, the lazy cook, knows otherwise. Sometimes I just want vegetables that are easy to slice.

(Via washingtonpost.com - A Cook's Garden by Barbara Damrosch)

Posted by admin to Share, Spare?, Time, seedlings, to on 2007-06-06, 20:00:00

At the end of spring planting season I often think of the poem by Louise Bogan titled "Women," which begins, "Women have no wilderness in them, /They are provident instead." This comes to mind because all the female gardeners in my neighborhood, myself included, have spent those final weeks frantically finding homes for all our leftover seedlings.

(Via washingtonpost.com - A Cook's Garden by Barbara Damrosch)

Posted by admin to Herb, Stands, This, Up, Winter, to on 2007-01-31, 21:00:00

I used to think that parsley was especially prone to winter predation by rabbits or deer. As its growth slowed in cold weather, something would always nibble it to the ground. Because it is very cold-hardy, the bright green foliage normally would persist in the garden long after most crops had succumbed to winter, and the plants sometimes have still been there in spring.

(Via washingtonpost.com - A Cook's Garden by Barbara Damrosch)

Posted by admin to Another, Chance, Fun, Plot, Put, Some, Year,, Your, in, to on 2007-01-03, 21:00:00

New Year's resolutions are useless. In fact, I think they're a sort of jinx. Proclamations about losing five pounds or maintaining a perfect garden are doomed to failure because they're too much like homework. "Positive change," as the self-help books call it, happens accidentally when you're fully engaged in life. Progress occurs when you're so caught up in a project that you can't quit.

(Via washingtonpost.com - A Cook's Garden by Barbara Damrosch)

Posted by admin to Back, Harking, Nature, to on 2006-12-20, 21:00:00

Tonight at precisely 7:22, while you are washing dishes, doing your holiday shopping or reading this newspaper, the sun will stand still. At that point in Earth's yearly orbit around the sun, the Northern Hemisphere will have tilted away from the sun as far as it's going to go. The sun's zenith (the high point of its arc) today is the lowest of the year. Six months later it will reach the highest. Today, the winter solstice, marks the year's shortest day and longest night.

(Via washingtonpost.com - A Cook's Garden by Barbara Damrosch)

Posted by admin to A, Aims, Please, Pod, Radish, in, to on 2006-08-09, 20:00:00

It was the perfect light summer supper from the garden. Angel hair pasta sauced with the first of the French shallots and some locally foraged chanterelles, sauteed together in brown butter and a little sage. On top of that went a small handful of radish pods, lightly crisped in olive oil.

(Via washingtonpost.com - A Cook's Garden by Barbara Damrosch)

Posted by admin to Festive, Funky, No, Time, in, to on 2006-08-02, 20:00:00

"House proud" is a nice, old-fashioned phrase. It describes the feeling you have when everything is reasonably clean and in order. It reflects the fact that while we all may befoul our nests to some degree, we like visitors to feel comfortable and welcomed when they walk through our door, not assaulted by our mess.

(Via washingtonpost.com - A Cook's Garden by Barbara Damrosch)

Posted by admin to Deer, Munch,, Not, Yours, to on 2006-06-07, 20:00:00

Sixty-four years after his original star turn, Bambi the orphaned fawn once again frisked across American screens with the February release of "Bambi II." By most accounts, Bambi and friends are still adorable and the forest magical, but it's hard for some of us to view deer in quite the same way. In a more reality-based sequel, Bambi's mother would be shot not by a hunter but by a crazed gardener, driven to murder by the sight of his munched beets.

(Via washingtonpost.com - A Cook's Garden by Barbara Damrosch)

Posted by admin to A, Weed, Welcome, summer, to on 2006-05-17, 20:00:00

Its name in Mexico, verdolagas , evokes green lakes. Up north it's purslane, and as sure as the sun will rise to its zenith on June 21, purslane will appear in my garden and spread its verdant mats from shore to shore. This is the quintessential weed of summer, its vigor fed by warm, bright days and the moist, fertile, cultivated soil of beds where other plants have legitimate rights.