Tag: beets

While preparing for spring, I am still pulling onions, garlic, turnips, beets and carrots from cold storage.

Considering that beets are among our most nutritious vegetables, I searched for varieties that would be irresistible to lifelong beet haters.

Harvesting, preparing and preserving the season’s crops, combined with ongoing care of the plants and soil, has reached a climax of activity.

There is so much information to digest and respond to in the expanse of a mid-summer garden.

From the rousing, quirky sounds and silhouetted flight of woodcocks in the late winter dusk to the melodious phrases and amusing spectacle of speed-walking robins on sunny, just-raked garden beds, the activities of seasonal arrivals have tuned our response to the swelling spring.

The warmth that thawed the wood frogs thawed my garden beds and gave rise to tiny leafy tops on half a dozen overwintered parsnips.

Last week, on the eve of the deepest chill and wind chill of the season, I reached into reserves of dogged determination to secure my harvest of fennel, dill, peppers, French sorrel, amaranth and most of the turnips.

The unpredictable experiences that occur while gardening can be the most engaging or challenging to our senses, our emotions, intellects and aesthetics.

Plants painted with prickly frost crystals sparkled, lit by morning’s first sunbeams. Every sparkle flashed rainbow colors. Each uniquely rimed leaf invited a close-up look.

Stored in a cool, dark location, green tomatoes ripen slowly and develop good flavor. Check often. I’ve enjoyed juicy Brandywines into early December.