Time to begin anew

The Early Cascade tomato seeds I bought last week at Allen Sterling and Lothrop are awaiting planting this weekend, right on schedule, the first weekend in February. They will be ready to set out for hardening off by the end of April, and will go in the ground in early May. Early Cascade (pictured at left) is a marvelous eating tomato--small, perfectly round, staying on the vine without cracking for a long time, and the flavor is acid, rich, full and tomatoey--second only to Brandywine in my opinion. Best of all, it absolutely thrives in a coastal climate, producing fruit even in cold, wet summers.
The links at the right under "Seeds and Gardening Supplies" have been updated to include the best of Maine and national seed and perennial and shrub resources. Tonight I attended a talk at Southern Maine Community College by Bill Cullina of the

New England Wildflower Society

. Cullina, reflecting the general consensus of horticulturists all over the northeast, is strongly advocating planting native plants wherever possible in the ornamental and food garden. He has demonstrated in the NEWFS greenhouses that seeds from local plants simply outperform those from plants just a couple of hours north or south, due to the adaptations by plants to their own local climate conditions.

The appearance of winter

Winter appears to have arrived. It has taken the form of a skimpy layer of frozen granular snow and temperatures in the teens, perhaps dipping to the single numbers tonight. Mary Roy of North Street is well into her second winter of four season gardening, with a new high tech cold frame and a thriving crop of mustard, lettuce and other greens. They have thrived in the season's warm weather, though they do not grow when the light is low from November to early February. It remains to be seen whether they will survive the new cold temperatures. The lettuce is just scrumptious looking.
Is it winter, or only the appearance of winter?

Enough already

It's January 3, and I decided to kill my remaining Tuscan kale plants after one last harvest. These are the kales in the garden plot next to mine, which belongs to Peter Blackstone. In the background are some conventional curly kale plants. The view from the garden at sunset--which is SOOO early at this time of year--was beautiful tonight, with the cloud formations coming out of the southwest along with the wind.

Here is a great recipe for Tuscan, or other, kales. It makes a fantastic hors d'oeuvre and comes from Michael De Angelis (for a picture of Michael, see Market Farewell.)

Recipe: Tear the kale from its ribs in pieces several inches long. Toss the kale with generous amounts of chopped or crushed garlic and olive oil. Add salt and pepper. Place the kale pieces in a single layer on a broiler pan under the broiler. Broil for about five minutes, turn, and broil until mostly crisp. Let them cool slightly. Serve with a nice wine.

A gardener's season never ends

Over the holidays, I started making these boxwood trees as gifts. I hope to sell them next year. This one is make of boxwood sprays, plus some incense cedar and eucalyptus for aroma and texture, and holly for color. It is decorated with gold-painted spruce cones as well as a painted dried cattleya orchid flower. The core is a shaped block of Oasis foam, in a dish with spikes to hold the foam, and the greens were sprayed with leaf polish before decorating. It needs regular watering to stay fresh, and still looks great after two weeks in the dining room.

My new blog art

I never knew. Renoir had a favorite model called Nini, which happens to be my name. This is a new acquisition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Renoir's "Nini in the Garden." I will be using this as my official blog art. I found out about this painting when I happened upon a bottle of Shiraz with the label "Nini" last month, and learned about the painting from the label. The wine I am not so crazy about--a bit sour for $14--but I am delighted with the painting. I even found a reproduction house online and ordered myself a reprint, which I will frame and put over my desk.